Astrid Pharma
The Next Frontier of Medicine Lies in Drug Delivery, Not Design

What limitations in drug delivery are affecting the success of modern therapeutic innovations?

Across recent JP Morgan Healthcare Conferences, one theme has kept resurfacing: what comes next? Pipelines are full of powerful therapies such as mRNA, gene editing tools, and precision biologics, but many still stall because they cannot reach the right tissue.

For R Holland Cheng, Chair and Director of Astrid Pharma, and his team, this points to a clear bottleneck in modern medicine: delivery. Up to 90 to 99 percent of promising drug candidates fail because they do not reach their targets effectively.

As therapeutic payloads grow more complex, from mRNA and gene therapies to CRISPR-based editing tools, existing delivery systems are increasingly unable to keep up. Liposome-based approaches can trigger immune responses and lack precise targeting, while adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are limited by safety concerns and immune-mediated constraints on repeat dosing. Even antibody-drug conjugates, though targeted, can struggle to deliver larger or more complex payloads such as nucleic acids.

“From liposomes to AAVs to antibodies, these systems have largely been exhausted,” Cheng explains. “If you look across the industry today, most of them have plateaued, and that is why we are building a new class of delivery platforms designed to overcome these limitations.”

Astrid Pharma is building its case on a clear premise: the future of medicine depends not only on what is designed, but on how it is delivered.

BioCapZ: A Modular, Protein-Based Delivery Platform

How does BioCapZ function as a modular system for delivering diverse therapeutic payloads?

Astrid Pharma’s answer is BioCapZ, a biocompatible, protein-based capsule engineered to carry a wide range of therapeutic payloads. It is synthetic and stripped down to the elements needed for delivery, without the risks of a full viral system.

What sets BioCapZ apart is not only its modularity, but the way it was discovered. It was selected through evolution rather than designed from scratch. Instead of building a delivery system artificially, the team screened thousands of capsid structures using cryo-electron microscopy and selected a particle already optimized by nature for stability and survival in complex biological environments.

Unlike conventional viral vectors, BioCapZ is derived from a highly truncated viral protein, retaining only the structural elements necessary for stability and delivery while removing components that can trigger unwanted immune responses.

The capsule is built around a simple open, load, and close mechanism. Scientists can load DNA, RNA, proteins, or gene-editing tools, then modify its surface with targeting ligands that act as a biological “zip code” directing the payload to specific tissues or disease sites. The capsid assembles into uniform particles of approximately 27 nm, with consistent biophysical properties validated through DLS, SEC, and cryo-electron microscopy.

Structurally, BioCapZ consists of three functional domains that work together to support delivery. The surface domain handles targeting, the shell domain protects the payload, and the middle domain helps the capsule evade immune detection, supporting repeat dosing and sustained effectiveness.

This modularity allows the same platform to be adapted across multiple therapeutic areas without redesigning the entire delivery system.

Mucosal Delivery: A Shift Toward Non-Invasive Medicine

Why is mucosal delivery considered a significant shift in how treatments are administered?

At the core of BioCapZ is a focus on mucosal delivery by targeting the body’s entry points such as the nose, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. BioCapZ is derived from a gastrointestinal-stable capsid that can survive stomach acid, enzymes, and temperature fluctuations while remaining functional, unlike most delivery systems that degrade in these environments. This enables a shift in which treatments can be taken by mouth or nose instead of by injection.

From liposomes to AAVs to antibodies, these systems have largely been exhausted. If you look across the industry today, most of them have plateaued, and that is why we are building a new class of delivery platforms designed to overcome these limitations.”

In early studies, BioCapZ successfully delivered CRISPR gene-editing tools orally to gut cells in mice, showing the potential of non-invasive gene editing.

“The future vaccine may not be a syringe,” says Cheng. “It could be something you drink, like a Coca-Cola.”

Stability Meets Precision in Real-World Delivery

In what way does BioCapZ combine stability and targeting precision in practical applications?

One of BioCapZ’s defining characteristics is its exceptional stability. In one internal test, mRNA-loaded BioCapZ particles were accidentally left in a car during a 100°F summer day for several days. When recovered, the payload remained functional, highlighting a level of robustness rarely seen in current delivery systems. While other mRNA-based therapies require ultra-cold storage, BioCapZ formulations can remain stable at room temperature and tolerate elevated temperatures for extended periods.

The result is a delivery system that is scientifically robust and logistically practical, especially in regions with limited healthcare infrastructure. Oral and intranasal delivery formats also reduce the need for trained personnel and clinical settings.

Beyond stability, BioCapZ is engineered for precision targeting. By modifying the capsule’s surface, researchers can tailor it to recognize specific cell types, tissues, or tumor markers. This reduces off-target effects and improves therapeutic outcomes.

The platform’s flexibility also supports personalized treatment strategies. In oncology, for example, different versions of the capsule can be designed to target variations between tumors in different patients, enabling more individualized interventions.

From Diagnosis to Treatment in a Single Visit

An advanced application of BioCapZ lies in its ability to combine diagnosis and treatment within a single platform, a concept often referred to as theranostics. In a proposed workflow, the capsule can be introduced during a routine colonoscopy, where it selectively binds to tumor tissue. The same patient can then undergo MRI imaging, during which particles loaded with magnetic components highlight tumor locations with high precision.

Using AI-guided ultrasound, those same particles can then be activated to generate localized heat, destroying tumor cells non-invasively, potentially within the same clinical visit. This approach enables hyperthermia tumor treatment, in which magnetic payloads carried by the capsule are selectively heated to eliminate cancer cells with high precision and minimal damage to surrounding tissue.

Astrid Pharma has recently secured two patents covering this approach, including AI-guided imaging for non-invasive treatment and the modification of BioCapZ for targeted magnetic payload delivery.

Scalable Innovation, Clinical Momentum, and Future Impact

From a production standpoint, BioCapZ is designed with scalability and regulatory simplicity in mind. The capsules can be manufactured using standard fermentation systems such as E. coli or insect cells, avoiding the complexities associated with mammalian cell cultures. This approach reduces production costs and simplifies scale-up, making the platform more practical for widespread deployment.

That practicality is beginning to translate into measurable momentum. BioCapZ remains in the preclinical stage, with promising data from animal studies, including mice, pigs, and non-human primates. Its structural precision and reproducibility further strengthen its potential as a reliable next-generation delivery platform. The company is now working with partners to accelerate clinical development, with a focus on safety validation and translational studies that can bridge the gap to human trials.

Today BioCapZ points toward a future in which treatments are not injected but swallowed or inhaled, vaccines remain stable without refrigeration, diagnosis and therapy can happen in a single visit, and advanced medicine is less constrained by infrastructure. From drinkable vaccines to same-day cancer treatment, the question is how soon such systems can be scaled.

At Astrid Pharma, the answer begins with delivery.