Latest / StartUp Health NOW Podcast / StartUp Health Festival Founder Stories: Wei-Wu He, PhD, Human Longevity, Inc.

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StartUp Health Festival Founder Stories: Wei-Wu He, PhD, Human Longevity, Inc. · StartUp Health NOW Podcast

• 0:00
  I am honored, truly, to have, uh, our next guest, yes, um, who is, uh, following the footsteps of some of your, some of your predecessors at this. This is, uh, We- uh, Wei-Wi He. Yes.
• 0:14
  And he is the CEO of HLI, or Human Longevity- Mm-hmm... um, which is one of, A, our partners, and one of, I think, the most exciting companies, um, a- around. So thank you so much for coming in. Thank you.
• 0:27
  Thank you, Howard. Um, as I mentioned, we had, you know, we had, uh, C- Craig Venter on- Uh-huh... who was, uh, who was one of the founders. Um, we had David, uh, Carro on, yes, uh, last year.
• 0:38
  Um, and now, and now it's your turn, so it's an honor to have you here. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. Um, so while I was... D- actually, let's just start off first. For those who don't know what HLI is- Mm-hmm...
• 0:49
  can you just give a quick little... Just explain the, the, what H- HLI is and the power behind it? Yeah, yeah.
• 0:56
  Well, HLI is really a, you know, to, uh, sh- uh, put it shortly, is the central intelligence agency for your health's, individual's health information.
• 1:08
  So, uh, because, you know, in order to do pr- preventative medicine, you need to have a lots of data on you.
• 1:15
  Because now, with the genome sequencing is completed, with all the technologies available, we can collect 150 gigabytes of data from your body within three hours.
• 1:29
  And so how do we analyze that data to, uh, provide you with solution to do preventative medicine or disease prevention? That's really the essence of what this company is all about. It's a lo- it's a lot of data. Yeah.
• 1:43
  How do, how do you... So, and part of that is understanding what's noise and what's actual real data. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:49
  So, um, as I was preparing for this, I was looking back at your history, your career- Yeah. Uh-huh... um, which is a- amazing. You were... So I wanna start g- even before we get into the, y- your path in training. Yeah.
• 2:05
  What got you even interested in medicine and health? Yeah. Well, that's a good question. You know, actually, I'm gonna be a little bit provocative, okay, here.
• 2:15
  So we have probably about a, over 100 people here, and we all know one thing. You know, so far, nobody can change. We're all gonna die, okay? You know, uh, do we have an agreement on, uh, on this, uh, topic? Uh,
• 2:31
  does anybody of you here knows exactly what you are gonna die of? Whoever knows about it, raise your hand. [laughs] What disease, what specific disease you are gonna be die of? Nobody?
• 2:46
  Do you think your doctors know that, what disease you will be die of? Okay, so, so actually, you know, I'm glad I haven't seen anybody raise their hand, they already know what disease they are gonna be dying of.
• 3:00
  So, so s- let's keep that as a question in our, you know, head. So my actually personal involvement in life sciences really started when I was about seven years old.
• 3:13
  Uh, I was growing up in China, and my parents was, uh, sent to the countryside to be re-educated. So I actually grow up with my grandmother.
• 3:23
  My grandmother came home one day and was diagnosed with late stage cervical cancer, and she died within a month of diagnosis.
• 3:33
  And I wish at the time, obviously retrospectively, I wish I knew her condition five years ahead of time, because clearly we all know cervical cancer is caused by a s- you know, HPV viral infection, and it takes years for that virus to transform the, you know, your cervical epithelium cell, and eventually create a tumor, and eventually metastasize and kill you.
• 3:59
  Takes years. And there's all kinds of preve- preventative medicine, including today we have a vaccine for that. Uh, so, so my interest in life sciences really started when I was very young.
• 4:12
  So my whole life is on, uh, you know, health, you know, i- in research and biology.
• 4:18
  And so I came to this country, wonderful country, with $50 in '86 to do v- to, to, to do my PhD, and, uh, thanks to, uh, President Jimmy Carter.
