Ergon Pharmaceuticals has a simple approach to science. It starts by identifying a specific unmet medical need and asks the question how metabolism drives disease.
Using AI-based platforms, it identifies key immune cells influencing disease outcomes and works to understand which metabolic pathways drive their functions. It then designs small organic enhancers that amplify the desired properties of the immune cell population of interest.
The company tests its products extensively in accepted in vitro and in vivo systems and works tirelessly to optimize them. Our scientific personnel specializes in the metabolism of T cells and macrophages and has an in-depth understanding of the role of these cells in health and disease.
Our Approach
Our Story
We are a group of chemists and biologists, motivated by the pursuit of excellence, inspired by technology, and dedicated to advancing healthcare by translating scientific observations to practical applications. Understanding immune cells and their role that play in health and disease has been our passion. Studying metabolism has provided us with the tool to modify, enhance, amplify, blunt, or redirect the function of immune cells towards desired therapeutic outcomes.
Our Team
Adonia E. Papathanassiu, PhD is the founding member and research director of Ergon Pharmaceuticals, where she focuses on developing small organic molecule inhibitors for previously unappreciated druggable targets in cancer and inflammatory diseases. She is recognized for her pioneering work on ACOD1 and BCAT1 and the development of several preclinical and clinical reagents for studying these proteins. Having been trained as a chemist and a tumor biologist, she possesses an extensive experience in managing complicated projects of diverse background. She is the inventor of numerous patents and patent applications in US and abroad.
Weixing Li, PhD serves as a scientific advisor on drug design and development. Dr. Li has extensive experience (over 30 years) in Medicinal Chemistry and preclinical drug development and has served as an employee and consultant for numerous pharmaceutical companies including Abbott Laboratories, Guilford Pharmaceuticals, MGI Pharma, Othera Pharmaceuticals, and Combi-Blocks. His work includes the synthesis of novel enzymatic inhibitors, providing solutions to process development issues, and the use of chemistry to improve specific properties of existing drug candidates including enancement of bioavailability or delivery to compartmentalized tissues like eye and brain. He has co-authored numerous publications and has been awarded several patents.
Shawn J. Green, PhD has a passion for early-stage life science and has served as an advisor to numerous emerging companies. He was on the founder's team as Sr. Vice President of R&D at EntreMed (NASDAQ: CASI), a biotechnology company focused on developing anti-angiogenesis strategies for the treatment of cancer and advanced two drug candidates into clinical trials. He co-founded and served as VP of Research at Maxcyte (NASDQ: MXCT; a spin-out of EntreMed) a clinical-stage medical device company focused on cell-based therapeutics. In partnering with IBM Life Sciences John Wiley & Son, Fujitsu, and Itochu, he founded XML Labook, an online bioinformatics platform to integrate and share targeted data for research scientists. His passion for small companies prompted him to serve as the President of the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), a 501(c)(3) biomedical technology organization dedicated to accelerating medical solutions for military and civilian use. In partnership with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), MTEC connects academia, industry, and government to deliver innovation that improve the health of those who serve. Early in his career, Dr. Green served in the Medical Service Corp at Walter Reed and published the first series of papers on the regulation of nitric oxide and received several life science awards on this work including the Meritorious Service Medal from the US Army. His early research inspired him to created Berkeley Test, the first-patented saliva test for nitric oxide, invented Berkeley Life, and co-developed second generation nitric oxide nutraceutical, Vascanox, provided by Calroy Health Sciences. He is currently focusing on plant-based, functional food-derived solutions that address nitric oxide deficiencies and related cardiovascular pathologies. He has been awarded several patents and has published over 100 articles in such journals as, Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Cancer Research, Journal of Immunology.