Johan Wikström, co-founder and CEO of Tolka AI Therapeutics, has been on a mission to tackle one of humanity’s most pressing health challenges – antibiotic resistance. His personal battle with a superbug infection for 15 years has driven him to create a company dedicated to finding a solution through phage therapy, an alternative to antibiotics.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global threat, with the World Health Organization predicting it will surpass cancer in terms of mortality in the near future. Mycobacterium abscessus, the bacterium causing Wikström’s infection, is particularly resistant to antibiotics and more prevalent in South Florida than anywhere else in the United States. “This is the place where it’s really common,” Wikström said, highlighting the local relevance of their work.
Tolka is developing a platform to address this issue using bacteriophages, which are viruses that specifically target and kill bacteria. Unlike broad-spectrum antibiotics, which can harm beneficial bacteria, phages are highly targeted. “They are laser-focused and do not disrupt your entire microbiome,” Wikström explained. However, the specificity of phages requires personalization for each patient’s bacterial strain, posing a significant challenge for scalable treatment.
The founding team of Tolka AI brings a diverse set of skills to tackle this challenge. Wikström, an ex-Google engineer with a background in medical engineering, initially co-founded the company with his wife, Keqing Li, a physician. After a year, Keqing returned to her regular job as a resident physician at Larkin Hospital, and the team was joined by Volodymyr Kulchytskyi, a software engineer who also came from Google, and Thomas Hunt, a microbiologist with over a decade of lab experience and a former Thiel Fellow. They are supported by a board of advisors including physicians and researchers.
The team’s innovative approach combines robotics and machine learning to automate the labor-intensive process of phage therapy. “We are replacing human labor with automation and human decisions with software that learns, making our therapy better over time,” Wikström explained. This continuous improvement contrasts sharply with antibiotics, which become less effective as bacteria develop resistance.
In their first year and a half, Tolka has made significant strides. They established a microbiology lab, isolated several bacteriophages, and manufactured medical-grade versions. Wikström himself was the first patient, experiencing a significant reduction in his bacterial strain. This early success sets Tolka apart from many biotech startups that take years and millions of dollars to achieve clinical evidence.
“We’ve raised some angel funding and are now in the process of securing seed funding,” Wikström said. The funds will be used to treat more patients, refine their manufacturing process, and collaborate with physicians globally. “In the next year and a half, we plan to treat five to ten more patients and have key meetings with the FDA to agree on our future clinical trial strategy,” Wikström added.
As they continue to develop and refine their platform, Tolka represents a promising addition to Miami’s growing biotech ecosystem. Their innovative approach to one of the world’s most critical health challenges shows the potential for tech-driven solutions to make a significant impact on global health.
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