• 4:29
  And, uh, uh, and I got a fellowship, and I have to be the top 50 student in China to qualify for this fellowship. So I went to Baylor College of Medicine and studied molecular biology.
• 4:42
  Actually, the first gene I ever cloned is a gene called PSA. Uh, and I then went to Mayo Clinic, uh, because my whole life's interest is in research and how to turn research into solutions.
• 4:56
  So I went to Mas- uh, Mayo Clinic. We actually did the, the early, uh, clinical validation of PSA as a test for, uh, prostate cancer. Then eventually I went to Mass General for a few years.
• 5:10
  And, uh, I'm a PhD scientist, but I went to the surgical department. [laughs] Okay. Mm-hmm.
• 5:15
  So, and my mentor, Pat Donahoe, is a very well-known surgeon, and, uh, my trade with her is that she will teach me how to do surgery, I will teach her how to do molecular biology.
• 5:25
  By the way, after 20-some years, I'm still working with her. Uh, so I was the, the very few PhD scientists spends a day a week in the operating room as a, you know, uh, watching. I cannot cut, okay?
• 5:38
  [laughs] So, so, so... But in 1993, you know, uh, purely by accident, I bumped into Dr. Craig Venter. So, so my relationship with, uh, Dr. Venter started in 1993.
• 5:53
  So he convinced me to leave Harvard, and joined with him the first large-scale genomic company called Human Genome Sciences, and HGS was started in '93.
• 6:05
  We were the first company doing large-scale DNA sequencing, buying hundreds of sequencing machines and do large-scale sequencing.
• 6:15
  And we all know that Craig eventually started another company called Celera and was the first company to decode the first human genome.
• 6:22
  So, uh-So I, when I left Harvard, Harvard already offered me an assistant professor job, and, you know, that was like my whole lifelong dream is to become a Harvard professor.
• 6:35
  [laughs] Uh, but Craig says, you know, uh, you know, you know, "Don't worry, you know, you [laughs] you know, uh, you know, you- we're gonna change the whole world, and we're gonna decode the genome," and all that.
• 6:45
  So I actually went, uh, with Craig to Maryland and started with Human Genome Sciences. Four years later, I actually, you know, th- by then HGS already went public, we're already trading about over $1 billion market cap.
• 7:00
  I actually, one day I suddenly had the enlightenment, enlightenment that actually startup company is one of the best vehicles to commercialize innovative life sciences ideas, because in the university you can write a nature paper, a science paper, you can write a n- in the New England Journal of Medicine paper, but usually that's the end of it.
• 7:23
  Uh, in a startup company, you can form a group of people and raise enough money, and you can commit to a particular product or service and really go for it. So ever since that realization, I have been building companies.
• 7:38
  So I build my own company, Origin. I have started my own VC fund, ETP, which has funded about 70-some biotech companies.
• 7:47
  So one of the reason we in- got involved in HLI, coming back, or, you know, 360 degrees, uh, is I went to see Craig, uh, in 2015. Mm-hmm. And Craig said, "You know, I'm starting a new company called Human Longevity."
• 8:03
  And I think that's the round you guys invested. Yes, it is. So we put in $40 million into it [laughs] in the Series B.
• 8:10
  That's how I got on the board of Human Longevity, because longevity is always something deep in my heart.
• 8:17
  And so we got committed to Human Longevity, and then I got on the board, and then a year later, you know, uh, I think the company really, you know, all life sciences company burn money like crazy. Yeah.
• 8:30
  Uh, a year later, nobody wants to invest in HLI anymore, so we are the only one willing to put additional money into it, so now I have a job.
• 8:40
  [laughs] So [laughs] but I'm, I'm the only CEO pay zero sa- salary, so, uh, anybody come to negotiate with me about their salary, say, "I will set up the example for you." [laughs] Okay?
• 8:51
  So, so, so that's how, and that's how I got involved in HLI. How's that for honesty, right? [laughs] I mean, how often do you hear that? Yeah. True honesty. Yeah. Um, that's wonderful. Yeah.
