Chris Cardon

TLDR

Chris Cardon is founder and CEO of Ziphius Vaccines, a Ghent-based biopharmaceutical startup developing self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccines, which raised EUR 29.3 million in a Series A round.

Overview

Cardon co-founded Ziphius Vaccines in 2019 alongside Kristof Vercruysse, Mathieu Ghadanfar, and Tom Almey. The company's saRNA platform allows cells to replicate vaccine instructions and amplify the immune response, enabling significantly lower required doses compared to conventional mRNA vaccines. Ziphius has established manufacturing collaborations with UZ Ghent and Charles River Laboratories, and research partnerships with the University of Antwerp on RNA delivery optimization.