How Franco Vigile’s personal battle with reflux disease led to the creation of N-Zyme Biomedical and a new approach targeting pepsin.
For Canadian biotech entrepreneur Franco Vigile, building a company around reflux disease was never simply a business decision — it came from personal suffering.
After developing laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), a form of reflux that can affect the throat, airway, breathing, sleep, and voice, Vigile found himself trapped in the same cycle many patients experience: medications that did not solve the problem, conflicting medical opinions, restrictive diets, and a condition that gradually began affecting nearly every part of daily life.
The experience pushed him far beyond the role of entrepreneur. It led him deep into the scientific literature surrounding reflux disease and eventually to the work of Dr. Nikki Johnston at the Medical College of Wisconsin, whose research challenged traditional assumptions about reflux and uncovered a new therapeutic approach.
Today, Vigile and Johnston are building N-Zyme Biomedical, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing what they believe could become the world’s first pepsin inhibitor for reflux disease using a repurposed-drug strategy.
In this interview, Vigile discusses the patient experience behind the company, why reflux disease may be far more misunderstood than most people realize, and how personal suffering ultimately became the foundation for a biotech company aimed at helping millions of patients worldwide.
Q: What made this personal for you?
I was a patient long before I was a founder, and I think that changes the way you see everything.
For years, I dealt with chronic GERD and heartburn and eventually became stuck in the same cycle many patients experience — long-term dependence on proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which are potent acid-suppressing medications.
At first, they helped. But over time, symptoms returned, and it was clear they didn’t solve the problem.
That is when things became much more serious for me. I started developing symptoms affecting my throat, breathing, voice, energy levels, and overall quality of life. I was waking up feeling sick constantly, and despite suppressing acid aggressively, the symptoms kept progressing.
What confused me most was that none of it made sense. If acid was the problem, why was I still getting worse while suppressing it?
I spent months going from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was happening. At different points, I was being treated for bacterial infections, allergies, and a range of other possible conditions. I went through rounds of antibiotics and other treatments, but nothing truly explained why the symptoms kept returning.
Eventually, I became frustrated and decided to take my health into my own hands.
I immersed myself in the research and eventually came across laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR. The more I studied it, the more everything started connecting. I began learning about pepsin and the growing body of research suggesting it could play a major role in inflammation and upper airway symptoms many patients experience.
What shocked me was realizing how many people were suffering from this condition while there were still no therapies specifically designed to inhibit pepsin itself.
That moment stayed with me.
I remember thinking: how could millions of patients be living with this disease while the underlying mechanism many researchers were discussing still was not being directly targeted therapeutically?
That question became an obsession for me. It ultimately led me deeper into the science and eventually to Dr. Nikki Johnston’s research at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Q: How did that search lead you to Dr. Johnston?
I became obsessive about understanding the research because I felt like there had to be something missing.
Most of what I found kept repeating the same framework around acid suppression. But then I came across Dr. Nikki Johnston’s work at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and it immediately stood out because it approached the disease differently.
Her research likely explains why so many patients continue to suffer even when acid is being suppressed. For me, it was one of those moments where everything suddenly started making sense.
What struck me most was realizing the science already existed, but nobody was truly building around it in a meaningful way.
I reached out to her directly. We had conversations about the science, the unmet need, and the opportunity to potentially bring something entirely new to patients. Over time, those conversations evolved into building a company together.
Q: You have already built and sold a company. Why take on something this difficult again?
Because this one became personal.
After my previous company, I could have gone in many different directions. But getting sick changed my perspective completely. When you experience a condition firsthand — especially one that impacts your daily life the way this did — you stop viewing it as a business opportunity and start viewing it as a problem that genuinely needs better solutions.
Biotech is incredibly difficult. Drug development takes years, requires enormous perseverance, and comes with constant uncertainty. There have been plenty of setbacks and difficult moments over the last five years.
But suffering creates a different level of conviction.
I kept thinking about the millions of people going through the exact same thing I went through — people searching for answers, trying treatment after treatment, often feeling dismissed or misunderstood along the way.
That is what kept me going during the hardest periods of building the company.
Q: How do you and Dr. Johnston work together?
Our roles are very complementary.
Dr. Johnston is the scientific foundation behind the company. Her decades of research, scientific discoveries, and understanding of the underlying biology are what made this possible in the first place.
I am not a scientist, and I have never tried to present myself as one, but after years of living through this disease and immersing myself in the research, I have come to understand the science fairly well.
My background has been in building, financing, and commercializing early-stage companies. Prior to N-Zyme, I founded HaluGen Life Sciences, a genetic screening company that was later acquired by Entheon Biomedical. Through my work with GENNCO Holdings, I have also worked extensively with emerging growth companies and capital markets.
At N-Zyme, my responsibility is helping build the company, assemble the right people, raise capital, shape the vision, and ultimately help move the science toward patients who need it.
Q: Why does a repurposed-drug strategy fit this mission?
One of the advantages of repurposing is that you are working with a compound that already has existing safety and pharmacology data behind it.
Of course, rigorous clinical trials are still required, and there are never guarantees in drug development, but repurposing can potentially reduce development timelines and lower certain risks compared to starting entirely from scratch.
For me, that matters because patients are suffering right now.
When you have lived through a disease yourself, time starts to feel very different. Every additional year matters. So if there is a responsible and scientifically grounded way to potentially move faster toward helping patients, I believe that is worth pursuing.
Q: Reflux is one of the most common conditions in the world. Why does it still feel misunderstood?
Because the word “reflux” sounds deceptively simple.
People hear it and think about temporary heartburn after a heavy meal. They do not think about chronic throat pain, breathing issues, vocal problems, sleep disruption, inflammation, anxiety, or the way it can slowly wear someone down over time.
A lot of patients feel invisible because their symptoms do not always fit the traditional picture people associate with reflux disease.
Many patients are told to just manage it, reduce stress, change their diet again, or keep cycling through the same treatments that already failed them.
One of the biggest things I want patients to understand is that their suffering is real. They are not imagining it, and they are not alone in it.
Q: What do you want patients to take away from your story?
That they should not lose hope.
I know how isolating it can feel when you are trying everything and still not getting better. I know what it feels like to wonder if anyone truly understands what you are going through.
My experience as a patient is ultimately what pushed me to help build this company in the first place.
I genuinely believe there needs to be more innovation in this space, more awareness around the disease itself, and better solutions for the millions of people still struggling with it every day.
If sharing my story helps even a small number of patients feel understood or gives them hope that progress is being made, then it is worth it.
Q: What is the message you want the business community to understand?
That many of the most meaningful companies are built from real human problems.
This company did not start with a market analysis or trend report. It started with suffering, frustration, and a search for answers.
Over time, that search led to scientific research, a partnership with one of the leading researchers in the field, and eventually the creation of a clinical-stage biotechnology company.
Yes, there is a large market opportunity. Yes, the unmet need is enormous. But underneath all of that is something much more human: millions of people are still suffering, and we are trying to build something that could genuinely improve their lives.
That is the reason N-Zyme Biomedical exists.