• 9:03
  So, a- so now that you've joined, so now you're running HLI. Uh-huh. Um, w- can you tell... So w- part of the thing that I'm fascinated about, fir- well, first off- Uh-huh...
• 9:12
  let me just say, um, I think that the story, um, of your grandmother- Uh-huh... um, really in- especially in today's day and age, shows us that there is so much that we can do, both- Yeah...
• 9:23
  in technology, but, uh, like we were talking with Dean, is preventative medicine, just small changes, but as you mentioned, there's a, there's an HPV vaccine- Yeah...
• 9:32
  that literally, if we make sure it gets out to people, can really change- Absolutely. Yeah... the face of- Yeah... cervical cancer and head and neck cancers- Yeah... around the world. Mm-hmm. And we really- Yeah...
• 9:44
  um, are a global community. Yeah. Absolutely.
• 9:45
  I'm sorry, this is, uh, one of, one of my passions, is making sure that it's not just in the United States or in China or in countries that can afford it, but we really owe it to everyone that we get these vaccines- Absolutely.
• 9:58
  Yes... out all over. Yes. So sorry, that was just a- Yeah... a side note that I know- Yeah... that it's probably a, a passion of yours, too. Oh, absolutely, yeah.
• 10:05
  Um, w- with HLI, um, one of your products, Health Nucleus. Yes. Um, as... Can you just share with everybody what the differ- what, first off, what Health Nucleus is? Yeah.
• 10:16
  And I just wanted to see if you could compare and contrast it a little bit to what our current healthcare system- Yes... is like. Yes.
• 10:22
  Well, you know, I'm a big believer in preventative medicine, and, uh, this is why I keep asking people, "Do you know the disease, uh, you will be, you know, dying of?"
• 10:31
  You know, for my grandmother, you know, maybe a year before her death, you know, if we knew about her condition, it's probably a curable disease.
• 10:41
  Uh, so the Health Nucleus really is, you know, in the layman's term, you can think about it as the Mayo Clinic executive health, except the Mayo Clinic executive health still don't do whole genome sequencing, still doesn't do whole body MRI.
• 11:00
  We are using the absolute bleeding edge technology to collect 150 gigabytes of data on you, uh, and do, uh, AI machine learning ana- analytic to do disease pr- prediction.
• 11:13
  You know, for instance, we have a dementia model, probably is gonna get a 510[k] approval. So we can approve, we can predict what's your dementia risk. And I'll give you a few anecdotal examples.
• 11:26
  Uh, there's actually a PNS paper coming out on the first, uh, 1,200 patient. So we already done 5,000 patient. These are not patients. These are people came to our clinic, they're healthy.
• 11:39
  They, they think they're healthy, but the reality is the PNS paper will show you in, uh, you know, a week or two, 2% of them already have h- you know, cancer in their body. They don't know about it.
• 11:51
  Uh, 2% people has brain aneurysm. Uh, and, uh, 40% of people have high liver fat and metabolic, pre, you know, metabolic diseases. I'll give you one example.
• 12:05
  And sometimes, you know, when a physician tells you, "You know, your blood sugar is slightly high," uh, it doesn't mean anything. We, w- w- we usually don't take action because you don't feel anything, you know?
• 12:17
  Uh, you know, your, your, your liver fat is at this 5%. What does that mean? So for me, you know, I already, y- you know, s- after I become the chairman of this company, I said, "I better look at my data and carefully."
• 12:31
  It turned out to be if when I look at my brain MRI, there's already these white matters in my brain.Which is caused by the collapse of the micro blood vessel due to slightly elevated, uh, you know, blood sugar level.
• 12:47
  And but my, uh, fat- my liver fat is 5.7, my visceral fat is five point sev- s- five some liters. So essentially the brand image really convinced me that I have to take action.
• 13:02
  So in the last six months, I lost 10 kilograms. Well, I, I have a lot of resources. I called up- For, for, for the Americans- Yes... how many pounds is that? It's about- Yeah... 22, 23 pound, right? So I lost, you know.
