Biotech Nephrogen combines AI and gene therapy to reverse kidney disease — check it out at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

When Demetri Maxim was seven years old, his mother’s kidneys stopped working. He was put on dialysis, which meant he had to go to the hospital four times a week to have his blood filtered by a machine as his own kidneys could no longer function independently.

Two years later, Maxim’s mother received a kidney transplant. Although the surgery was successful and allowed him to live a relatively normal life, it was not the end of his family’s struggle with kidney disease. It turned out that Maxim had inherited Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) from her.

about One of the seven Americans with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and about 10% One of these CKD cases is due to a genetic condition. Maxim has been obsessed with finding a cure for himself and others since high school.

Maxim’s “Aha!” The moment occurred in 2021, when Nature magazine A study published demonstrated that PKD is reversible in mice using CRISPR technology. At the time, he was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computational biology at Stanford and was simultaneously engaged in kidney research under his professor Vivek Bhalla.

Although Maxim was convinced that gene therapy could reverse PKD, the biggest hurdle was developing a mechanism to deliver drugs directly to diseased cells.

To solve this complex challenge, he established Nephrogen In 2022, a biotech startup that uses AI and advanced screening to develop a specialized delivery system to safely get gene-editing drugs to the right cells in the kidney. Nephrogen is one of 20 finalists Startup battlefieldthe part TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

After three years of development, Maxim claims that Nephrogen has succeeded in creating a delivery system 100 times more efficient in transporting drugs to the kidney than “vehicles” currently approved by the FDA.

Nephrogen’s next major step is to advance its novel delivery mechanism into clinical studies with a drug developed by the startup, which Maxim expects to begin in 2027. To support this, the company is raising a $4 million seed round.

Maxim wants to participate in clinical studies himself, given the significant challenges he faces in living with PKD.

“You get a lot of back pain. You have to go to a lot of hospitals. You’re on this drug that’s supposed to slow the progression, but it doesn’t really do anything. Just makes you pee all the time,” he says, adding that there’s always a risk that his disease will progress to dialysis.

This complicates Nephrogen’s approach, as its success could cure him of PKD entirely.

If you want to hear directly from Nephrogen, and watch dozens of additional pitches, attend valuable workshops, and make connections that drive business results, Go here to learn more about this year’s disruptionHeld in San Francisco from October 27 to 29.