With the addition of NTx’s co-founder and former President to the board Mercury Bio significantly enhances its strategic reach in the biotech sector
SANTA FE, N.M., October 1, 2024 — Mercury Bio, a company developing a targeted biomolecular drug-delivery platform, announced today that Alexander Koglin, Ph.D., a highly respected biotechnologist and co-founder of Nature’s Toolbox, Inc. (NTx), has joined the Board of Directors.
Koglin brings a wealth of practical experience to his board role at Mercury Bio, having successfully employed predictive modeling from genomic data while a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to identify potential Tuberculosis treatments before launching the independent NTx, which developed accelerated and distributed biomanufacturing solutions that enabled personalized medicines and proved critical to pandemic preparedness efforts.
For Koglin there’s a clear alignment of values between Mercury Bio’s aims for its yEV drug delivery technology, which utilizes a unique form of extracellular vesicle to strategically deliver everything from RNA-therapies to small-molecule pharmaceuticals, and what has always motivated him as a bioscientist and entrepreneur focused on global health solutions.
With an international background that includes advanced degrees from the Goethe University in Germany and appointment as a fellow of the Human Frontier Science Program Organization at Harvard Medical School in the USA, Koglin ultimately landed as a research scientist and J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at the Los Alamos National Labs.
Departing LANL in 2015 to help launch NTx, Koglin not only led the research objectives of the new company, but also managed the successful completion of three funding rounds totaling over $61M USD, as well as obtaining additional funding support from The Center for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As developments at NTx progressed, Koglin went on to establish research partnership agreements with some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
As Mercury Bio CEO, Bruce McCormick, points out, “Alex [Koglin] understands the complex pathway to the realization of new life-saving technologies. His business experience, penchant for innovation, and passion for ensuring that new therapies will actually reach the people that need them the most, make him an ideal addition to our board.”
The move onto Mercury Bio’s board comes at another critical point in Koglin’s career path, as he shifts from the rigors of the research lab to focus more on the complexities of the startup ecosystem. Following nearly nine years with NTx, Koglin parted with the company this past February and will focus on supporting companies like Mercury Bio through targeted national, and international, agreements that provide funding for accelerated biotech development.
About Mercury Bio
Sparked by scientific breakthroughs in genomic research, Mercury Bio has developed a next-generation biomolecular drug delivery platform. The technology prioritizes safety and efficacy while reducing side effects by employing cell-specific targeting using a novel system for drug encapsulation in biological vesicles. The result is an advanced drug delivery system in a scalable, low-cost production platform that will unlock the potential of protein therapeutics, RNA therapeutics, and small-molecule drugs to all patients. Learn more at: www.mercurybio.com
Contact
Bruce McCormick | Mercury Bio, CEO
b.mccormick@mercurybio.com | +1 (800) 274–8533