• 13:15
  But I have a lot of resources. I actually did it very easy way. You know, I called up my, uh, profess- you know, my, uh, somebody I know really well at the Harvard School of Public Health.
• 13:24
  He's one of the best metabolic scientist. And, uh, Toby, and, uh, he say, "Wei Wu, I give you a solution. You know, you cut down a little bit of your carb, and then do one day intermittent fasting every week."
• 13:36
  So I followed his procedure. I lost, you know, 20 some pound in no time. And then I went back to our MRI machine. My f- liver fat already dropped down to 2.5%. My... I lost 1.5 liters of visceral fat. Wow.
• 13:53
  Okay, and my hemoglobin A1c went from 6.5 down to 5.3. So, so you can take action on your health.
• 14:05
  But the most difficult part of health data is sometimes it's difficult to convince people. The, the, the har- the, the, the, the, the art of persuasion.
• 14:17
  You know, I always use it in example, the people working with me at Human Longevity, they always hear about this. You know, I don't know if you guys ever heard about Dr. Semmelweis.
• 14:26
  Uh, the guy first proved to people that gynecologists should wash their hand to decrease women's death rate at birth by 20%.
• 14:35
  But that paper, using a lot of data, took 50 years to convince medical community to wash their hand. How many women has died because their physician didn't wash their hand? It took 50 years.
• 14:50
  The guy actually died in the insi- you know, in the insane asylum, okay, before the, his medical practice was accepted by the medical community.
• 14:59
  But if today I tell you that, you know, "Hey, everyone should cut their, your liver fat by, you know, 30%," you know, some people will listen, some people won't, [laughs] okay? So how do we create enough data, right?
• 15:12
  So the power of data is really, I think, the essence of HLI.
• 15:18
  Because we-- I personally think, you know, uh, you know, anybody had a baby before, you know, uh, uh, when the baby is born, when you do a blood collection on your neo, and you historically, you only test two genetic disease.
• 15:33
  Mm-hmm. But with a- you know, with the genomic technology, you can do, using the same cost, pretty soon, to have all 20,000 genetic disease tested, uh, in the future.
• 15:47
  And I truly believe, you know, although our current service for HLI is pretty expensive, I'm a, a big believer in ten years to collect 100 gigabytes of data on, you know, anybody in the whole world, uh, seven billion people, is gonna be less than $1,000.
• 16:06
  And you only need to do your genome once in your life. You don't need to do it over and over again. With that information, you can really come up with a low-cost solution to do predictive medicine.
• 16:18
  And some people have cervical cancer risk. Some, you know, like Angelina Jolie, she's born with a BRCA1 mutation, so she has a high risk factor for breast cancer. So you nee- you need to know about it.
• 16:31
  Some people are carrying, you know, cholesterol, uh, genes. So I'll give you one example.
• 16:36
  There's a-- we have a 50-some-year-old people coming into our clinic, and his father died of a heart attack, his grandfather died of a stroke, and his cholesterol level is sky high.
• 16:48
  The physician keeps telling him to take Lipitor and exercise. But after he'd done that, his cholesterol level is still high.
• 16:56
  So after the genomic analysis, we immediately find out this patient has a PC- PCS, uh, PCSK9 gene mutation, which is actually inherited in his family.
• 17:10
  So he, his body has a totally different metabolic mutation which creates the high cholesterol level. And we all know that there's a monoclonal antibody drug.
• 17:21
  You know, you take one shot, your cholesterol level will go down on PCSK9 gene. There's actually also a, you know, kind of a holistic medicine. If you take the Indian turmeric, a turmeric target is actually PCSK9.
• 17:36
  So if you wanna be a little bit, uh, you know, uh, less invasive, uh, instead of taking a monoclonal antibody, you can take high dose of turmeric. Yeah.
• 17:44
  But now there's actually even an sRNA molecule, uh, just approved by FDA. It's one shot a year, your, your cholesterol level will go down.
• 17:52
  So sh- because we know this genetic information about this particular patient, he can avoid his father's fate of dying of a heart attack at, uh, in, in his 50.
