CSO & Co-Founder, Maxion Therapeutics (September 2024)

Dr Aneesh Karatt Vellatt is Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder at Maxion Therapeutics Ltd (Cambridge UK), a company focused on developing antibody treatments for diseases driven by ion channels and GPCRs. Dr Karatt Vellatt was also Co-Founder of IONTAS Ltd and holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Key milestones in your career journey to date?

  • At the age of nine, winning a quiz competition led me to accidentally receive a biography of Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, meant for older students. It recounted the remarkable story of how 20 year old Chandrasekhar developed the Nobel-winning theory on the evolutionary fate of stars during his maiden voyage from India to Cambridge. This happy accident ignited my early passion for science.
  • Leaving a small town in tropical Kerala, India, to pursue a master’s in medical biotechnology in the “not-so-tropical” Aberdeen, UK, in 2007.
  • Landing my first job at MedImmune Cambridge (Formerly Cambridge Antibody Technology).
  • Meeting John McCafferty (co-inventor of antibody phage display technology and co-founder of CaT) in a pub at MedImmune Christmas party, which eventually led to my PhD under his supervision at the University of Cambridge.
  • Founding IONTAS with John McCafferty and three others.
  • Inventing KnotBody technology with John McCafferty, founding Maxion, raising pre-series-A of $15M and scaling the company.

Who has had the greatest influence over your career?

  • John McCafferty: I feel incredibly fortunate and privileged to have been mentored by such an innovative scientist—and a great person—so early in my career.
  • Professor Andrew Porter: For introducing me to the world of bio-entrepreneurship.
  • My colleagues at IONTAS: Their exceptional calibre consistently challenged me and inspired me to set and maintain high standards for myself.

What top three attributes make an outstanding and relevant leader in today’s world?

  • Flexible mindset.
  • Ability to spot talent and build high performance teams.
  • Dedication and a strong belief that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Describe your approach to motivating and leading high-performing, multi-generational teams in a flexible hybrid working culture

  • Lead by example.
  • Employ the people with right attitude and shared values.
  • Culture is critical: foster an open and collaborative environment with strong emphasis on integrity and rigour.
  • Provide opportunities for growth and visibility, and reward fairly.
  • Introspect and self-reflect regularly.

Are there particular leadership characteristics which have encouraged greater cultural diversity in your company, resulting in different behaviours and outcomes?

  • We recognise the importance of cultural and behavioural diversity, as well as the need for complementary skill sets. However, rather than relying on rigid policy documents or diversity checklists, our priority has always been to hire the best person for the job. We have also gone the extra mile to bring in the right candidate from abroad when the local talent pool didn’t meet our needs. Over the past year, we’ve grown from 8 to 30 team members, successfully attracting top talent from around the world, with a 50/50 gender split.

What are your learnings from the Biotech Winter which has engulfed the sector since 2022 and are you feeling quietly confident that a thaw is in process?

  • Investors are still cautious and prefer significantly “derisked” or late-stage opportunities, but I am confident that thaw is the process.
  • Focus on delivering the best science/results, the investors will follow.
  • Learn to be capital efficient without compromising progress significantly.

How do you believe the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 2022 will impact the biopharma sector, particularly investor habits? (www.bcg.com/publications/2023/navigating-inflation-reduction-act-impact-on-drug-pricing-innovation)

  • We have yet to see the impact of IRA and it would be interesting to see how long IRA will survive especially in its current form.

What impact will AI make both operationally and across research applications in your business over the next 5 years?

  • We are closely monitoring progress in the field as AI continue to evolve. We hope to integrate useful developments into our operations to enhance the efficiency of our existing workflows wherever it proves beneficial.

How do you switch off and strive for a healthy work/life balance?

  • I enjoy work and it is my hobby, so I rarely switch-off. In the limited time outside of work, I enjoy history, politics, football and doing silly things with family and friends.

Tell me something about your company that you would like to share with the PIR community

  • Maxion Therapeutics is developing novel biologic medicines for ion channels and GPCRs, critical cell surface proteins involved in a wide range of previously untreatable or poorly treated diseases, including autoimmune conditions and chronic pain. Leveraging our proprietary KnotBody technology, we combine the ion channel and GPCR blocking functionality of naturally occurring miniproteins (knowns as knottins) with state-of-the-art protein engineering technologies. This approach enables us to overcome the limitations of conventional methods, offering new hope for patients with unmet medical needs.

What advice would you give your 23-year old self?

  • Celebrate your successes properly and make sure you enjoy the journey.

Words of Wisdom?

  • Best Advice I was given:
    • Credibility is everything—diligently build it, and fiercely protect it.
  • Advice I’d give:
    • Set your sights high, work hard, persevere through challenges, and regularly reflect on your journey to grow stronger and wiser.
  • What I wish I’d known:
    • Seek guidance and mentorship often; you’ll find more people willing to help than you imagined.