Rezq Bio’s Dendritic Cell Therapy Offers Hope in the Fight Against Autoimmune Disorders
Arjun Hattiangadi, Dr. David Finegold, and their research team have shown promising early results using innovative cell therapy to stop autoimmune attacks at the source. Their growing body of work offers new possibilities for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune conditions.
Investors, learn how you can back Health Transformers like Arjun Hattiangadi and David Finegold, MD.
Challenge
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
How do you cure the body when it is the body itself that is the problem? That is the complicated challenge immunologists and geneticists have to solve when it comes to autoimmune disease. Whether it’s Type 1 diabetes, IBD, multiple sclerosis, or any of a host of other conditions, the body’s immune cells receive false signals to attack its own healthy tissue, instead of protecting against invading organisms and infectious agents.
Autoimmune disorders are on the rise, with an estimated growth of between 3–9% each year. For Type 1 diabetes in the United States, the numbers are even more startling — the CDC released a report indicating an almost 30% increase in Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the US in just the past two years, with the highest rate of growth in the youth population. Environmental factors such as diet, exposure to certain chemicals and substances, and smoking are considered to blame for the rising numbers, although researchers and scientists are still trying to unravel the causes.
Whatever the origin, once the immune cells begin to attack healthy tissue, it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Take Type 1 diabetes, for example: something triggers the body’s T-cells to attack the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas which then trains other cells in the body, specifically young dendritic cells, to continue this attack. Dendritic cells act as the captain of the immune systems — they tell the white blood cells what to fight. When immature dendritic cells are exposed to an attack on insulin production, they then mature into captains that tell the immune system to continue the assault on insulin production.
The question is, how do you keep the switch from flipping in these cells that tell them to attack? Or, once those switches have been activated, how do you reprogram them and turn them off?
Origin Story
Arjun Hattiangadi is used to explaining complicated scientific enterprises. For several years, he served as the director of healthcare portfolio development and management at UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), evaluating and overseeing investments in emerging medical technologies and interventions. An entrepreneur and investor with both biotech and software experience, Hattiangadi has seen the gamut when it comes to new ventures. He has a good read on the shortcomings and adversities many well-intentioned efforts face and is accordingly discerning.
But when colleague David Finegold, MD, pediatrician and professor of genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, approached him with a life-changing therapy for Type 1 diabetics, it was hard not to get involved. Dr. Finegold had overseen the successful phase 1A trial with his collaborators Drs. Massimo Trucco and Nick Giannoukakis, Head and Lead Researcher of the Institute of Cellular Genetics at Allegheny General respectively. The trio’s decades of pioneering work in the study of tolerogenic dendritic cell therapy for autoimmunity, put them further along than anyone else in answering the question of how to retrain those dendritic “captain” cells so they no longer signaled the T-cell troops to attack.
“This is what made it exciting; brilliant people with novel science backed by very promising trial results.”
The preclinical and phase 1A testing results not only established the safety of the procedure (the goal for such trials), but even saw some promising signals. Mice with diabetes involved in preclinical trials saw their diabetes reversed and needed no insulin. Even more striking, in the phase 1A safety trial, some patients who started with zero insulin production began secreting C peptide (a marker of insulin production) and one persistently for the year-long duration of the trial; all from just one course of treatment. This was significant as the patients in the safety trial were long standing Type 1 diabetes patients, and no insulin production was even hoped for.
“We hadn’t seen that elsewhere,” says Hattiangadi. “Everything about the study was incredibly positive, especially when compared to other therapies. We saw insulin production and minimal side effects.”
Under the Hood
Rezq Bio’s lead asset is a phase 1B/2A ready dendritic cell therapy intervention for the treatment of early-onset T1D. Built on the work of Drs. Trucco, Giannoukakis, and Finegold, Rezq Bio looks to arrest or reverse T1D and other localized autoimmune conditions, by stopping required signals in dendritic cells that tell the immune system to attack healthy parts of the body. In turning off this autoimmune attack, it is also hoped the treatment could be used for T1D prevention as well as combined with cell-replacement therapies for those with long established diabetes.
Here’s how it works: first the patient’s own dendritic cells are removed through a process called leukapheresis that extracts white blood cells while returning blood and plasma to the patient. Then these dendritic cells are modified to become tolerogenic, meaning they no longer promote T-cells to attack insulin producing cells. Then, these modified dendritic cells are injected near the pancreas, where they have a localized effect and avoid systemic complications.
For Dr. Finegold, the project offers his patients something he’s wanted to give them his entire career: hope. There are no approved therapies that exist that can reverse or stop the progression of T1D. Even when managed with insulin, complications like heart disease, kidney issues, and vascular problems are common. Dendritic cell therapy represents a chance to stop T-cells from attacking insulin production for good.
Although the founders are starting with T1D, the intervention could work with other localized autoimmune disorders and they’ve already completed strong preclinical studies for colitis. As they build investment partnerships, they plan to attack their laundry list of other conditions. For now, the priority is determining the efficacy of their intervention for patients. To that end, Rezq Bio is set up for rapid trial initiation, with their phase 1B/2A trial design previously approved by the FDA with the University of Pittsburgh as their manufacturing partner.
“It’s not a sprint,” Hattiangadi emphasizes. “It’s never as quick or easy as one would like, but we have the science, results, and growing team to get us where we need to go.”
Our Thoughts
Rezq Bio has the research bonafides and the dedication to their mission to see their revolutionary intervention through to the end. Their early clinical results are incredibly promising and they have a time and tech advantage over their competition. They also have a clear idea of how to build out their team to walk the road ahead, recently rounding out their team of scientists and academic advisors with people experienced navigating the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA. We’re proud to support this work that has the chance to reverse or stop T1D in its tracks.
Join us in welcoming Arjun Hattiangadi, Dr. David Finegold, and their team at Rezq Bio to StartUp Health’s global army of Health Transformers.
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Published: Jun 15, 2023