Fountain develops first-in-class therapies
for diseases and conditions
that are caused by aging

Lead Programs

Our lead programs were identified using our technology and in vitro and in vivo screening platforms and represent a first-in-class treatment for skin atrophy and a novel therapeutic target for age-associated skeletal muscle atrophy.

Skin Atrophy Program

Skin Aging, Skin Atrophy, and “Wegovy Face”

In addition to aging, there is a growing appreciation that weight loss leads to dramatic skin atrophy. Skin atrophy is decrease in skin thickness. Subcutaneous fat is the primary component of skin that give it volume and structure. Loss of subcutaneous fat leads the increases in wrinkles, sagging, and gaunt appearance.

Fountain’s lead program, a topically applied combination of FTX002600 and FTX003059, reverses age- and weight loss-associated skin atrophy by directly increasing subcutaneous fat where the drug is applied on the skin.

This program has applications in:

  • Medical Aesthetics, as a safe and accessible alternative to invasive dermal fillers and neurotoxins that require office visits.

  • Medical Dermatology, in the treatment of glucocorticoid-induce skin atrophy, scleroderma, and rare disease applications.

Sarcopenia and Lean Tissue Atrophy Program

Age-associate lean tissue and muscle atrophy (Sarcopenia) is a major cause of decreases in strength, mobility and increases in frailty with age.

There is increasing concern about the well-known loss of muscle and lean tissue caused by  GLP agonists for weight loss (Semaglutide and Tirzepatide). Muscle is a major tissue that buffers metabolism and protects against metabolic disease. When a person stops taking GLP agonists, they often quickly regain appetite and weight. When there is less muscle to serve as metabolic buffer, there is an increase in the risk to develop sarcopenic-obesity and other metabolic diseases that are often more serious and severe then the conditions for which a person was originally taking a GLP agonist.

Fountain’s discovery platform identified a novel therapeutic target and a small molecule modulator, FTX008762, that acts to preserve lean tissue and muscle mass in the context of atrophy.

This program has applications in

  • GLP agonist-induced lean tissue atrophy

  • Age-associated sarcopenia

About

  • Dr. Rando has more than 20 years of experience in aging research and has published over 150 research articles on stem cell aging and tissue repair.

    Dr. Rando is the director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. At UCLA he is a professor in the Departments of Neurology and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology. Prior to joining UCLA, Dr. Rando served as the director of the Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Stanford University School of Medicine. While at Stanford, he was a professor of neurology and neurological sciences and deputy director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Dr. Rando also served as chief of the neurology service and director of the Center for Regeneration, Repair, and Restoration (CTR3) at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS), where he was previously director of the Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence/REAP and Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center. Dr. Rando is a founding director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association clinic at the Stanford Medical Center.

    Dr. Rando has been a pioneer and leader in the use of heterochronic parabiosis to study the role of blood and circulating factors in the biology of aging. In 2005 Dr. Rando published a seminal Nature paper demonstrating that factors in young serum can directly reverse many aspects of cellular and tissue aging. Publications from his lab have over 25,000 citations and he has given more than a hundred keynote lectures over the years at a variety of national and international research conferences and high-profile research and medical institutions. He actively serves as editor and board member of numerous scientific journals, including the Journal of Cell Biology, EMBO Journal, PLoS Biology and Aging Cell.

    Dr. Rando is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rando has received more than 40 award nominations. He is a former Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in aging, awarded by the American Federation for Aging Research and a former Ellison Medical Foundation senior scholar in aging. In 2005, he received an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his groundbreaking research in stem cell biology. He was also a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH’s National Institute of Aging, and holds board positions at numerous institutions, including Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

    Dr. Rando received a B.A. from Harvard College, and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University.

  • Dr. Rodgers has 18 years of experience in aging biology, stem cell and regenerative biology, and intermediary metabolism, and has published extensively in the field.

    Dr. Rodgers co-founded Fountain in 2018 when he was an Assistant Professor at The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the Keck School of Medicine of The University of Southern California. In 2019 he joined Fountain fulltime. Over his career, Dr. Rodgers has authored many high-impact publications in Nature, Nature Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Molecular Cell, and PNAS. His research has been cited over 10,000 times. He has received the American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR) Junior Faculty Award, The Baxter Family Foundation Faculty Fellow Award, and the National Institute on Aging K99 Award for his research on aging and tissue repair.

    Dr. Rodgers received a B.S. in chemistry and biology from John Carroll University and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School.

  • Dr. Cheung has more than 15 years of experience in stem cell biology, cell metabolism and aging research.

    Dr. Cheung is a Professor of Life Science and Associate Head of the Division of Life Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His research focuses on adult stem cell function in the context of tissue regeneration, disease, and aging. Dr. Cheung is Director of HKUST Biotechnology Research Institute, Director of the HKUST-BGI joint Institute, Director of the HKUST-Nan Fung Joint Laboratory, Associate Director of Biosciences Central Facility, and Associate Director of the HKUST-Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital Joint Research Center for Brain Science. Dr. Cheung was a recipient of the Croucher Innovation Award in 2015 for the study of molecular regulation of stem cell aging. He has authored numerous publications, including multiple publications in Nature, Cell Stem Cell, Molecular Cell and Developmental Cell.

    Dr. Cheung holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry for the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University School of Medicine.

  • Dr. Tsang joined Fountain in April 2023. In addition to being CBO at Fountain, he is also an Operating Partner with Pivotal bioVenture Partners, where he provides strategy, business development, and operational leadership for multiple portfolio companies. Prior to Pivotal, he held strategy and business development roles of increasing responsibility across big pharma (MedImmune/AstraZeneca, Amgen), biotech (Tesaro, 28-7, Constellation), academia (Massachusetts General Hospital), and consulting (L.E.K.). He enjoys ief Business Officerthe creative combination of strategic analysis and deal-making to bring meaningful change for patients. Dr. Tsang’s projects have spanned pharmaceuticals, software, and medical devices across many therapeutic areas. His transactional expertise encompasses M&A, global and regional strategic collaborations, co-promotions, platform partnering, and spin-outs, on both the buy- and sell-side.