A New Hope for Newborn Brain Injury - Dr. Howard Berman, Ph.D. - CEO, ReAlta Life Sciences

Send us Fan MailEvery year, thousands of newborns suffer devastating brain injury during birth - and despite decades of research, there are still no approved drug therapies for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE). But one biotech company believes it may finally have a solution.Dr. Howard Berman, Ph.D. is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of ReAlta Life Sciences ( https://realtalifesciences.com/ ), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapies for severe inflammatory diseases.Dr. Berman brings a unique background spanning neuroscience, pharmacology, medical affairs, technology transfer, and biotech entrepreneurship. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Neuroscience from Weill Cornell Medical College, where his research focused on pain and temperature processing in the human brain using functional MRI. Over the course of his career, he has held roles at Novartis, Eli Lilly and Company, and AbbVie, working across oncology, neuroscience, immunology, and business development.Dr. Berman later went on to found Coya Therapeutics, a company focused on regulatory T-cell biology and neurodegenerative disease, and has built a reputation for identifying and advancing novel therapeutic approaches at the intersection of science and translational medicine.Today, Dr. Berman is leading ReAlta at a particularly important moment for the company. ReAlta recently announced a $40 million financing round to support the continued development of its lead therapeutic candidate, pegtarazimod, for the treatment of Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, or HIE.HIE is a devastating condition caused by a lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain during or around the time of birth. It remains one of the leading causes of neonatal mortality and long-term neurological disability worldwide, often resulting in conditions such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and cognitive impairment. Despite decades of research, there are currently no approved drug therapies specifically targeting the underlying inflammatory injury associated with HIE.Pegtarazimod represents a novel approach. Derived from a naturally occurring viral peptide, the therapy is designed to modulate two major upstream drivers of inflammatory damage - the complement system and neutrophil-mediated inflammation. Rather than focusing on a single downstream pathway, the strategy aims to intervene earlier in the inflammatory cascade that contributes to ongoing brain injury following hypoxic events.The company’s ongoing Phase 2 STAR trial is currently evaluating pegtarazimod in newborns with moderate to severe HIE undergoing therapeutic hypothermia, which remains the current standard of care.In this conversation, we discuss:- the biology and clinical burden of HIE,- why past therapeutic approaches have struggled,- the scientific origins of pegtarazimod,- how virus-derived peptides may open new approaches to immune modulation,- and what success could ultimately mean for neonatal medicine and inflammatory disease more broadly.#NeonatalCare #HIE #HypoxicIschemicEncephalopathy #BrainInjury #NewbornHealth #Biotech #Inflammation #Neuroscience #NICU #DrugDevelopment #Pharma #HealthcareInnovation #ComplementSystem #Immunology #RareDisease #ClinicalTrials #Pediatrics #MedicalInnovation #ReAlta #HowardBerman #FutureOfMedicine #PrecisionMedicine #Neuroprotection #LifeSciences #ProgressPotentialPossibilitiesSupport the show