Still Velocity develops engineered proteins that vitrify biologic medicines into a stable glass, eliminating the need for refrigeration and cold‑chain logistics. By designing synthetic analogs of tardigrade disordered proteins, their platform protects vaccines and other fragile biologics at ambient temperature and restores full activity when rehydrated. This technology can reduce cold‑chain costs by up to 50%, potentially saving billions in wasted doses each year.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Biologic drugs such as vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and mRNA therapeutics require strict temperature control, and a large share of these products are lost or incur high logistics costs due to cold‑chain failures.
Solution
Velocity creates synthetic, intrinsically disordered proteins that vitrify when dried, forming a solid glass matrix around a biologic payload. This matrix protects the drug from heat and time, allowing it to be stored and shipped at ambient temperature. When rehydrated, the glass dissolves and releases the biologic unchanged, preserving its efficacy. The protein excipient is co‑formulated with the drug without altering the drug molecule or existing manufacturing processes, making it a drop‑in solution for a range of modalities. By eliminating the need for refrigeration, the technology can halve cold‑chain logistics costs and reduce product waste.
Target Audience
Primary customers are pharmaceutical companies developing biologic therapeutics and vaccines that currently rely on cold‑chain logistics, as well as contract manufacturing organizations seeking a drop‑in excipient to enable ambient‑stable formulations.
Features
- De‑novo designed protein excipients that self‑assemble into a fibrous mesh and transition to a stable glass upon drying
- Intrinsically disordered protein architecture ensures no covalent bonding or chemical modification of the biologic payload
- Ambient‑stable formulation compatible with monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, mRNA‑LNPs, and cell/gene therapies
- Simple rehydration step restores the biologic to its original state without loss of activity
- Platform approach with a library of >3,700 novel protein sequences evaluated through an in‑silico pipeline
- Licensing model enables pharmaceutical partners to incorporate the excipient into their own products without additional manufacturing changes