What Has New Limit Reprogrammed in Mice?
Brian Armstrong says New Limit has reprogrammed at least one human cell type in humanized mouse models. Testing in non-human primates is underway, and the first phase one clinical trial launches next year.
At a series of dinners, people named epigenetic reprogramming as high potential and underfunded. Shinya Yamanaka's lab had early results showing cells could be reprogrammed to restore function they had when younger, but the lab changed the cell type, and New Limit did not want to do that. He could not stop thinking about epigenetic programming for three months, the same way he felt about Bitcoin in 2010 or 2011, and he treated the motivation as perishable. The dinners brought together Jacob Kimmel, now chief executive of New Limit, Blake Byers, and Greg Johnson. He put in the initial money and helped with company building while the science was new to him. The South San Francisco lab now has about 50 or 60 people. Artificial intelligence tests millions of hypotheses about transcription factors, proteins that can reprogram cell types. The leading frontier model recommends the next large pooled screens. The best hits go through animal models, then human trials.
Three to 10 other drug candidates are expected off the platform in the coming years. The science progressed faster than he expected.
