VFDP-8 VITA-FAST Project Lead Re-Election: Oliver Armitage

TL/DR Oliver Armitage @oearmitage is being nominated by Logan Bishop-Currey to take over from Logan Bishop-Currey, as the project is ready for drug discovery activities and Oliver is an experienced Chief Scientific Officer who can execute these tasks quickly and efficiently. A change to compensation structure will apply, and will include a mixture between hourly rate fiat compensation and token compensation linked to deliverables.

Background The vita-fast project has reached a milestone phase, whereby 3 lead series have been identified and are ready for follow up activities. These 3 lead series are commercially available, and therefore need to be optimized from both an efficacy and a patentability perspective. The project is at a stage now where it can graduate from solely the university, and requires the inclusion of industry partners, such as contract research organizations (CROs) to get it to the next value inflection point. In addition, the project requires someone who has experience driving projects forward at this stage of development.

The current contract with Newcastle University runs until Dec2024, and from now until then, the goal is to: Determine whether or not it’s possible to make derivatives from these series that are capable of inducing autophagy in NPC1 -/- cells Determine disease-relevant readouts to include for measures of efficacy for development of drug candidates for NPC1 Initial work into the mechanism of action of 1 or more lead series (scope still TBD)

A forward looking project aim is to define the strategy and steps for New Chemical Entity (NCE) IP filing once the above is completed.

Proposal Based on the successful advancement of the project, and in line with values of bringing in the right expertise at the right time, this proposal will outline why Oliver Armitage is the perfect candidate to replace Logan Bishop-Currey as project leader for this next phase of the project.

Expertise Based on experience in this project leader role, it’s clear that both biotech and web3 skills and knowledge are required, especially at a stage now where the project requires someone who can hit the ground running from day 1. Oliver not only has 9 years of Founder/CSO experience at his tech-bio start-up BIOS Health to lean on, but he has also been an active contributor to the VitaDAO Dealflow working group since December 2023. Being intimately familiar with the DAO processes, workflows, people, and technology, Oliver is extremely well positioned to make a meaningful impact in this role in a short amount of time.

In addition, if the current activities in the project produce successful results (i.e. promising lead candidates to continue development), then a new fundraising round will be required to bring in additional capital to advance the science forward, and patents for the new chemical matter will need to be filed. At BIOS Health, Oliver raised >$16M in funding, was granted 10 patents, published 6 papers, and closed 3 co-development deals with top 10 pharma and device companies. Based on his experience, he will be able to manage not only the technical side of the project, but also the financial, and stakeholder management aspects as well.

Academic and Professional Background BIOS Health: Chief Scientific Officer, Founder, Board Director May 2015 - Present - PhD in Tissue Engineering from University of Cambridge. - Led an $8 million R&D program on AI precision medicine therapy involving Vagus Nerve Stimulation for heart failure, transitioning from animal trials to clinical trials with notable improvements over medical state of the art. - Organized and directed Scientific Advisory Boards comprising key scientific, medical, and executive professionals. - Secured and managed $5.2 million in non-dilutive grants from the US, UK, and Canada for projects spanning neural interfacing, machine learning, and precision health monitoring. - Drove business development, securing four paid co-development projects with diverse organizations including military, international medical device companies, and top pharmaceutical firms. - Built and led a multidisciplinary team of 40 members over eight years, achieving several accolades, including WIRED Health Startup of the Year. - Handled cross-functional team leadership across engineering, science, regulatory, and quality assurance, including conducting FDA meetings.

Compensation As we have seen in other projects funded and run by VitaDAO, token-based compensation alone is not sufficiently incentivizing to drive projects forward efficiently. A mix of token and cash-like incentives may be more suitable for attracting top talent and moving projects along in a timely manner.

The VFDP-9 proposal outlines the rationale for a change in compensation structure. To allow more time for the token compensation part to be finalized, the cash-like compensation aspect of the proposal has been included in VFDP-8, so as to allow Oliver to concretely allocate his time to the project and start immediately.

Cash-like: monthly compensation at an hourly rate of USD $100/h capped at 10h/week Payment schedule: last Friday of each month Requirement: Project Lead submits a time sheet documenting hours spent and activities performed per month to community Allocation: paid from WETH balance in wallet Token compensation: Project lead will receive an additional token-based compensation subject to a quarterly performance review. The exact figures and terms will be outlined in a forthcoming proposal to be shared with the community no more than 2-weeks following the approval of VFDP-8.

Conclusion VITA-FAST would benefit immensely from the expert guidance of Oliver Armitage as project leader. Oliver's career is marked by his leadership in developing innovative precision medicine therapies, his ability to secure significant funding, and his involvement in high-level business development and investment evaluation in the biotech field. Not only would the science benefit from his leadership, but also the community. As someone who is already an active DAO contributor, Oliver would be the source of knowledge and guidance for anyone interested in learning more about this project, and drug development more broadly. This change to the compensation structure of the VITA-FAST project lead is in line with linking compensation to performance and gives increased visibility and accountability measures to the community, to ensure that contributors are executing the project in an effective and timely manner. A follow up proposal will outline the token compensation part in more detail.