A New and Old Idea for Cardiovascular Disease & Diabetes: Ethan Weiss & Josh Lehrer on The Long Run

Ethan Weiss and Josh Lehrer are today’s guests on The Long Run.

Ethan is the co-founder and chief scientific officer of South San Francisco-based Marea Biosciences. Josh is the CEO.

Ethan Weiss, co-founder and chief scientific officer, Marea Therapeutics

They are seeking to blaze a new trail with a drug to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. It’s a monoclonal antibody aimed at ANGPTL4. There are people with a mutation of the gene who have considerably lower levels of triglycerides and remnant cholesterol. The idea is for the drug to accomplish a similar task – hit ANGPTL4, lower a person’s triglycerides and remnant cholesterol, and reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. That’s the big idea.

Marea was founded by Third Rock Ventures and has raised $190 million in a couple of venture rounds. The company recently presented clinical trial data, and published the results in The Lancet, showing it can reduce triglycerides and remnant cholesterol by more than 50 percent. It’s now being prepared for a bigger randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2b study designed to answer whether this really has potential to be the next big thing in cardiovascular disease.

Josh Lehrer, CEO, Marea Therapeutics

Ethan and Josh are both physicians and have a freewheeling conversational banter that comes from knowing each other for a long time. They both happened to participate in the Timmerman Traverse for Life Science Cares in 2024, in which they cracked jokes, bantered, and had a fun time in the outdoors with fellow biotech executives.

I remember mumbling a note to myself – after their sore legs feel better, be sure to invite those guys on The Long Run.

Here it is. I hope you enjoy this conversation about the future of cardiovascular medicine.