Cedars-Sinai, Rubedo Partner to Develop Targeted IPF Treatments

Rubedo Life Sciences announced that it has partnered with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, also in California, to advance its idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) program and conduct collaborative research.

The biopharmaceutical’s IPF program focuses on developing senolytics, or small molecules that target harmful senescent cells. These cells increase inflammation, fibrosis (tissue scarring), and contribute to age-related conditions, including pulmonary diseases like IPF.

With this agreement, Cory Hogaboam, PhD, a professor of medicine and a research scientist with the Women’s Guild Lung Institute at Cedars Sinai Medical Center will join Rubedo’s scientific advisory board (SAB).

“We are excited to announce this collaboration with Cedars Sinai Medical Center, and work with Dr. Hogaboam’s lab,” Marco Quarta, PhD, CEO of Rubedo Life Sciences, which specializes in age-related disorders, said in a press release.

“Rubedo’s strategy for entry into the longevity space is a senolytic program, targeting the pro inflammatory and pro fibrotic senescent cells. Our first clinical program will be IPF, which is an unmet medical need and we look forward to working with Cedars Sinai Medical Center,” he added.

As people age, an increasing number of cells become senescent in response to stress and damage. Senescent cells can no longer divide, and release chemicals that promote fibrosis and chronic inflammation. Their accumulation in the body is one of the hallmarks of aging, and it is thought to contribute to the aging process and to age-related diseases.

Rubedo is leveraging its proprietary Alembic drug discovery platform to identify and develop engineered small molecules that can selectively kill senescent cells. According to the company, this approach may help rejuvenate aged tissues and alleviate some of the symptoms of age-related conditions like IPF.

Hogaboam is the principal investigator of a research group that studies the cellular and molecular immune mechanisms underlying chronic pulmonary diseases, and in understanding how structural cells in the lung are affected by and contribute to disease processes.

He will be joining other Rubedo’s advisory board members, including Mark Pegram, MD, and Lidia Shapira, MD, with Stanford University School of Medicine; and Paul Insel, MD, with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

“I joined forces advising and collaborating with Rubedo because throughout my career working on IPF, I came to the conclusion that targeting cellular senescence is the only way to unlock a possible cure for this devastating age-related disease,” Hogaboam said. “Among all the proposed senolytic therapies, Rubedo has a unique platform that promises to successfully deliver an effective pharmacological treatment for IPF.”

In addition to IPF, Rubedo is using its platform to identify potential treatment candidates for other age-related conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cancer, and heart-related disorders.