Tubewell water quality in flood-prone Bangladesh
Co-authored research measured bacterial contamination in 207 tubewells across three flood-prone areas and examined whether sanitary inspection could predict contamination.
View publication ↗Founder profile · Dr Md Arif Sheikh
From scientistto 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.
Follow the journey↓The entrepreneurial journey
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01
Scientific foundationAcademic & drug-discovery research
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02
Founder decisionTranslate science into useful products
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03
2018 · United KingdomAVIX Pharmaceuticals Limited
T-BoosterHuman immune health
Green AntibioticsAnimal health & AMR
AVIX WaterFunctional hydration
2018AVIX founded in the UK
3 venturesOne founder journey
20+ yearsScientific experience
260 adultsT-Booster human research
01 · The turning point
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 · From water microbiology to product design
Water research came first.AVIX Water came later.
Dr Arif’s early research in Bangladesh included microbiological work on surface water, tubewells and practical water-quality testing. Those studies focused on microbial contamination, not mineral formulation, but they established a direct connection with the realities of water quality, measurement and public-health protection in Bangladesh.
His CV also records work on a UNICEF safe-water project. That experience now sits alongside two decades of molecular science and product development as AVIX Water is built around defined specifications, testing, traceability and responsible communication.
Founder-market fit for AVIX Water: Bangladesh water research, microbiology training, UK scientific development experience and founder-led product execution now meet in one venture.
Practical testing for water quality
Co-authored work assessed the usefulness of a low-cost hydrogen sulfide test for evaluating water quality in Bangladesh against laboratory detection of E. coli.
View publication ↗Surface-water contamination around Dhaka
Early research examined faecal contamination in rivers, lakes and ponds around Dhaka, highlighting the public-health importance of source control and better water quality.
View publication ↗03 · Building AVIX
Three ventures emergedfrom 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.
Functional hydrationManufacturing route
AVIX Water
- Four-product functional-water platform
- Defined mineral + functional composition
- Verification-led manufacturing pathway
Human immune healthHuman research complete
T-Booster
- 18-ingredient immune-health formulation
- Four years of R&D development
- Two controlled studies · 260 adults
Animal health & AMRLaboratory evidence
Green Antibiotics
- Plant-derived antimicrobial combinations
- 41 combinations systematically screened
- Seven leads advanced for development
04 · Founder method
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
- Understand the unmet need
- Define success before product
- Avoid product-first assumptions
Specify the solution
- Specify the formulation
- Make assumptions measurable
- Anchor choices in rationale
Generate evidence
- Use meaningful comparators
- Measure critical outcomes
- Keep limitations visible
Earn the next gate
- Prepare manufacturing and IP
- Align claims with evidence
- Earn the next milestone
05 · Scientific journey
Scientist → drug discoverer→ founder.
A compact view of the scientific and founder journey that now converges in AVIX Water, from microbiology and structural biology through product building and commercial translation.
Scientific strategyProduct developmentTeam buildingCommercial translation