Why we exist
In 2023, Max had a seizure early one morning. His parents called 911. Three weeks of scans, genetic tests, and hospital stays later, a geneticist gave them the name: Alexander disease. Max was seven months old. His parents were told there was nothing that could be done.
His father, Thomas Wagner, began seeking answers in the research. He read the papers, then wrote to the scientists who had written them, and to scientists who hadn't heard of the disease. Many wrote back.
Those conversations showed him the promising research out there and the dedication required to turn science and opportunity into medicine. Writing letters was no longer enough; the next step was forming a company with this exact purpose.
Astrosalva Therapeutics is that next step. Thomas co-founded it with Paul Schmidt, with Unravel Biosciences as founding development partner.
What we're building
We are developing treatments for Alexander disease and the cerebral form of adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD). Both are leukodystrophies — rare genetic diseases that progressively affect the brain's white matter. cALD is the form of adrenoleukodystrophy that affects the brain. It affects boys and adult men, including men living with adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN). Women with ALD can develop AMN too.
As we learned more about the shared challenges faced by families affected by rare neurodegenerative diseases, we expanded our focus to cALD, where the need for new treatment options remains urgent.
Our programs are preclinical, which means there is no active clinical trial or expanded-access program to join.
We will share what we learn when the data is in hand.
Our partner
Unravel Biosciences is our founding development partner. Its co-founder and CEO, Richard Novak, PhD, sits on our board.
Unravel is a clinical-stage therapeutics company that integrates AI systems biology computation with rapid clinical validation of discovered targets. Its proprietary Predictable Medicine™ platform uses primary transcriptomics data to create Living Molecular Twins™ of real patients that can be used to predict therapeutic response. Unravel's platform-discovered therapeutic pipeline spans neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, and metabolic disorders.
Who we are
Founders
Thomas Wagner
Thomas is Max's father. After Max's diagnosis, he read the research and reached out to scientists to understand what it would take to develop a treatment. That search led to Astrosalva, which he co-founded with Paul. He built the research collaborations behind our disease programs.
Paul Schmidt
Paul has spent nearly 15 years in biopharma, more than 10 of them in rare disease, at Alexion, Akcea Therapeutics, and Gilead Sciences, and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. For Paul, this work is personal: rare neurodegenerative disease has affected his own family.
Board
Richard Novak, PhD
Richard leads Unravel Biosciences, our founding development partner, which he spun out of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University to develop therapeutics for orphan diseases. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley and is a Termeer Fellow.
How we work
We build alongside clinicians and families from the start.
Families living with these diseases will hear our news from us directly: the good news and the slow news.
Families, clinicians, and researchers: write to hello@astrosalva.com. We read what you send.