In this session, you’ll hear directly from cutting-edge companies reshaping the landscape of autoimmune disease. Learn about groundbreaking advancements, therapies, and technologies providing hope for the millions of people living with autoimmune disease and their families.
Good morning and welcome to Innovations and autoimmunity my name is Lily stairs and I am the board chair of the autoimmune Association this is always one of my favorite sessions of the entire Summit uh today you’re going to have the opportunity to hear from two powerful industry leaders who are
Totally disrupting the way that we View and treat autoimmune disease for those of you tuned in to my opening remarks you heard me talk about hope for the future this is it these two innovators are truly delivering gamechanging solutions for tackling autoimmunity so with that I want to bring up our first
Speaker um Dr Peter mag he is the CEO of kerna Therapeutics thank you so much for joining us today Dr mag well thank you so much Lily for having me it’s amazing to be here speaking to you and the autoimmune Association thank you so much for putting this together it’s amazing
What I would like to talk to you about is exactly what Lil was talking about a game changing a paradigm shift in how do we think about autoimmune disease and we think about the paradigm shift with what is ctis cell therapy and how can this help patients so um let me just share
With you Fabian Fabian is a Mia gravis patient which is an autoimmune disease um which is driven by B cells and let’s roll with a video so you see what happened with Fabian after she has received a Cell Therapy Terrific um I still get goosebumps when I see that video because this is what it’s all about for us at kerna Fabian was rece receiving a single shot of cd19 car T Cell Therapy uh from kberna 101 um that is our um experimental drug treatment for Mia gravis patient that
Has been applied to her um in a German experimental setting um she was wheelchair bound when she came into the clinic and 50 days after you saw her riding a bike and 60 days after you actually see her walking uh down the corridor truly amazing uh game changing
Paradigm shifting and we hope that we can bring this therapy to many more patients because there are so many patients and you here see mulpus sclerosis on the slide rheid arthritis lupus nephritis is our first lead indication but there’s so many indications where we think uh that B
Cell depletion can make a a huge difference and we do the do this B cell depletion by applying latest technology cart cell therapy this cart cell therapy is a GameChanger already in other indications but now we at kerna bring this to the field of autoimmune disease
And now many ask you how how does that work and you know I grew up with having to reset my my computer very often with a paper clip and this paperclip needs to fit exactly into that little slip to make sure that we can reset the computer
And this is how we’re thinking about resetting your immune system resetting the immune system with a very simple paperclip we had had that idea already five years ago that using such a paperclip can deplete all B cells and uh build a company around it and we’re now in clinical trials which is tremendously
Exciting as we see more and more data that allows us us to think about pushing the field forward so there’s more and more evidence now um that maybe this B cell depletion with our paperclip can work um there is single case studies in myositis single case study in
Scleroderma and single case studies in lupus nefritis that all hint at this phenomena that we might be able to deplete B cells with a cd19 ctis Cell Therapy um it is very early and we have a long way to go but we at kerna want to
Make sure that this is not a single Center or single patient experience but we make that available to many many more patients around the the world now there was in a small group of patients who had lupus nephritis there were very promising results this work was done in
Germany in a special program for compassionate use of experimental Therapies in patients who have run out of other treatment options the therapy was well tolerated with mild side effects the therapy is a living cell therapy so it is important that it was able to survive when returned to Patient
Bodies in the bodies was able to eliminate disease causing B cells normal B cells which are very important for your health immune system were able to then reestablish in the patient several months after treatment all patient patients that you see here these five patients in that study received complete remissions and
It’s amazing to see that the first patient is still completely free of any medications 800 days after initial dose so there’s more data to come in the future this first patient that I had just shared with you was an SLE patient with kidney involvement so a lupus
Nefritis patient and her s di scores went back to normal even within the first four weeks her protein Ura went down so um very very promising results but as I mentioned she’s not on any other follow-up medication which is very exciting for us now let me talk about
This paperclip which is um important to understand our paperclip that we put onto your own um cells that we first get from you then we manufacture this paper clip into your cells and then we reinus um that paper clip and the cells back into you and they identify the B cells
And then they are depleting these these cells and this paper clip um is in engineered especially for safety for patients with autoimmune disease there’s a significant clinical Improvement demonstrated in our early studies because that’s so important that in autoimmune disease the safety of that medication is absolutely Paramount for us here at
Kberna so we just announced in June this year that we dose the first patient in our clinical trial with our cd19 C cell therapy for Lupus nefritis we’re right now actively recruiting in sites not only in in the US in the United States in Colorado and in New York but also we
Are recruiting patients in a trial in Germany with the lead opinion leader in the world so if you have um any questions um please see in my chat pmar ky.com kyat tx.com and feel free to engage with us and learn more how we can make a difference uh by bringing cd19 C
