Rejuvenate Biomed

Rejuvenate Biomed is a Belgian clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on tackling the root causes of aging. The firm was founded in October 2017 by Ann Beliën, PhD, who now serves as the CEO. Dr. Beliën established the company after a nearly two-decade career at Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company, where she gained extensive experience in drug development, from laboratory research to market launch, across areas like oncology, neurology, and immunology. Her background includes a PhD from the University of Irchel in Zurich, a master's degree from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), and a postdoctoral fellowship at ETH Zurich, culminating in strategic roles at Johnson & Johnson, including as a member of the Janssen Prevention Center's management board.

The company's core business revolves around its proprietary drug discovery platforms, CombinAge™ and CelegAge™. The AI-enabled in silico platform, CombinAge™, uses network biology and large datasets to identify and repurpose existing, safe molecules into novel combination drugs targeting longevity pathways. This is complemented by the in vivo CelegAge™ platform, which validates these findings. This dual-platform strategy enables Rejuvenate Biomed to create a pipeline of therapeutics aimed at preventing or delaying the onset of multiple age-related diseases, including neuromuscular, musculoskeletal, metabolic, and neurodegenerative conditions. In August 2024, the company announced a partnership with data and AI firm SAS to enhance its discovery capabilities using the SAS Viya cloud platform, making advanced analytics more accessible to researchers.

Rejuvenate Biomed's business model is centered on developing these proprietary drug candidates through clinical trials and eventually bringing them to market, targeting the significant unmet medical need for age-related ailments. The company has successfully secured funding to advance its pipeline, raising a total of $22M over two rounds. This includes a €3.2 million Series A in March 2021 and a €15.7 million ($18.2M) Series B round in October 2021, with key investors like Vesalius Biocapital III and Rejuveron Life Sciences. The company is headquartered at the Health Campus in Diepenbeek, Belgium, and is a resident of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS, a life sciences incubator.

The lead drug candidate, RJx-01, is an orally administered combination of galantamine and metformin, designed to treat sarcopenia—the age-related loss of muscle mass and function. In October 2023, Rejuvenate Biomed announced that RJx-01 had successfully completed a Phase 1b clinical trial involving healthy elderly subjects. The trial met all its primary and secondary endpoints, demonstrating a good safety profile and excellent bioavailability. The study showed that RJx-01 led to meaningful improvements in muscle strength recovery, function, and fatigue resistance. Following these positive results, the company is preparing for a Phase 2b program, which began in 2024. A Phase 2 trial for RJx-01 in treating muscle weakness associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was initiated in May 2025.

Keywords: Rejuvenate Biomed, Ann Beliën, clinical-stage biotechnology, age-related diseases, longevity, drug discovery platforms, CombinAge, CelegAge, sarcopenia treatment, RJx-01, metformin, galantamine, combination drugs, network biology, healthy aging, Vesalius Biocapital III, Rejuveron Life Sciences, JLABS, muscle loss, musculoskeletal, neurodegenerative, anti-aging therapeutics, biopharmaceutical, COPD muscle weakness, clinical trials, drug repurposing