Nearly a dozen patients who had exhausted all other treatment options for lung cancer swallowed two green capsules a day in the earliest tests of whether a botanical extract can fight the disease.
Zeenia Kaul co-founded ReHeva Biosciences Inc. to seek to commercialize more than a decade of research by her parents. Since 2016 it has raised a cumulative $7.5 million in investment and in-kind services.
As trials progress toward seeking U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval, ReHeva has signed Cincinnati-based horticultural startup 80 Acres to grow its plants indoors at commercial scale with consistent results. Nearly half its funding, $3 million, represents in-kind vertical farming services.
"For my parents to have discovered something, built it over 10, 12 years and actually see it in patients, is the most rewarding thing you can ask for," Kaul said in an interview.
"This is not the first time were realizing plants can be great medicine," she said. "We’re treating certain cancer types with the same drugs we were 25 years ago."
ReHeva completed a trial testing the drug's safety in Ocbober, with no concerns. While efficacy wasn't the endpoint of this phase of trials, she said, the study yielded "promising early indications." The full results have not yet been published.
The startup is working toward the second phase of efficacy trials. Positive results could lead to acquisition or another exit in three to five years, Kaul said.
Kaul's parents are molecular biologists at a research institute in Japan. About 20 years ago, a graduate student new to the lab pulled out a tin of leaf powder from a 3-foot-tall shrub used as an herbal supplement in India, and asked to test it on cancer, according to the company website. The powder killed cancer cells but not normal tissue, kicking off the research to identify the plant's active compounds.
The resulting extract that ReHeva is developing as a drug is classified by the FDA as "polymolecular."
After earning her biology doctorate in Australia, Kaul followed her husband to a job in Central Ohio and earned her MBA at Ohio State University.
"Now I choose to remain here," she said.
One of her professors was Bill Diffenderffer, the former CEO of budget airline Skybus who then founded a car-rental company that acquired after two years. A professor at OSU Fisher College of Business since 2012 and director of entrepreneurship since 2016, he is also ReHeva's co-founder and executive chairman.
For animal studies and early work in humans, ReHeva has relied on plants grown outdoors in India, Japan, and a small field in Mount Vernon northeast of Columbus.
"We cannot rely on mother nature to give us a scalable consistent product," Kaul said.
After some testing with a Canadian indoor cannabis grower, Kaul sought a U.S. commercial horticulture partner before sending a cold email to 80 Acres CEO Mike Zelkind.
"He responded promptly," she said. "They gave us the attention we needed."
Biopharmaceuticals also could mean a higher margin than basil and lettuce, Kaul said.
"ReHeva is doing innovative work with plant-derived ingredients at the foundations of modern medicine," Zelkind said in a release. "We can support that work by growing plants with pharmaceutical precision, year-round – enabling traceability, consistency, and scaling."
The first trial was led by Case Western's Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland. ReHeva also has a partnership with MD Anderson in Texas and received an OSU research grant.
Kaul was an individual honoree in the 2023 Columbus Inno BizTech Fire Awards.