Self therapy to patients with autoimmune disease thank you so much thank you Dr mag I had chills watching the video it’s truly incredible and just so ex so exciting to see this Innovation happening um and and the potential for for new treatments for folks who haven’t found something yet um
So I wanted to jump in and ask you a couple of questions first me how does Cell Therapy differ from some of the existing treatments for autoimmune disease that are currently out there thinking like biologics and steroids how is cell therapy different well s Cell Therapy offers this what I had mentioned
This autoimmune disease reset and we haven’t seen that before so this would be a single application of one medication that would help you to reset the immune system and you would be not producing other antibodies anymore and like this patient that is now experiencing 800 days without any medications complete remission it would
Be amazing if we can reset the immune system so it’s very different with monoclonal antibodies that you have to reapply and apply and apply um or with steroids um the efficacy that we have seen with monoclonal antibodies we have clinical studies that you know we change
To Placebo maybe 10% 15% of the patients are are are receiving Improvement this therapy right now has been working in a significant amount of patients and they have been all responding so it is really uh very early very experimental but it is extremely promising um and it is
Actually for the field um a head scratcher so to speak that we we have had this phenomenal result yeah and and so you mentioned that you are in early stages what clinical studies do you have ongoing and is there a way that folks who are tuning in are and are interested
Can learn more obviously you know this approach might be as I mentioned you know applicable to many autoimmune disease situations our lead indication right now is lupus nephritis I had shared with you that we have been treating patients with mosinia gravis but there’s also patients that um have a
Um um other diseases that are Visa driven that we are exploring so please contact us and see um if we can enroll you in one of our studies at um pmar kerat tx.com and be happy to engage with you um in this very quickly evolving field awesome and then one final
Question I’d like to know what is your personal hope for the future of autoimmune treatment you know my hope is that patients are engaging in with their disease and understand what treatment options they have and that they’re their own master of that progression and the patient Journey this is obviously now
Very promising what we’re doing but you have to think about all the various treatment op and be very well informed together with your care team about what is happening on that journey and then just one thing I would also hope that you know I know that we talking to
Patients but we’re also talking to caregivers and families and friends you know it is we at kerna say it takes a village in autoimmune disease and that’s really how we feel you know there’s so many individuals involved and um immune disease will’ll need to tackle that from
M multiple fronts so I hope that we can provide more hope to patient and Lily that’s how you started hope for patients with new treatments and novel approaches well that you are you are most certainly providing hope and I wish you all the best thank you so much for taking time
Out of your busy schedule to be with us this morning um and we are cheering you on here at the autoimmune Association and and look forward to seeing your your therapies develop thank you absolutely and next time I’ll promise you I’ll not only show you one patience video I’ll
Show you a few that as we as we learn and gain insights thank you we can’t wait uh so now that we’ve taken a look at the Innovation on the biotech side we’re going to take a look at what’s happening in the tech lifestyle and nutrition side and here from innovator
And entrepreneur Ellen Rudolph Ellen is an autoimmune patient herself and her experiences inspired her to launch well Theory uh they’ve recently made some big announcements that I will let Ellen fill you in on uh Ellen thank you so much much for being here I cannot wait to hear your presentation well thanks so
Much for having me Lily I’m super excited to be here and like I was just saying this feels a little bit like a full circle moment for me because I’ve actually come to this Summit before as a patient in the past so really an honor
To be here as a speaker today so I will jump in um hi everyone I’m Ellen Rudolph co-founder and CEO of wealth Theory and we’re on a mission to reverse the growing autoimmune epidemic as L shared Building Wealth the is really personal to me because it all
Started out with my own health Journey a few years ago I navigated a chronic Health mystery that unfortunately left me completely bedridden when I was just 25 years old I went to doctor after doctor and got no answers eventually I learned that what I was dealing with was
Autoimmune in nature and it wasn’t until I identified the root cause of my disease and completely overhauled my diet and lifestyle that I was able to reclaim my health I shared my health story on Tik Tok one day and went viral reaching over 25 million video views and
And cultivating a community of over 85,000 followers who are navigating their own autoimmune Journeys alongside me it became very clear that there were so many people just like me who are suffering from autoimmune conditions and seeking better answers and solutions during my own journey I witnessed firsthand how the conventional
Medical system is failing those of us with autoimmune diseases today my guess is that many of you have gone through a very similar lengthy diagnostic Journey that includes batteries of tests ping ponging from specialist to specialist and trips to the are in Urgent Care and your efforts to find answers it takes
Four and a half years and five doctors on average for us to even get a diagnosis not to mention get on a path to feeling better and unfortunately during that diagnostic Journey 45% of us are labeled as chronic complainers and effectively told that it’s all on our
Heads and then once we’re diagnosed our solutions for treatment Unfortunately today are really no better pharmaceutical biologics don’t confer a long-term remission and often introduce unwanted side effects and this is in part because the standard of care is really focused on Mass asking symptoms rather than treating the underlying root
