altrix-bio-logo-horiz
CONTACT
CONTACT

A Founding Team With a Personal Stake

Our science is personal. Our motivation is urgent.

The story of AltrixBio begins with three founders who didn't set out to build a company.

They set out to solve a problem they couldn't ignore.

Nancy Briefs, MBA

Co-Founder & Executive Chair of the Board

  • Six venture-backed companies launched, including one IPO
  • Deep experience in fundraising, product development, regulatory, and commercialization
  • Board member for several companies 
  • Serial entrepreneur who led seven companies with over $500M raised 

Nancy lost both her parents to type 2 diabetes. She built AltrixBio to bring AJN003 to market, but also to build the structure, team, and strategy required to scale a platform company in one of the world's most important therapeutic spaces.

Ali Tavakkoli, MD

Co-Founder

  • Chief, Division of Advanced GI and General Surgery, Mass General Brigham
  • Co-Director, Center for Weight Management and Wellness, Brigham and Women's Hospital
  • Francis D Moore Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Tavakkoli is a minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon who was fascinated by the observation that many patients with diabetes undergoing weight loss surgery discontinued diabetes treatment immediately after surgery, and before losing any significant weight.  Having witnessed the devastating impact of diabetes firsthand — including within his own family, he was compelled to investigate the underlying mechanisms driving this rapid improvement. As an NIH-funded investigator, his research laid the scientific foundation for AJN003.

Jeff Karp, PhD

Co-Founder

  • Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
  • Principal Faculty Member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute
  • Faculty member at the Broad Institute and at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
  • Prolific inventor with over 100 insured or pending patents and seven companies founded, $400M+ raised

Dr. Karp solved a technical problem of how to create a non-binding, transient coating that adheres safely to healthy tissue of the stomach and proximal bowel. His materials science innovation made the AJN003 platform feasible.