Tick-Derived Therapeutic Molecules With Akari Therapeutics' Rachelle Jacques

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Ticks are a scourge. They're vectors of multiple serious an debilitating diseases, and evolution has made them perfectly adept at attaching to their hosts—and potentially spreading those diseases virtually undetected— that ability owing to anti-inflammatory and anesthetic proteins in their saliva. But the emerging biotech Akari Therapeutics thinks there's a broad range of medicinal value in those proteins. They've painstakingly developed a recombinant version of one such tick saliva-derived protein, called nomacopan, and put it to work in phase 3 trials to treat rare but deadly severe hematopoietic stem cell transplant-related thrombotic microangiopathy (HSCT-TMA). On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Akari President & CEO Rachelle Jacques tells us about the redeeming qualities of tick saliva and how her company is putting it to work. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: [email protected] Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/