Causes of these conditions for example what might manifest on the surface as a thyroid autoimmune condition like Hashimoto with symptoms like bring fog hair loss and weight gain could actually be due to underlying hormonal imbalances gut dysfunction and inflammation so to treat autoimmune disease really requires a fundamental paradigm shift and how we
Think about these conditions and again looking at the underlying issues rather than just fixing what’s above the surface so that’s exactly why I partnered with my co-founders wealth Theory we really wanted to build the experience we wish we had earlier on in our own health Journeys as patients and
Also as caregivers and at wealth Theory we’ve created a firstof its- kind virtual platform that addresses the root cause of autoimmunity and really treats the whole person we offer evidence-based nutritional and lifestyle coaching to reduce autoimmune symptoms and help you to feel like yourself
Again so how do we do this on top of over 40 studies backing our one-on-one care model our program has been featured in four peer-reviewed published papers so far that have demonstrated that our program can can significantly improve quality of life and clinical responses for autoimmune patients and in one of
The studies the researcher spoke to how our program is as effective as drug therapies for certain conditions with 73% of participants going into clinical remission by the end of our program so we’ve packaged up the research into an evidence-based one-on-one coaching offering that’s really tailored to you
And supports you no matter where you’re at in your autoimmune Journey as for how it works we start by setting your Baseline because we can’t put together a comprehensive plan without knowing where you’re at today and also understanding what you’ve tried in the past so to do that each member completes an extensive
Health onboarding that includes a root cause assessment to identify what underlying factors might be contributing to your autoimmune symptoms our members are then matched with a dedicated care team which includes a licensed registered dietitian and board certified health coach who really specialize in autoimmune disease each member has an
Initial in-depth 60 Minute onboarding session where your care team walks through your personalized symptom data analysis as well as a customized care plan which is reassessed and readjusted at 3 month checkpoints based on your progress and then from there you’ll receive ongoing support in the form of one-on-one live coaching calls with your
Care team unlimited messaging asynchronous educational content and master classes community support through connections with other like-minded individuals and advanced testing to again Identify some of those potential underlying root causes so we’re backed by a renowned clinical Advisory Board of providers who have really dedicated their careers to understanding autoimmune disease and
They’ve played a really integral role in designing and also studying our research back program and peer-reviewed uh studies as I mentioned we also know that the majority of autoimmune patients have an existing care team of at least three other medical providers that they’re juggling and our goal is really
To take the burden off of you to have to quarterback your own care not to mention the average PCP visit today is 18 minutes long which unfortunately isn’t typically enough time to really dig into the complexity of autoimmune disease and as a patient you often don’t receive
That ongoing support once you leave the doctor’s office so at well Theory we really believe in a collaborative care team model and we aim to integrate alongside your existing Physicians and Specialists to support in between your doctor’s visits so we really take a 360 degree approach to care aimed at
Reducing your autoimmune symptoms from what your lifestyle looks like to what you eat and drink how you manage stress what your sleep routines look like and more because 99% of your health is really in your everyday hrds so since launching our offering our members have shared that we’re filling a
Void that they haven’t been able to find in their Healthcare journey to date our members are telling us that their symptoms are finally resolving they finally have energy to take on the day they aren’t in as much pain they have good quality of life again and they’re
Finally getting their lives back and as a result they aren’t ending up in the hospital or Urgent Care quite as much and don’t need to rely as heavily on high cost drugs and other expensive interventions in terms of who we help we specialize in supporting anyone with autoimmune disease or autoimmune like
Symptoms on their healing journey in our M your population to date we’ve supported individuals across 50 distinct autoimmune diagnoses and Counting including those who are undiagnosed and haven’t been able to find answers yet part of why we’ve been able to support so many different conditions is because
Our approach is much more focused on targeting the root cause of your disease and tailoring it to you as an individual rather than just banding some of the symptoms you might be experiencing because flareups tend to be inevitable our goal is really to meet our members where they’re at over this
Lifelong journey um I wanted to highlight a video from one of our members that I captured when speaking to her about her wealthier experience I asked her what would your reaction be if starting tomorrow we the didn’t exist and here was her response that would be actually really really hard that made me
Tear up it showed me the piece that I needed to have um in my journey and so I would probably fight pretty hard to find something that would feed the peace in the same way um so to get that same care and guidance that I’ve received the last
Couple of months because if it was pulled out from me right now I feel like my trajectory would definitely be thrown off and I would have a lot of like mental anguish so what we hear from our members time and time again is that often weal
The is the first time they finally feel seen heard and actually guided in their health journey and for the majority of our members they are developing trusting long-standing relationships with their care team so from day one making this care more for and accessible has been really Central to our mission and to achieve