• 18:05
  He can avoid his grandfather's fate of dying i- in a s- by a stroke in his 50,
• 18:13
  uh, because he probably will, you know, live a very normal life with a, you know, uh, because of this monoclonal antibody or this sRNA therapy that, uh, you know, we-- because we know about his genetic information.
• 18:25
  Better yet, he can know every s- his son and daugh- daughter
• 18:31
  whether we need to do even earlier prevention for, uh, you know, for cardiovascular disease, because this patient already have a calcium score of 110, which basically he already did a little bit damage to his, uh, you know, uh, cardiovascular, uh, you know, uh, you know, uh, you know, uh, vessel.
• 18:51
  So this is really, you know, when we put all that gigabytes of data together, we can do wonders in the future.Yeah. So, I mean, this really, it's cutting edge precision medicine- Yes, exactly...
• 19:02
  is really what it is, right? Yeah. And the power, I think, is really, as you said- Mm-hmm... um, it's not just collecting one or two or 1,500- Yeah... people, it's collecting a global- Yeah... uh, amount of data- Yeah...
• 19:16
  that you can really do true predictive medicine f- at, at a personalized level. So the power of HLI is- Yeah... just gonna increase and increase- Absolutely... the, the longer and the- Yes... more patients you get. Yes.
• 19:28
  Yes, absolutely. What, you know, for an e- example, you know, you will see we're actually about to make an announcement on acquisition of a company called DrforMe.ai.
• 19:38
  And DrforMe actually just announced last week a formal collaboration with Mass General Hospital.
• 19:45
  So actually, as a patient, if we have all the data on you, finding the right physician is actually critic- crit- uh, critically important. You know, I give you one example.
• 20:00
  Uh, you know, people think of lung cancer as one disease, but lung cancer is probably 100 different diseases, or maybe 1,000 different diseases.
• 20:08
  If you are a small cell lung cancer patient, has an ALK mutation, there's drug like Xalkori you can take, or there's, if you are small cell lung cancer patient, has a NRTK mutation, FDA just approved a drug, uh, you know, last year for just specifically for NRTK mutation.
• 20:26
  So if you are a lung cancer patient, you went to a physician, for his whole life has only been using chemotherapy, you know, you may die after two months of chemotherapy because doctor is, you know, has their own momentum.
• 20:41
  They, they don't always learn the latest, the thing, because they may not know the NRTK mutation approval in 2019 by FDA.
• 20:51
  So, but if you know your mutation, if you have a, an NTRK, an NRTK mutation, then I would actually send you to a doctor at Mass General, actually did the phase three clinical trial on NRTK.
• 21:08
  Your likelihood of surviving five years, uh, is gonna increase dramatically, uh, versus if you just randomly went to a chemotherapy, uh, doctor.
• 21:19
  So this is actually the platform we are establishing, is how to use data to make you live longer and healthier.
• 21:27
  Ideally, you know, in Chinese medicine, there's always a saying, "The best doctor is their patient never gets sick." Okay?
• 21:35
  But the those doctor never get famous, because people only get famous if they treated the terminal patient and they, they got, you know, 2% of the patient alive again.
• 21:45
  So if you are a doctor, your patient never gets sick, you're actually not gonna be famous, but you will save a lot of lives. That's what HLI is really for. Uh, thank you very much. No, that is great. Yeah.
• 21:57
  Well, I, I, I wanna thank you 'cause truly, y- as I, I mentioned with Dean, you know, we at StartUp Health, first off, we're so excited to be partnered with- Yeah... you guys in, in this vision of changing longevity.
• 22:09
  Yeah. Making sure, again, that people live long, healthy lives. And I think the key is exactly personalized medicine- Yeah... and prevention. That's right.
• 22:18
  If we, if we prevent it, then I think we're all gonna be- Absolutely... be happier. Yes. So thank you so much. Uh- Yeah. Oh, yeah. Big round of applause. Yeah. [audience applauding] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 22:26
  Thank you.