In this episode of The Pauling Principle, host Javier Tordable speaks with Reason and Dr. Mourad Topors from Repair Biotechnologies about a groundbreaking new approach to reversing cardiovascular disease. The discussion explores how their team is targeting excess intracellular cholesterol—long considered undruggable—with a novel mRNA-based therapy that may not only halt but also reverse atherosclerotic plaque. 

Key Points:

This episode dives into the broader longevity implications, the challenges of biotech innovation, and the hurdles of bringing transformative therapies to the clinic. Repair Bio pioneers mRNA therapy to reverse plaque and reshape the future of cardiovascular health.

• The Origins of Repair Bio and Its Mission: Reason, a long-time longevity advocate, and Dr. Mourad Topors, a Harvard-trained immunologist, share their journey into the field and how Repair Bio formed to pursue clinically meaningful therapies for ageing.
• Making the Undruggable Drugged: Their lead therapy uses a specially designed enzyme delivered via mRNA-lipid nanoparticles to the liver, where it safely breaks down excess free cholesterol within cells—a key driver of cardiovascular disease.
• Three-in-One Mechanism of Action: The therapy simultaneously reduces inflammation, boosts reverse cholesterol transport, and clears toxic cholesterol—collectively leading to significant plaque regression in animal studies.
• Wider Healthspan Potential: While starting with patients who have familial hypercholesterolemia, the goal is to expand to healthy ageing adults—potentially preventing heart attacks and strokes, and supporting longer, healthier lives.
• Barriers to Innovation: Regulatory systems lag behind the science, requiring endpoints unrelated to plaque removal, while investors often avoid high-risk, long-term projects like these in favour of faster wins.
• The Role of Philanthropy and Real-World Evidence: The episode closes with a call for more philanthropic funding to support trials of high-impact, low-return interventions—such as senolytics, mTOR inhibitors, and gut-based therapies—which may meaningfully delay ageing.