Rejuvenate Biomed In the fight against ageing

Everyone dreams of a healthy and vital old age. A young Belgian company could make these dreams come true.

Rejuvenate Biomed aims to increase the healthy years of life

Rejuvenate Biomed aims to increase the healthy years of life by protecting the health status in the aging population. The company applies the research of the biology of aging (geroscience) to develop new safe combination drugs to maintain and re-activate our natural capacity to self-restore our cells and our cell-to-cell communication.

Dr Ann Beliën became interested in the field of healthy aging when her father started to suffer from age-related diseases. At that time, she worked at Janssen Pharmaceutica, owned by Johnson & Johnson (J&J). During more than seventeen years she gained international expertise ranging from discovery to full development, from bench to strategy including due diligence activities, company integration and open innovation experience at J&J. This resulted in specific scientific ideas to fight aging. In 2017, she was given the opportunity to translate her train of thought into reality. “In consultation with my employer at the time, I decided to develop the concept further independently,” explains Ann Beliën. “This laid to the foundation of Rejuvenate Biomed, an independent Belgium-based clinical R&D company.”

Already a first result

Rejuvenate identifies opportunities to impact the aging process by combining individual Rx products into unique combination products that exert synergistic effects. “Our portfolio currently contains ten individual compounds, selected via systems biology, focusing on safety and their efficacy potential,” explains Ann Beliën. “Our lead combination product, RJx-01 is a new safe IP protected product based on a combination of known safe prescription drugs. Based on the preclinical data, we can conclude that it has the potential to impact multiple age-related diseases simultaneously.”

Weapon against Sarcopenia

The first entry to the market is sarcopenia, a newly established muscle failure disease that comes with age and causes disability, low quality of life and death. Ann Beliën: “Further, sarcopenia is also induced during immobilization resulting in muscle mass and quality loss during bedrest as seen in the current Covid-19 hospitalizations and in any type of bedrest after surgery, slowing down patient recovery. Based on Rejuvenate’s preclinical efficacy data and safety profile in human, we are ready to start our phase Ib/IIb studies in sarcopenia and beyond. The start of the first clinical trial is planned beginning 2022.”

More resources for faster results

Research at Rejuvenate is an ongoing process and needs funding. Rejuvenate succeeded to finalize two capital rounds in 2021. The first round (3,2 million €) supports the preclinical activities, the recently closed second round (15,7 million €) the execution of the clinical plans. Ann Beliën: “This investment is more to us than a financial deal: it is the result of Vesalius Biocapital’s unrelenting belief in what we do, and the backing of Rejuveron, a company with which we share a fully aligned vision and complementary expertise. This investment will result in an intense collaboration between the Rejuveron and Rejuvenate teams, lifting us all to the next level. Becoming a clinical-stage company is a key milestone for us, and we could not have reached this point without the dedication of our excellent team and the continued support of our investors. We look forward to a future where products from our platform help people to live healthier lives!”