AlphaRose’s RareLabs Launches, Appoints Rob Freishtat CEO

RareLabs, a modality-agnostic precision drug discovery lab, is publicly launching, and naming Rob Freishtat, MD, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The lab is a division of AlphaRose Therapeutics, where Freishtat has been and will continue as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).

What RareLabs Will Do

RareLabs describes itself as a first-of-its-kind AI- and robotics-enabled platform that designs and validates genetic medicines. These include antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), gene therapies, and repurposed drug regimens. The lab can rapidly create treatments for genetic diseases—reducing timelines to potential weeks instead of years.

Emerging from stealth mode, RareLabs has already discovered eight new potential treatments for rare diseases with no previous therapeutic options. The lab has joined with 30 disease communities, and their families, across multiple continents. And RareLabs has also operated at all points from discovery to validation. This spans from target selection through in-vitro efficacy demonstration.

RareLabs CEO Comments

Freishtat mentioned the critical nature of RareLabs’ work for patients and families who face rare genetic diagnoses.

“Every month of delay is potentially a month of lost function—often, lost irreversibly,” Freishtat said. “RareLabs exists to collapse the drug discovery timeline. Time is life for patients facing the impacts of rare conditions.”

AlphaRose CEO Touts RareLabs

In a press release, RareLabs shared the story of Sasha, who has an ultra-rare mutation in SLC6A1. This gene is implicated in severe neurodevelopmental and epileptic conditions. RareLabs built a custom ASO therapy that showed efficacy in patient-derived cell lines.

“Sasha’s story is why we built RareLabs,” said AlphaRose CEO Casey McPherson. “When a person is facing an ultra-rare mutation, there is no pipeline waiting for them. We build the pipeline—fast, rigorous, and tailored to that single person. Cell-line efficacy is how you turn ‘impossible’ into ‘let’s keep going.’”

RareLabs has most recently been in discussions to establish partnerships in the Middle East. The lab says that region has traditionally been underserved by Western rare-disease infrastructure.