Todd Rider is an MIT-trained bio-engineer. Four years ago, He developed a radical idea for killing viruses. Initial test results showed that his therapy could kill every virus thrown at it. It killed 15 viruses in human cells and 2 in mice.
He called his therapy DRACO. Along the next four years, things didn’t go as planned. His discovery might have been one of the biggest in medicinal history since the discovery of antibiotics. Rider moved from lab to lab saying he couldn’t raise enough money to continue testing DRACO. After working on his project for 16 years, he has found himself in what he calls, “the funding valley of death”.
Because this might be a world changing discovery, Rider has turned to the internet for help. He launched an Indiegogo campaign on October 13 to raise $100,000. He says this is what he needs to restart his work, though it is actually only a fraction of what he needs. After two months, he was halfway there. The campaign was extended. There is no way to know if early stage DRACO can do what Rider hopes, but we also may never get to see.