Steven C. Quay

Steven C. Quay
Born
Steven Carl Quay

November 1950 (age 75)[1]
Education
Scientific career
Fields
Thesis Regulation of branched-chain amino acid transport in bacteria[2]  (1975)
Dale L. Oxender
Websitedrquay.com

Steven Carl Quay (born November 1950)[1] is an American biopharmaceutical executive and author. He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Atossa Therapeutics.[3] Previously, he founded the medical imaging company Salutar and the drug delivery company Sonus Pharmaceuticals, and led Nastech Pharmaceutical Company as chairman and CEO.[4]

Since 2020, Quay has been a proponent of the lab-leak hypothesis for the origin of SARS-CoV-2, on which he has testified before the United States Congress.[5][6][7]

Early life and education

Quay grew up in Michigan and earned a bachelor's degree in biology, chemistry, and mathematics from Western Michigan University in 1971.[4] He completed graduate study at the University of Michigan Medical School, receiving an MA (1974) and a PhD in biological chemistry (1975) before earning his MD in 1977.[4][8] He then carried out postdoctoral research in the chemistry department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Nobel laureate Har Gobind Khorana, and completed his residency in anatomical pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital.[4][8]

Career

From 1980 to the early 1990s, Quay served on the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine, where he held an appointment in the Department of Pathology, and concurrently practiced as a staff physician at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Medical Center.[5][9] In 1983, while still on the Stanford faculty, Quay founded Salutar, Inc., a California medical imaging company developing chelated-metal contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).[4] Two of the agents developed at Salutar, the gadolinium-based gadodiamide (OmniScan) and the manganese-based mangafodipir (TeslaScan), were ultimately approved by the FDA for clinical use.[10] Salutar was acquired by the Norwegian imaging firm Nycomed in 1990.[4]

In 1991, Quay founded Sonus Pharmaceuticals, a Bothell-based company focused on emulsion- and surfactant-based drug delivery and ultrasound contrast agents, and served as its chairman and chief executive officer through 1999.[10]

In August 2000, Quay was named chairman, president, and CEO of Nastech Pharmaceutical Company, after Nastech acquired his earlier breast health diagnostics venture, the original Atossa HealthCare, Inc.[4] During his tenure, Nastech refocused its intranasal-delivery platform on adapting injectable drugs with billion-dollar markets for nasal administration, and formed joint ventures with companies including Pharmacia and Procter & Gamble.[4] He led the company until 2009.

In 2009, Quay founded Atossa Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Seattle.[3] The company is listed on Nasdaq since 2012.[11]

In 2021, Quay published a book, The Origin of the Virus: The hidden truths behind the microbe that killed millions of people, along with Angus Dalgleish and Paolo Barnard.[12] The book claims that COVID leaked from a Chinese lab.[7] He is also an author of a book named Stay Safe: A Physician's Guide to Survive Coronavirus.

In August 2026, Politico reported that Quay was a candidate to succeed Anthony Fauci as head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.[7] Dr. Quay has 18 pubmed-listed publications in his career of which one manuscript is infectious diseases related,[13] and has never received a NIH award, per NIH Reporter.[14]

Bibliography

Books

  • Quay, Steven; Chen, Shu Chih (2016). Nipple Aspirate Fluid Exfoliative Cytopathology and Molecular Biomarkers: Current Role in the Management of Breast Health. Atossa Genetics. ISBN 978-0-9968496-2-3.
  • Barnard, Paolo; Quay, Steven; Dalgleish, Angus (2021). The Origin of the Virus: The Hidden Truths Behind the Microbe That Killed Millions of People. Clinical Press Limited. ISBN 978-1-85457-106-9.

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 "Steven Carl QUAY personal appointments - Find and update company information". Companies House. Retrieved August 5, 2026.
  2. ↑ https://research-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/biological-chemistry-phd-alumni-10-2024.pdf. Retrieved August 5, 2026. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. 1 2 "Seattle biotech Atossa Therapeutics eyes acquisition of unnamed company".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. Encyclopedia.com.
  5. 1 2 "Origins of COVID-19: An Examination of Available Evidence (S.Hrg. 118-355)". United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. June 18, 2024.
  6. ↑ Choi, Joseph (June 18, 2024). "Senate hearing explores COVID-19 origins: Takeaways". The Hill.
  7. 1 2 3 Levien, Simon; Tim, Röhn (August 4, 2026). "A lab-leak proponent is in line for Fauci's old job". Politico. Retrieved August 5, 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Steven Quay". Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan. June 21, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Letter Seeking International Inquiry Into Origins of the Coronavirus". The New York Times. March 4, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Steven C. Quay (April 26, 2005). "Wall Street Transcript interview" (Interview). The Wall Street Transcript.
  11. ↑ "Sinking stock threatens Atossa's place on the Nasdaq".
  12. ↑ Sadar, Anthony J. (October 28, 2021). "BOOK REVIEW: 'The Origin of the Virus'". The Washington Times.
  13. ↑ "Pubmed Steven C Quay Search". Pubmed.gov. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved August 7, 2026.
  14. ↑ NIH Reporter. National Institutes of Health https://reporter.nih.gov/search/Gdsp8S7u2kWsApaOO8wOiQ/projects?shared=true. Retrieved August 7, 2026. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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