What was the motivation behind your business idea?
Rejuvenate Bio’s technology originated in the lab of co-founder George Church, Ph.D., as part of our co-founder Noah Davidsohn’s postdoctoral research into the genetics of aging. We hypothesized that providing combinations of three longevity-associated genes (FGF21, sTGFβR2, and αKlotho) via gene therapy would combat age-related diseases and confer health benefits.
These three genes are a cornerstone of Rejuvenate Bio’s approach They have previously been shown to impart increased health and lifespan benefits in mice that were genetically engineered to overexpress them. At Rejuvenate Bio, we are using combination gene therapy to reverse aging in people—and in dogs.
we’re fortunate to double-dip on our data, data generated in our preclinical data packages for humans also allows us to create products in the animal health market
What stresses do you feel in being the founder of a start up in the healthcare space?
Speaking as a founder of a life sciences startup, one key focus area is making sure we’re growing our team with exceptional talent and also making sure we have enough funding. Unlike some other companies, we’re fortunate to double-dip on our data, data generated in our preclinical data packages for humans also allows us to create products in the animal health market. We’ve also been able to secure non-dilutive grant funding recently, which is also a huge advantage.
At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics?
Our immediate goals surround advancing our pipeline to make an impact in patients’ lives. Specifically, we are driving towards filing INDs for our first two human clinical trials and receiving conditional approval for our first therapeutic for treating the leading type of heart failure in dogs. Longer term we have multiple R&D efforts surrounding creating epigenetic reprogramming based therapies.
What specific experience in prior roles gave you the confidence/ experience to roll the dice?
I received my undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and business from Caltech. I joined Honeywell Aerospace as a systems engineer focused on creating and testing Environmental Control Systems. I also incorporated Intelligent Mobility International (IMI), a 501c3 non-profit working to bring better mobility solutions to the developing world. At IMI, I quickly realized that science and engineering could not make scalable impacts on their own. Robust business models and product market fit was also needed to ensure the innovative solution can reach as many people as possible.
I obtained my M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (HBS) to be a better translator of science and industry. After HBS, I was selected as a Blavatnik Fellow in Life Science, a fellowship aimed at commercializing technology from Harvard research labs. Before founding this venture, I was a co-founder and Business Development Lead at Voxel8, where I coordinated two different financing rounds totaling in excess of $14M, and led the finance and marketing teams. At Voxel8, I also secured and managed $1.5M of federal funding from In-Q-Tel. Voxel8 was named one of the top 9 innovations at CES and one of the top 50 most innovative companies by the MIT Technology Review. I then co-founded Rejuvenate Bio with my college friend Noah with the mission of making humans live longer, healthier disease-free lives.
Do you like to be in a leadership role?
I do. I view my role as setting the direction for the company and removing roadblocks for our world-class scientific teams. It is amazingly rewarding to work with innovative and dedicated people on such a large challenge.
How has the value of what your company offers evolved over time?
The longer we have worked in the aging space the more convinced we have become that increasing the quality of life of patients is paramount. We are dedicated to the pursuit of therapies that generally increase the overall health of our patients. Our first therapy has demonstrated an ability to treat four different age-related conditions in mice and has progressed into dogs. This ability to create therapies with a laundry list of benefits instead of negative side effects is the power of focusing on aging.
Have there been any pivot points in the company’s lifetime? What triggered these?
We always follow the data. On day one I would not have been able to tell you what particular indications or what particular treatments we have ended up working on, but our consistent focus on producing and listening to high-quality data has always been our north star.
Any moments where you thought it was all over? What happened next?
I think for any startup company, you’re always focused on the next key milestone. For us, securing our Series A financing was a huge milestone. In April 2019, we closed a $13.5M Series A round from Kendall Capital Partners, gene therapy pioneer and AskBio president of therapeutics Katherine High, M.D., V Capital, Kdt Ventures, and Digitalis Ventures.
Talk us through the...
Funding Process: In April 2021, we closed a $13.5M Series A from Kendall Capital Partners, gene therapy pioneer and AskBio president of therapeutics Katherine High, M.D., V Capital, Kdt Ventures and Digitalis Ventures.
We have partnered with the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine to run a pilot trial in the leading type of heart failure in dogs called Mitral Valve Disease(MVD)
Partnerships that have been instrumental: Phibro Animal Health collaboration supports the therapy of RJB-01 in Mitral Valve Disease. Phibro assumes all commercial responsibilities, and this enables our company to have a robust royalty on sales and key commercial data to advance to human clinical trials. MVD is a death sentence with current treatments, caused by a malfunction of the Mitral Valve, which causes Congestive Heart Failure. 7% of all dogs (1.4M) are afflicted with MVD, and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have incidences approaching 80%. Our therapy is administered by any general practitioner intravenously to dogs in stage B2 of heart failure and should stop the progression of heart failure and cause no adverse effects.
We have partnered with the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine to run a pilot trial in the leading type of heart failure in dogs called Mitral Valve Disease(MVD). This partnership has been a great opportunity to work with a world-class team on treating a life-threatening illness in dogs all the while generating compelling data for our human programs.
Special Operations Command of the US Department of Defense has awarded Rejuvenate Bio eight different grants totaling over $12M. This funding has been instrumental in the growth and continued development of Rejuvenate Bio’s technology.
Best advice you got along the way?
Do not be a hammer in search of a nail, not as much about the problem you are solving as how you will solve it.
Advice to others wondering whether to take the leap and when not to.
Take the plunge if you are truly passionate about an area. Successful founders come with many backgrounds and skill sets, but the ones that succeed stick it out through the hard times.
Where you’d like to be in 5 years? How are you planning to get there?
Specific milestones change, but we are always focused on improving and learning from our mistakes. We have found when we embody that mindset we often make drastic progress
