- Neion Bio’s Raptor™ platform utilizes cutting-edge genetic engineering to harness nature’s most efficient molecular factories for the production of critical medicines at lower cost, with minimal capital investment, and with a fully localized and resilient supply chain
- Neion Bio has inked a commercial partnership for the co-development and supply of up to three (3) monoclonal antibodies in a deal that includes up-front and milestone payments along with participation in commercial profits
- Neion Bio is led by a multidisciplinary founding team—Demetrios (Dimi) Kellari, Sam Levin, and Sven Bocklandt—and has appointed industry veteran Ming Li to head its commercial operations across the biopharma ecosystem
- Founded in 2024, Neion Bio is backed by leading venture capital firms – its most recent funding round was led by Caffeinated Capital, with significant participation from Basis Set Ventures and Haystack VC, among others
NEW YORK, March 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Neion Bio, a biotechnology company revolutionizing the production of biologic medicines, today announced its emergence from stealth and the signing of its first co-development and supply agreement with a major global pharmaceutical company. Neion’s Raptor™ platform utilizes the latest genetic engineering tools to produce recombinant biologics in eggs, enabling scalable and efficient production of virtually any therapeutic protein. This commercial deal provides Neion with near-term revenue through up-front and milestone payments, along with long-term participation through profit sharing once products are commercialized.
“Biopharma manufacturing has not changed in decades, and has become a major bottleneck in advancing medical breakthroughs, increasing accessibility of existing therapies, and localizing domestic production of critical medicines,” said Dimi Kellari, co-founder and CEO of Neion Bio. “Neion Bio’s platform removes the capital intensity and process constraints of traditional biomanufacturing enabling highly scalable and resilient production while materially lowering the cost of development and supply.”
Neion’s Raptor™ platform harnesses nature’s most powerful molecular factory – the egg – to create a highly reproducible and consistent manufacturing process. Neion re-engineers these self-contained, naturally sterile vesicles to produce virtually any biological therapeutic at an order of magnitude lower costs. The Raptor™ platform enables consistent protein expression, simplified operations, and a level of manufacturing control that is difficult to achieve in traditional cell-culture-based manufacturing. The platform is made possible by recent advances in precision genome engineering, the availability of large genomic data sets, and the ability to grow avian primordial germ cells (“PGCs”).
“Millions of years of evolution have sculpted this system into an extremely prolific producer of complex proteins. By leveraging this natural architecture, we’ve created a fundamentally superior way to produce biological therapeutics,” said Dr. Sam Levin, co-founder and CTO of Neion Bio. “Our platform delivers improved control and scalability versus conventional biomanufacturing without the burden and cost of large steel tanks or disposable plastics. As AI dramatically reduces the time and cost to design breakthrough medicines, we are enabling a pathway to bring these to market far more efficiently and sustainably than traditional manufacturing.”
In conjunction with the company’s emergence from stealth, Neion Bio also announced that industry veteran Ming Li has joined the company after previously serving as an advisor. Li brings more than two decades of experience in building and scaling biopharmaceutical businesses, with a background spanning corporate strategy, business development and capital markets. His appointment reflects Neion’s focus on translating scientific and technological innovation into durable commercial value and expanding its network of strategic collaborations across the biopharma ecosystem.
“I am thrilled to be joining Neion Bio and equally excited that our first commercial agreement comes in the biosimilar space, which is a market and regulatory framework undergoing rapid positive changes,” said Ming Li, Neion’s newly appointed President of Commercial Operations. “As clinical requirements ease for biosimilars, we expect a major increase in investment across the biosimilar sector, and our platform offers the kind of structural advantage companies will need to succeed.”
Neion has brought together a multi-disciplinary team of entrepreneurial scientists to drive its platform forward. Founded by Dimi Kellari and Dr. Sam Levin, the team includes Dr. Sven Bocklandt, the company’s Chief Scientific Officer, formerly of Colossal Biosciences, where he directed genetic engineering efforts central to Colossal’s pioneering de-extinction work.
The company launched in 2024 with approximately $11 million in financing from a consortium of venture capital firms led by Caffeinated Capital with significant participation from Basis Set Ventures and Haystack VC, among others.
About Neion Bio
Neion Bio is pioneering a new era in biomanufacturing, using frontier genetic engineering to harness nature’s most prolific molecular factory – the egg – to produce biological medicines with unprecedented efficiency, scalability, and environmental sustainability. Founded in 2024, Neion aims to dramatically lower the cost of biologics manufacturing to spur biotech innovation and democratize global access to life-changing therapies. Neion’s Raptor™ platform enables localized, resilient domestic manufacturing of critical medicines, strengthening national security while unlocking significant commercial opportunities. Led by a multidisciplinary team of scientists and industry veterans with deep expertise in genetic engineering, biologics manufacturing, and commercialization, Neion is building a platform designed to reset the boundaries of what is possible in biomanufacturing. The company aims to become the partner of choice for upstream biologics manufacturing and deliver transformational advantages for the biotech industry and patients worldwide.
Neion Bio Contacts:
At the heart of Neion’s platform is a vessel honed by 200 million years of evolution to produce and stabilize large quantities of proteins in a sterile environment.
From left to right: Dimi Kellari, Co-Founder and CEO; Sam Levin, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CTO; Ming Li, President, Commercial Operations; and Sven Bocklandt, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, photographed at Neion Bio’s headquarters at Rockefeller University.
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