In recent years, the United States has increasingly recognized the flood of synthetic opioids led by fentanyl, not merely as a public health crisis, but as a national security threat.
Just 1 kg of fentanyl can kill up to 500,000 people, and it's analog carfentanil, which is roughly 100 times stronger.
Could theoretically kill tens of millions, enough to devastate entire cities with a quantity small enough to fit in a backpack.
Armor Sciences is responding to this growing threat with the first preventive immunotherapy platform designed to neutralize synthetic drugs, starting with fentanyl before they can cause harm rather than treating overdoses.
After the fact, Armor's approach trains the body's immune system to recognize and block drug threats such as fentanyl.
Joining me to discuss this mission is Colin Gage, the founder and CEO of Armor Sciences.
So welcome, Colin and tell us about Armor Sciences and how you're fighting the fentanyl crisis.
Yeah, yeah, so you know the nation needs improved biosecurity.
We're in this age of AI, and that can lead to the proliferation of new bioweapons, and we're seeing that in the synthetic drug landscape.
So I mean it's, you know, starting with fentanyl, that's our main focus given the tens of thousands that are dying every year, the trillions of dollars that it costs the United States every year.
Um, but eventually we need to we need to shift and start developing solutions for a new drug threats.
So we're seeing many of those now emerge.nitazines were recently in the news and covered very broadly.
We're seeing the threat go beyond just the United States overseas and spreading internationally.
So that's our goal is to really create new preventative long lasting countermeasures for these drug threats.
OK.
And we were talking about, I mean, so many people have been touched by this.
It's just such a big issue.
Your signature product is Armor 100.
That's right.
So tell us how that trains the immune system to neutralize fentanyl and related drugs.
Explain how the science of that works.
Yeah, just when, just like when you're getting sick from an illness and you have an immune response, basically our therapeutic elicits that same immune response and releases what are called protective antibodies, and those antibodies basically form a biological shield against fentanyl and prevent it from attacking your brain.
That's it.
OK, so now armor science isn't just about protecting kids from fentanyl, but first responders are also at risk of exposure.
You don't think about that as much.
How are you working to protect them?
Yeah, so I mean we see reports of first responders having overdose events or perceived overdose events, you know, it's similar to the 1970s or 1980s before first responders were wearing bulletproof vests.
They were going out into the fields unprotected against the potential lethal threat of getting shot.
Now they're dealing with these new synthetic drug threats that there aren't any defenses against, and we need to arm our first responders, our military, to the best of our ability.
So that's what we're focused on.
Yeah, now you've also got impressive leadership resume.
Thank you.
What are you doing with the Department of Defense?
And then, and there's a team also working with Harvard and Scripps Research as well.
So explain all those different.
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
So the Department of Defense, you know, to their credit, I guess the Department of War now, they funded a lot of our early stage research.
So getting these trials off the ground was was really a big move for us, and we've been working on these for the past 6, almost 7 years.
Our product has been shown to block up to 98% of fentanyl from reaching the brain, and 100% of its addictive behavioral effects and its analgesic effects, which is incredibly important because you know if you're someone suffering from opioid use disorder trying to get off the drug, it's important that you have a second chance to basically get better.
In addition to that, as you mentioned, you know, adolescents, college students, military first responders, we want to protect that population from an accidental overdose event.
And we're seeing that happen all too often now.
I mean, in 2022, it was estimated that 22 high school age students alone every single week were killed by fentanyl overdose.
It's hard to imagine. got high school children, so it's absolutely tragic.
That's right.
You expect to IPO either here at the New York Stock Exchange or perhaps at the NASDAQ in the first quarter of next year.
So explain that process.
What should investors know?
How can they follow your progress?
Sure, yeah.
So we're, you know, we're actually in the middle of raising a pre-IPO financing right now.
I can't say too much about the listing or the timing, but we have reserved our stock ticker, which is ARMR Armor for Armor Sciences.
So there'll there'll be more news forthcoming on that front.
You've got the stock ticker, so it's a big.
Colin, thank you so much.
Important work you're doing.
Thanks for coming and explaining.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
