Rejuvenation Technologies wins $2.06M grant to test telomere therapy in liver disease

What's the deal? Rejuvenation Technologies, a Mountain View, California-based biotech, has received a $2.06 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholismDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (NIAAA). The award funds work to move a TERT mRNA therapeutic toward an Investigational New Drug (IND) submission for alcoholic hepatitis.

Why now? Alcoholic hepatitis carries a 25–50% one-month mortality rate and has no approved treatments beyond corticosteroids of limited effectiveness. The grant follows a prior NIAAA Phase II SBIR award and a completed FDA INTERACT meeting, signalling the program has cleared early regulatory checkpoints.

What's the endgame? The therapy delivers TERT mRNA intravenously via hepatocyte-targeted lipid nanoparticles. Chronic alcohol-related injury shortens telomeres and drives fibrosis; transiently delivering the mRNA — translated and degraded within days — aims to extend telomeres and restore liver regenerative capacity without permanently raising telomerase activity.

The company reports greater than 99% hepatocyte transfection at 0.05mg/kg in preclinical models, including cirrhotic livers. Planned work covers pharmacokinetic studies in mice, GMP manufacturing, genotoxicity assessment, and GLP toxicology studies in non-human primates. Principal investigator John Ramunas leads the effort.

What's next? If the IND proceeds, Rejuvenation Technologies plans to expand into broader alcohol-associated liver disease, where short telomeres are also a marker of disease progression.

The signal: At $2.06 million, the grant sits in the 22nd percentile by amount — modest capital, but non-dilutive funding that carries a program with a completed FDA meeting toward clinical testing in a condition with no effective approved therapies.

Read more: AllSci

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