Rubedo Life Sciences

Rubedo Life Sciences is a clinical-stage senolytic company that “discovers and develops medicines to keep you biologically young and healthy by targeting the pathologic cells that drive aging and diseases.” “By selectively clearing the body and tissues of these cells, while preserving healthy cells, the tissues can rejuvenate and disease progression can be reversed to restore cellular health.”

Its CEO is Frederick Beddingfield, MD, PhD; its cofounder and CSO is Marco Quarta, PhD. Mark Gallop, PhD, is a cofounder and Chair of the Board.

Most senolytic companies identify their drugs via some combination of theory and screening for selective cell death in culture. Rubedo’s discovery process begins with single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and spatial multi-omics to identify the specific pathologic senescent cell types that drive particular diseases of aging. It then uses its proprietary AI discovery platform (Alembic) and medicinal chemistry process (SenTech) to develop novel senolytics that target molecular targets specific to these cells based on their unique metabolic functions, often in the form of prodrugs.

In October 2020, scientists affiliated with Rubedo reported what Rubedo emphasized is not one of their clinical candidates, but a proof-of-concept for their prodrug approach. They modified the toxic chemotherapy drug 5-Fluorouridine (5-FU) with the sugar galactose, such that the 5-FU could not become active until the galactose was degraded. The result was a prodrug that they hypothesized would only become active (and toxic) in senescent cells, due to their high levels of the enzyme senescence-associated beta-galactosidase, which degrades this sugar. When they administered this prodrug to geriatric mice, it greatly lowered their burden of senescent cells in multiple tissues without evidence of toxicity, and rapidly improved the treated animals’ health, reducing their frailty index meaesure, increasing their strength and running distance, improving their muscle stem cells’ repair capacity, improving their cognitive function, and increasing their lifespans despite a late point of treatment onset.

In December of that year, Rubedo announced that it had closed a $12M seed financing round, led by Khosla Ventures and with participation from Longevity Fund, Refactor Capital, and Shanda. The press release stated that “The funding will be used to advance the company’s lead candidates in respiratory diseases with significant unmet medical need, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),” while also mentioning other potential indications.

In April 2024, Rubedo announced that it had closed a $40M Series A financing round, with which it would advance RLS-1496 into Phase I trial(s) in chronic atopic dermatitis and chronic psoriasis within that calendar year. It then announced that German multinational personal-care product company Beiersdorf AG had joined this round as a strategic investor and had partnered with it to “develop innovative skin care products that address the effects of cellular aging.” Rubedo will be eligible for milestone and royalty payments from Beiersdorf.

In preparation for its Phase I trial of RLS-1496 for inflammatory skin disease, Rubedo announced in October 2024 that it had established European headquarters and clinical operations in Milan.

In January 2025, Rubedo announced the launch of a new Series B financing round.

RLS-149
Rubedo describes RLS-1496 as “a first-in-class GPX4 modulator that targets aging cells and surrounding tissues.” GPX4 (glutathione peroxidase 4) is an antioxidant enzyme that protects cells against oxidative stress by using reduced glutathione to catalyze the reduction of pro-oxidant hydrogen peroxide, organic hydroperoxides, and lipid peroxides. While Rubedo has not proposed the mechanism of RLS-1496, scientists at LRI and others have shown that senescent cells are primed for death via ferroptosis, a distinctive form of cell death involving lipid peroxides, but resist death by upregulating GPX4 among other adaptations. Accordingly, drugs that inhibit GPX4 are known to cause selective cell death in senescent and some cancer cells.

In March 2023, Rubedo announced that affiliated scientists had presented animal data on an unspecified lead compound during the 2023 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) conference week. According to the press release, this compound reduced signatures associated with skin senescent cells in vivo “and significantly improved skin pathophysiological manifestations, such as chronic desquamation in preclinical animal models of chemotherapy-induced skin fibrosis and dermatitis.” The company highlighted its potential as a treatment for a range of dermatological diseases.

In May 2023, Rubedo committed to advancing its lead candidate RLS-1496 into IND-enabling studies for dermatological indications, with first-in-human studies planned for early 2024. Rubedo stated that RLS-1496 “significantly reduced senescence signatures associated with skin senescent cells, and in punch biopsies from skin lesions of patients with chronic atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.”

As part of the partnership with Beiersdorf AG, Beiersdorf will conduct in vitro and in silico studies — and ultimately in vivo human studies — on Rubedo’s.lead compounds in cosmetic formulations.

In April 2024, Rubedo announced that it had closed a $40M Series A financing round, with which it would advance RLS-1496 into Phase I studies in chronic atopic dermatitis and chronic psoriasis within that calendar year.

In January 2025, Rubedo announced that it had presented its clinical development plans for RLS-1496 at the 12th Annual Dermatology Summit, including details for its Phase I trial of the drug, which they anticipated commencing in Spring 2025. No details on the trial were included in the announcement.

In May 2025, Rubedo announced that it had dosed its first patient with topical RLS-1496 in its Phase I clinical trial in adults with plaque psoriasis. Depending on the results, Rubedo stated that the trial could expand to include “additional inflammatory skin conditions and autoimmune disorders, including but not limited to atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, rosacea, alopecia areata, and scleroderma.” It highlighted that the company had developed “RLS-1496 into a topical drug candidate in less than three years from initiation – two times faster than the industry average.” However, their source for this comparison does not seem to address topical drugs. The company anticipates having results from this trial in Q4 2025.

In September 2025, Rubedo announced that FDA had cleared its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a Phase Ib/IIa trial of RLS-1496 in patients with actinic keratosis. The company anticipates initiating this trial in Q4 2025.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Candidate
In June 2021, Rubedo announced that it had established a collaboration with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to advance its program in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a terrible disease of aging characterized by the scarring of the lungs, in which senescent cells play a prominent role. As part of the collaboration, Cedars’ Professor Cory Hogaboam, an expert on interstitial lung diseases, joined Rubedo’s Scientific Advisory Board. Hogaboam stated that he had concluded that targeting cellular senescence is the most viable approach to curing “this devastating age-related disease” and that “Among all the proposed senolytic therapies, Rubedo has a unique platform that promises to successfully deliver an effective pharmacological treatment for IPF.”

In February 2023, Rubedo announced that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) had awarded it a $1.45M grant to advance its IPF program, with an emphasis on working with human IPF primary cells and tissues.

Rubedo’s pipeline page places a candidate for IPF in the lead optimization phase.

Neuropathic Pain
In May 2025, Rubedo-affiliated and independent scientists reported that aging and pain-inducing peripheral nerve injury trigger senescence in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, and that these senescent neurons exhibit nociceptor (true pain receptor)-like profiles and have exaggerated responses to the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6. Critically, destroying senescent DRG neurons with the established senolytic ABT263 (Navitoclax) alleviated neuropathic-type pain in mice, suggesting that senescent DRG neurons are a potential target for anti-neuropathic pain therapeutics.

Additional Candidates
Rubedo’s pipeline page lists candidates for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH — formerly known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)), sarcopenia (the age-related loss of muscle mass and function, even in people who perform resistance training), and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).