Jonathan Rigby had simply taken his 10-year-old son, Rex, to his first Yankees recreation when, hours later, the pair had been thrust right into a medical emergency. After going to sleep of their resort room, Rigby was gripped by violent seizures and woke as much as discover Rex pouring Coca-Cola and glucose tablets in his mouth.
“[It was] due to extreme hypoglycemia,” Rigby mentioned. “[Rex] could have saved my life that day.”
Rigby and his household have grown accustomed to those sorts of terrifying experiences. Rigby has kind 1 diabetes, and with it, nocturnal hypoglycemia, which might trigger blood sugar to plunge in a single day. Though Rigby wears trackers and has alarms on his cellphone, these safeguards don’t at all times wake him up.
However Rigby has years of expertise navigating the illness and was recognized at age 18 after falling right into a diabetic coma. And as he grew up, Rigby climbed the life sciences ladder, starting with a gross sales and advertising and marketing stint with Merck & Co., earlier than main a handful of biotechs.
So when Rigby bought the prospect to change into CEO of Sernova, a clinical-stage biotech firm creating a purposeful remedy for kind 1 diabetes, he jumped on the probability, first becoming a member of the board, then turning into CEO in August.
The issue
With the supply of diabetes administration instruments, there’s a standard false impression that kind 1 diabetes is “solved.” Sufferers have entry to insulin, insulin pumps, auto injectors and steady glucose displays, however for the roughly 1.8 million adults within the U.S. residing with kind 1 diabetes and its problems, it’s removed from fastened.
“Folks with diabetes have long-term problems corresponding to coronary heart illness, kidney illness, neuropathy, they’ve eye issues like retinopathy and macular edema, cataracts,” Rigby mentioned.
Mortality charges for folks with kind 1 diabetes are considerably increased than the final international inhabitants normally due to cardiovascular and renal illness. As many as 1 in 10 sufferers die from extreme hypoglycemia.
“We consider no person else has achieved this.”
Jonathan Rigby
CEO, Sernova
Insulin is simply one of many hormones pulling the levers when a affected person has diabetes. There’s additionally glucagon, which raises blood glucose to maintain it within the regular vary, and somatostatin, which regulates insulin and glucagon.
“We’re solely giving sufferers one of many three hormones they should management their diabetes, and that leads to folks persistently having excessive blood glucose, which results in long-term problems,” Rigby mentioned.
A ‘purposeful remedy’
Sernova’s lead know-how, dubbed the “Cell Pouch System,” is a novel implantable machine fabricated from porous surgical mesh that turns into vascularized, permitting a surgeon to then transplant human donor islets.
“The cells begin to produce not solely insulin, however [also] glucagon and somatostatin like a standard pancreas,” Rigby mentioned. “Over time, the cell pouch turns into what we name a ‘biohybrid organ.’”
The corporate not too long ago introduced that seven sufferers in its part 1/2 scientific trial have achieved insulin independence.
At baseline, all sufferers within the research had been depending on a number of every day insulin injections and had a historical past of extreme hypoglycemic occasions and undetectable plasma ranges of C-peptide, which is a marker of pure insulin manufacturing.
After the intervention, the sufferers achieved insulin independence and “freedom from extreme hypoglycemic occasions, sustained HbA1c ranges within the non-diabetic vary and chronic transplant-mediated insulin manufacturing measured by plasma C-peptide,” the corporate said.
In September, Sernova mentioned the primary affected person handled within the trial skilled sustained insulin independence for greater than 4 years.
“We consider it is a world’s first. We consider no person else has achieved this,” Rigby mentioned. “Additionally, the biohybrid organ had no fibrosis, and the total, structural integrity of the cell pouch was maintained.”
Elevating consciousness
All through his life and profession, Rigby has used kind 1 diabetes as a motivator.
“It makes me do issues that possibly I wouldn’t have in any other case finished,” he mentioned. “I spoke to my physician and mentioned, ‘I need to begin doing triathlons.’ She mentioned, ‘Jonathan, you’re loopy. You’re going to kill your self.’ And that was a bit like a crimson rag to a bull to me.”
Not solely did he compete in triathlons, he ultimately began doing Ironman Triathlons, which include a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike trip and a 26.2-mile run.
“I’ve finished 11 Ironman Triathlons, and in fairly a number of of them, I’ve used the chance to boost cash for kids with diabetes [who] couldn’t afford insulin pumps. And I might go do motivational talks to the households,” he mentioned.
Now Rigby is once more utilizing his diabetes as motivation to assist him clock 101 miles on a rowing machine all through November to boost consciousness for Diabetes Month.
“This mission is near my coronary heart,” he mentioned. “And even nearer to my pancreas.”
