A pioneering biotech venture creation studio dedicated to rapidly building companies based on breakthrough medical technologies, today announced that portfolio company SteerBio, a biotech startup developing a first-of-its-kind regenerative treatment aimed at restoring damaged lymphatic vessels and potentially curing lymphedema, today announced its official launch and has been awarded up to $18.2 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
The award supports the agency’s Groundbreaking Lymphatic Interventions and Drug Exploration program, known as GLIDE, led by ARPA-H Program Manager Kimberley Steele, M.D., Ph.D. GLIDE seeks to transform how doctors prevent and treat diseases linked to lymphatic dysfunction.
“As a surgeon, I was trained to fix what I could see — but I was never taught about the one system that connects everything. As a rare disease parent, I’ve lived the heartbreak of watching someone you love suffer while medicine has no answers. And now, as an ARPA-H Program Manager, I get to help change that story for millions of families,” Steele said in an agency press release.
Originating in in the laboratory of bioengineering expert, Omid Veiseh Ph.D., at the Rice University Biotech Launch Pad, SteerBio is developing ELIXIR (Eliminating Lymphatic Irregularities by Cross-disciplinary Intelligent Regulation), a programmable regenerative therapy designed to rebuild damaged lymphatic vessels. The minimally invasive treatment delivers engineered human retinal pigment epithelial cells, encased in a protective hydrogel, via subcutaneous injection to produce therapeutic proteins that stimulate repair. The cells’ genetic circuits are activated by small-molecule regulators, allowing physicians to control the timing and level of protein production. In preclinical studies, ELIXIR achieved 100% vessel regrowth towards healthy lymph nodes and 80% edema reduction and is now being evaluated in large animal models.
“For patients living with lymphedema, the daily reality can be exhausting: constant swelling, discomfort, and the risk of infection impact everything from simple routines to long-term quality of life,” said Martha Fowler, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of SteerBio. “We believe patients deserve a therapy that addresses the root cause of their disease, not just the symptoms. Every decision we make, from the design of our therapy to our clinical strategy, is centered on the people who live with lymphedema every day, and our goal is to give them back freedom, mobility, and hope for a future without lifelong symptom management.”
SteerBio has secured strong early validation from clinicians, patient advocates and funding organizations supporting its research and development programs, in addition to the recently awarded ARPA-H grant.
“Launching SteerBio underscores RBL’s commitment to developing companies built on differentiated science and clear clinical need,” said Paul Wotton, Ph.D., Managing Partner of RBL. “This demonstrates how RBL works to translate promising biology into focused companies designed for clinical and commercial progress.”
RBL portfolio company SteerBio, Inc., is leading the development and commercialization effort. SteerBio is led by Martha Fowler, CEO and co-founder, alongside Veiseh, who is scientific co-founder, and clinical collaborators Edward Chang, MD, professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Ionela Iacobas, MD, Medical Director of the Vascular Anomalies Center and at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine.
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