{"id":2938,"date":"2026-03-13T15:30:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/i-think-i-know-how-to-fix-this\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:30:49","slug":"i-think-i-know-how-to-fix-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/i-think-i-know-how-to-fix-this\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I think I know how to fix this.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\u2018I think I know how to fix this.\u2019\t<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n

Andrew Kruse.<\/p>\n

Niles Singer\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\n\t\tHarvard Office of Technology Development\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/address>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t6 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\tHow a discovery in a Harvard lab is offering hope for patients with hard-to-treat heart disease\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
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Some 1 million patients in the U.S. live with a type of heart disease called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, caused by a stiffening of a chamber of the heart that makes it much more challenging to distribute blood throughout the body. The condition has few approved therapies and high mortality rates.<\/p>\n

For years, researchers have suspected that the hormone relaxin could be an effective treatment for certain cardiovascular diseases \u2014 including possibly HFpEF. It helps counteract fibrosis, prevents veins and arteries from hardening, and promotes essential vascular and cardiac remodeling to support the mother\u2019s heart during pregnancy. However, a major challenge has been keeping relaxin in the body long enough to be effective. The pharmaceutical industry tested a similar compound in clinical trials but encountered the same challenge as many hormone-based treatments: These molecules are generally small, and the body filters them out too quickly for them to be effective. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe pharmacokinetics are not really suitable to use it as a drug,\u201d said Grant Zimmermann, director of business development at Harvard Office of Technology Development<\/a> (OTD).<\/p>\n

That started to change in 2017, soon after a discovery in the lab of Andrew Kruse<\/a>, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School. \u201cAndrew came to us,\u201d Zimmermann recalls, \u201cand said, \u2018I think I know how to fix this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kruse had been interested in the structural biology of relaxin, which he calls a \u201cvery unusual member\u201d of the family of proteins his lab has researched for years. Researchers in the Kruse Lab were studying the structure of the relaxin receptor to understand how it binds to its ligand and induces changes in the body. In the process, the research team made an important discovery: They were able to convert relaxin from a naturally occurring two-chain molecule to a one-chain molecule using protein engineering, and they were able to attach the Fc-domain of an antibody to extend relaxin\u2019s half-life in the body. Native relaxin is complicated to produce in the lab because of its two-chain structure, according to Sarah Erlandson<\/a>, the graduate student leading the project. Creating a single-chain design made it possible to fuse the antibody Fc to relaxin, allowing it to stay in the body longer.<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t one moment that illuminated how consequential the discovery would be, says Erlandson. Instead, the process involved the types of continuous progress that often define scientific research and development. Their work \u201crelied on iterative design improvements,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember our growing excitement as we made progress on the engineered protein. That\u2019s when it started to feel like we could have a tangible impact on relaxin therapeutics.\u201d<\/p>\n

What they designed as a tool to study structural biology, Kruse realized, could have significant therapeutic potential.<\/p>\n

OTD protected the innovations related to the research and got to work on strategies to further advance the research toward commercialization opportunities. Zimmermann brought the project to his colleagues at the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator<\/a> (BBA). That team immediately saw promise in the research and provided funding through pilot and development grants, along with business development support.<\/p>\n

Relaxin represents a \u201cprototypical example\u201d of the type of innovations that the BBA funds, says Zimmermann. The accelerator specifically looks for technologies with a clear path to clinical development that need a boost to attract potential industry partners that can further the development of beneficial innovations through sponsored research or license it for commercial use.<\/p>\n

The BBA helped fund pharmacokinetic evaluations of the molecule\u2019s use in mice and validate the research to the point that Kruse was able to form a startup and license the technology, launching Tectonic Therapeutic<\/a> to further advance the research to the clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these things were really critical for us to be able to out-license this molecule, to show that it actually had some real promise,\u201d Kruse said. \u201cThe Blavatnik Accelerator is really what allowed us to go from a pure research compound to something that was ultimately a clinical candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“All of these things were really critical for us to be able to out-license this molecule, to show that it actually had some real promise.”<\/p>\n

Andrew Kruse<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Kruse also received guidance and ultimately partnered with Timothy A. Springer<\/a>, the Latham Family Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, whose lab studies protein-based therapeutics and who has helped found numerous biotech companies. What began as a lunchtime conversation about progressing academic discovery into a company grew into a collaboration. Springer helped co-found Tectonic, worked with Kruse on fundraising pitches, and provided pivotal early funding, along with his technical expertise.<\/p>\n

Since licensing the relaxin technology, Tectonic has conducted additional engineering on the molecule devised in Kruse\u2019s lab \u2014 with Kruse as an adviser and Springer on the board of directors \u2014 and created a larger platform to develop treatments targeting other G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), the class of receptors that Kruse\u2019s lab studies. About 30 percent of all approved drugs target GPCRs, but currently-approved treatments target \u201cjust a small fraction\u201d of all known GPCRs, says Alise Reicin, Tectonic\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of biology there that could be important in drug discovery and development, but many of those GPCRs, for a variety of reasons, were considered hard to drug or undruggable,\u201d said Reicin. Targeting them with unique biological engineering, the team thought, could unlock new treatments.<\/p>\n

For cardiovascular disease, the company\u2019s focus is the RXFP1 receptor, a GPCR that is involved in numerous processes throughout the body, including in the cardiovascular system. Relaxin binds to the RXFP1 receptor and can make tissues, including veins, stretchier and softer. Tectonic\u2019s relaxin treatment, known as TX45, is now in a Phase 2 clinical trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s lots of reason for optimism that this story is going to play out in the way we envisioned all those years ago,\u201d said Zimmermann.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Tectonic received data suggesting its relaxin therapeutic could work in a subset of patients, those with pulmonary hypertension associated with HFpEF. In the fall, they received a similar dataset in patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with reduced ejection fraction heart failure. These patients typically have reduced exercise tolerance and increased mortality compared with heart failure patients without pulmonary hypertension. In the coming year, the company will also begin working on treating a new form of pulmonary hypertension, associated with interstitial lung disease, with relaxin. For patients, this would mean a potential new treatment for challenging and, at times, fatal conditions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big believer that it\u2019s the academic-pharma-biotech partnership that has driven innovation in all of the great drug-development programs over the last few decades that have improved the lives of patients,\u201d said Reicin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health \u2018I think I know how to fix this.\u2019 Andrew Kruse. Niles Singer\/Harvard Staff Photographer Harvard Office of Technology Development March 2, 2026 6 min read How a discovery in a Harvard lab is offering hope for patients with hard-to-treat heart disease Some 1 million patients in the U.S. live with a type of heart …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":105,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staying-healthy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}