00:00:00 · Robin Guo, Ruby Justice Thelot
[00:00:00] S0: AI is very good at targeting right now. So like all the protein folding models, all the omics models, they're very good at figuring out like, hey, this disease state has these things, this protein confirmation has these things, or this bacteria has these things. What are different targets that we can try? So I think we'll be able to figure it out within the next decade, hopefully. And then the matter is trying to get the therapy into the brain to actually target it. [00:00:27] S1: Everyone, welcome back to MTS. Today, we are joined by Robin Guo, a former a sixteen z investor who now runs LionBio. LionBio is building... I think you guys are most known for this nasal spray of Ozempic. Really cool. So Robin, welcome to MTS. [00:00:45] S0: Thank you. Thanks for having me. [00:00:46] S1: Thank you for joining. I know that you laughed at that, but I would argue LionBio, you're kind of at the frontier of all the things happening in consumer and biotech. Tell me a little bit about the thesis of you guys. [00:00:56] S0: Yeah, so we're basically spinning out some technology from Columbia University, specifically my co founder Cam Dong's nanoparticle tech. And so we see this as basically, we do the nasal peptides. [00:01:08] S1: The nasal peptides.
00:01:08 · Ruby Justice Thelot, Robin Guo
[00:01:08] S1: The nasal peptides. [00:01:08] S0: We do nasal peptides. So what's interesting about delivering through the nose is that if you get to the olfactory region, there's actually no blood brain barrier. So usually when you take a drug, your brain processes through and prevents all the stuff from getting to your brain, right? So like 99.9% of the large molecules in particular get processed out. But if you go through the nose, you can actually reach the brain quite easily. So that's why... Is why people do other things through the nose. But that's why we wanna develop nasal GLP-one because basically, we believe that we can basically regulate your appetite without affecting some of the other things. So usually people, when they take Ozempic, they might get nauseous, they might start vomiting. We wanna basically restrict your appetite so you can lose weight without having some of those issues. So that's kind of what we're doing. [00:01:54] S1: All right. While I have you, I wanna start from the very beginning. What are peptides and why are they all the hype right now?
00:01:54 · Ruby Justice Thelot, Robin Guo
[00:01:54] S1: All right. While I have you, I wanna start from the very beginning. What are peptides and why are they all the hype right now? [00:02:03] S0: Peptides are just long chains of amino acids. So it could be anything from three amino acids to 50 to 70 amino acids. And then eventually it turns large enough that it becomes a protein. And basically they're all the rage because, honestly, of GLP-1s. Mhmm. Because suddenly we discover this peptide, glucagon like peptide, that makes you lose weight. And suddenly people are like, I can lose 10 pounds, I can lose 15 pounds, I can lose 20 pounds. That's crazy. And so now, fifteen million people are on these GLP-1s and they're like, oh, there are these other peptides that can do other things. And so I think that's why a lot of people are trying out new things. And also, know, when you use a needle, like I think it takes a lot for you to needle yourself. Yeah. Right? And so once you get over that hurdle and you're like, okay, I've already done this for one, it's kinda like you broke the seal. And now you're like, oh, what are the other peptides out there that can make me better, stronger, fitter, etcetera. That's kind of why everyone's gotten so popular. [00:03:04] S1: What are the other peptides out there?
00:03:04 · Ruby Justice Thelot, Robin Guo
[00:03:04] S1: What are the other peptides out there? [00:03:08] S0: Mean, there's every... If you think about it, like so so many... Because there's like 20 amino acids, right? So you can combine them in any sort of way. So there's like millions of combinations that you could do. There's both approved peptides and not approved peptides. So there's things that are like more regulated or it's like more studied and there's other things that are like a little bit more gray market. So there's everything from like a common one that people do is like the Wolverine stack or like the Glow stack. And some of those are a little bit less regulated in terms of like BPC-one hundred fifty seven, Ipamorelin. Basically some of them, they basically target your pituitary gland to release growth hormone. And so then your cells grow more and then you probably look better. Maybe your wounds heal a little bit faster. [00:03:49] S1: Looks maxing? [00:03:50] S0: Yeah, basically looks maxing, but could cause some issues down the line. And then there's some other peptides that are responsible for things like sex drive. Some peptides actually can like make you tan. There's some peptides are being researched for sleep. So there's a bunch of different types out there. [00:04:07] S1: What's the craziest use of peptides you've seen? [00:04:14] S0: Probably the... There's one peptide that's approved for menopausal women that increases their sex drive. So that's probably the one that's [00:04:24] S1: How does that work?
00:04:24 · Ruby Justice Thelot, Robin Guo
[00:04:24] S1: How does that work? [00:04:25] S0: It basically targets some receptor in the brain. I can't remember the exact name, but that receptor is involved in making you horny, essentially. [00:04:34] S1: Man, because what's the issue here? So a lot of menopausal women completely lose it. And so then when you're actually have a peptide that changes how all of this works. [00:04:43] S0: Yes. Yes. [00:04:44] S1: Fascinating. Yes. Okay. So where is this all playing out? Do you see the future of the consumer biotech market where peptides are just going to grow in popularity?
00:04:54 · Robin Guo
[00:04:54] S0: So I think GLP-1s will definitely grow. I think more and more people... Right now there's still some stigma. People are, like, not sure about the side effects. They're not super educated on it. There's still some stigma about, like, oh, like, I wanna get lean the natural way. And I think now people are realizing the research is coming out that GLP-1s are like super, like they improve your health in many ways, right? So they improve your cardiovascular health, they reduce cholesterol, reduce they triglycerides, they improve kidney function. There's all these things that improves. They reduce addiction. And so it's very much good for people and good for humanity. And I think people will start realizing that more. And then especially when we come out with new novel delivery mechanisms that are less invasive. Because I think honestly, like a lot of people don't wanna needle themselves. I think more and more people will be on GLP-1s. I think more peptides will be researched, but I do think that it requires the scientific community to go take it a little bit more seriously and do actual studies on it right now. Because right now there's just a bunch of people like YOLO ing a bunch of peptides into their body, which I think is not always the best thing because these are not like, you know, proper clinically studied compounds. And so I think from a safety perspective, we should probably still be doing some more research. But I think in general, it's good that, you know, we are pushing things faster.