That we needed to prove that well Theory works and works at scale and since publicly launching well Theory to Consumers last year our core Focus has really been twofold number one build an engaging experience that consumers love and number two prove that our intervention works and now we are
Bringing those proven outcomes to employers and health insurance providers so that they can offer wealth Theory to their employees and members at zero cost so I’m really excited to share as Lily alluded to that we officially announced our entry into the Enterprise Market actually earlier this week and we have
Several Partnerships underway with a number of leading companies and organizations in 2024 and while we work on getting those off the ground we’re really excited to offer viewers of the autoimmune Community Summit $25 off your first month of wealth Theory as a special bonus which you can access through the
QR code on the screen so if you’re really feeling frustrated with the lack of answers you’re receiving or overwhelmed with how to manage your condition and quite frankly where to even start we’re here to help guide you and create a step-by-step plan tailored to your individual needs to help you
Find the relief that you’re looking for and we’d be really honored to support you on your health Journey thank you for the time I appreciate it thank you Ellen oh I’m so excited about what you’re working on um and I have a bunch of questions and and the
First one I want to start with now I know there’s there’s no magic bullet we know for for treating autoimmune disease and and I know you’re focused on really personalizing the care but is there anything across all of these different people and conditions that you you’ve
Worked in are there a couple of um solutions that you’re finding are working well for folks across the board yeah so to your point Lily there’s really no one-sized footall approach and that’s part of why the care that we deliver is really personalized and tailored to the individual but um
Research shows that 80 70 to 80% of the immune system lives in the gut and so clearly there’s a tight relationship between you know your gut health and microbiome and autoimmune disease and so what tend to see in the majority of our members is some like I mentioned before
Some of that underlying gut dysfunction um and so that tends to be an area where actually a lot of our members will start um is really focused again on sort of healing the gut um just given the impact uh and sort of tighten it relationship between again the gut and autoimmune
Disease so uh that’s usually where we’ll start with a lot of members but again it really just depends on someone’s we’re all unique uh we’re all our own special snowflake so understanding what someone’s tried what’s worked and what hasn’t um because yeah we don’t want to
Try and sort of reinvent the wheel and just it’s helpful to have that context going into it that’s great and and that is something we’re we’re definitely starting to see more research too which is exciting around um you know the gut and the connection to autoimmunity the Mind gut connection all of those
Different elements um so I’m also curious to know what your favorite part personally as a as a patient what’s your favorite part of well Theory oo uh that’s a good question I think for me it’s really I I spoke to this in the example I shared but it’s really the
Relationship that I’ve developed with my care team so I I actually am a wealthy member myself and go through the experience because I think it’s really important to make sure that um it’s an experience that you can provide feedback on and that um you find to be
Exceptional as well um and so I’ve been really fortunate to again just develop a great relationship with my providers and and um yeah I look forward to seeing them they’re like friends many of them have lived experience as well and so I think that really helps because oftentimes they’re not just uh talking
The talk they’re actually walking or they’ve walked the walk or they are walk Walking the walk as well and so I think that for me has helped to build a lot of sort of trust and credibility in some of the the recommendations they provide that’s fantastic and I love that both
You and uh Peter have brought brought this up in relationships with your care team and it’s perfect time because it’s something we’ll also be discussing in a later session today um and so finally I want to I want to end by asking you what is your hope for the future of autoimmune
Treatment yeah my hope is that every single individual with autoimmune disease feels empowered to take control of their own health I think I mean I’ll speak for my own experience but um I felt really disenchanted with uh the Health Care system and it felt like it
Wasn’t until I decided that I was going to sort of take control of the situation um that I felt really empowered and so uh My Hope Is that patients are also really listen to I spoke to how a lot of us tend to be sort of dismissed and I
Think it’s no surprise unfortunately that autoimmune conditions disproportionately impact women and people of color that a lot of that medical gaslighting um occurs um so I hope that we’re actually listened to believed and looked at as a whole person rather than just sort of a fragmented
Set of body parts and just um providers who were looking at us again um from a whole body perspective um and then lastly I spoke a little bit to the importance of sort of personalization and tailoring but I hope that every autoimmune patient can find treatments that are really tailored to that to
Their specific individual needs because like I shared before I really think there’s no one siiz fitall approach here um so I hope that folks can find um the approach that really works for them as an individual amazing thank you Ellen and thank you for taking your personal experience and and leveraging it to
Build something for all of us um to make an impact it’s really incredible and I I can’t wait to see where well Theory goes um and we are cheering you on just as we are kyverna Therapeutics here at here at the autoimmune Association thank you so
Much L I really appreciate it and thank you for the time today thank you