Dr Md Arif Sheikh
Founder & Chief Executive · AVIX Pharmaceuticals Limited- Scientific foundation
- PhD · Molecular & Structural Biology
- Company founded
- AVIX Pharmaceuticals Limited · 2018
- Founder focus
- Science translation · venture building
FOUNDER PROFILE · DR MD ARIF SHEIKH
From scientist
From scientist
to entrepreneur.
After years in academic research, Dr Sheikh chose to move beyond studying scientific problems and start building solutions around them. In 2018, he founded AVIX Pharmaceuticals Limited in the UK — the beginning of an entrepreneurial journey that now spans three science-led ventures.
2018AVIX founded in the UK
3 venturesOne founder journey
20+ yearsScientific experience
41 → 7Green Antibiotics screening
01 ·The turning pointLeaving academia
Leaving academia
to build with science.
Academic science gave Dr Sheikh the discipline to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions and understand biological systems at molecular level. Over time, however, the question that mattered most became what happened after discovery: could scientific thinking survive the practical demands of formulation, testing, manufacturing and ultimately become useful in the real world?
That question changed the direction of his career. In 2018 he founded AVIX Pharmaceuticals Limited in the United Kingdom — not to step away from science, but to carry it further, from rationale into specified products and from ideas into evidence-generating programmes.
AVIX was conceived as more than a home for one product. The founder thesis was to build a repeatable capability: identify an important problem, design a reasoned solution, test what matters, keep the limits visible and create a credible pathway towards manufacture, partnership and market.
“I left academia because I wanted science to make a difference beyond the laboratory.”
02 ·Building AVIXThree ventures emerged
Three ventures emerged
from one founder conviction.
The problems are very different, but the founder logic is deliberate: start with a real need, let science shape the solution, generate the next proof and advance only as far as the evidence justifies.
Animal health & AMRLaboratory evidence
Green Antibiotics
- Plant-derived antimicrobial combinations
- 41 combinations systematically screened
- Seven leads advanced for development
Human immune healthHuman research complete
T-Booster
- 18-ingredient immune-health formulation
- Four years of R&D development
- Two controlled studies · 260 adults
Functional hydrationManufacturing route
AVIX Water
- Four-product functional-water platform
- Defined mineral + functional composition
- Verification-led manufacturing pathway
Three categories, three evidence stages and three different routes to market — connected by one discipline: define the problem, design precisely, test honestly and advance deliberately.
Explore the AVIX portfolio →03 ·Founder methodScience sets the direction.
Science sets the direction.
Execution builds the venture.
AVIX is not built on the idea that science alone creates value. Value appears when scientific discipline survives the work of specification, evidence, manufacturing, partnership and market entry without allowing the story to outrun the data.
Choose the problem
Start with a problem worth solving.
- Understand the unmet need
- Define success before product
- Avoid product-first assumptions
Specify the solution
Turn rationale into a testable solution.
- Specify the formulation
- Make assumptions measurable
- Anchor choices in rationale
Generate evidence
Test what matters with clear evidence.
- Use meaningful comparators
- Measure critical outcomes
- Keep limitations visible
Earn the next gate
Progress only when evidence supports it.
- Prepare manufacturing and IP
- Align claims with evidence
- Earn the next milestone
04 ·Green Antibiotics as founder execution
A scientific idea carried into a defined antimicrobial programme.
Green Antibiotics is the clearest current expression of the founder method inside AVIX animal health: define the problem, screen systematically, show the data and build the next validation steps around what the evidence actually supports.
The programme has progressed from 41 screened combinations to seven selected leads, with controlled in-vitro results against resistant clinical isolates and a structured next-stage plan covering quantitative microbiology, safety, formulation and poultry validation.