What You Should Know:
– Biopharma startup Rubedo Life Sciences raises $12M to develop a broad portfolio of innovative therapies engineered to target cells for chronic age-related diseases.
– Rubedo’s proprietary ALEMBIC™ drug discovery platform, has generated a novel pipeline of therapeutic candidates that selectively target senescent cells, pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic cell populations that result from a variety of cellular stress and damage.
Rubedo Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing first-in-class therapies targeting senescent cells that drive age-related diseases has raised $12M in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Longevity Fund, Refactor Capital, Shanda, and additional investors.
Medicines Customized for Age-Related Diseases
Rubedo’s ALEMBIC™ drug discovery platform is based on a synergy between sophisticated computational and chemistry strategies. This hybrid platform enables the discovery and development of novel first-in-class engineered small molecules, such as prodrugs, designed to selectively target senescent cells, which play a key role in the progression of chronic disorders.
Senescent Cells
Rubedo’s drug discovery platform has generated a novel pipeline of therapeutic candidates that selectively target senescent cells, pro-inflammatory, and pro-fibrotic cell populations that result from a variety of cellular stress and damage. Any cells in the human body can become “senescent” over time. While in this irreversible senescence state, cells remain metabolically active but stop replicating and growing. Senescent cells release cytokines and other toxins into the bloodstream, driving chronic inflammation, which plays a key role in driving disease progression, in fibrotic diseases such as IPF, and tumor progression in cancer.
Expansion Plans
The funding will be used to advance the company’s lead candidates in respiratory diseases with a significant unmet medical needs, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition, Rubedo will advance preclinical candidates in oncology, followed by neurodegenerative conditions, skeletal muscle disorders, and other age-related diseases. Rubedo expects to file IND application next year and initiate first-in-human clinical trials targeting senescent cells in pulmonary disorders such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“We’re delighted to attract such a strong group of investors, led by Khosla Ventures. This significant influx of financing will allow us to advance development of our pipeline, as we move our lead products toward clinical development,” said Marco Quarta, CEO & Co-Founder of Rubedo Life Sciences.
