Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Rhinehart.
Robert, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was introduced to Dr. Svetlana Dambinova in 2000, when she had just moved to Atlanta and become a visiting professor at Emory University through her friendship with Dr. Jay Justice, Chair of the Chemistry Department. She had discovered some unique biomarkers in the blood that could predict risk of stroke up to six months in advance with a high degree of certainty (over 90 %) in a laboratory test format. I was intrigued by her discoveries and after running a due diligence report on her (which confirmed she was indeed a brilliant scientist), offered to help her commercialize her discoveries in the U.S. After showing her discoveries to a number of medical professionals, we came to the conclusion we needed U. S. data, as all of her supporting data was from Europe and carried little weight in the U.S.
We set up Focus Groups to collect blood samples from various age categories. I gave a sample, my wife gave a sample, etc. Everyone has a normal level of this particular biomarker at 2 nanograms per milliliter in the blood. When I gave my sample, I was exactly at the normal level, 2 ng/ml. Several months later, when I again gave a blood sample, my marker had jumped to over 14 ng/ml! When Dr. Dambinova saw that, she said, “you are at risk of having a stroke. See your doctor immediately”, and she gave me a lot of supporting data on the biomarker to give to the doctor.
What she did not know, was that between the first blood draw and the second blood draw, I started having symptoms of heart problems, tiring easily and shortness of breath. Had been to my cardiologist, who gave me the treadmill test and others tests, which were inclusive. He said, “let’s observe you and see what happens”.
When I went back to him with the supporting data, he got much more aggressive in his testing, giving me the Berkely Lipid test and a computerized topography (CT) scan. Then he said, I needed an angiogram, which involves injecting dye into the bloodstream and looking at the blood flow around the heart. On Wednesday, June 5, 2002, I went into the cardiac Cath lab at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The doctor doing the procedure said it may indicate a quadruple bypass or other medical procedures. Also, I would be heavily sedated.
About halfway through the procedure I heard him say, ” I see what the problem is and I am going to fix it”. Later that day, when I was back in my hospital room and fully conscious, he came by and told me my lower circumflex artery, one of the three main arteries around the heart, was over 95% blocked (occluded). He did an angioplasty and a stent, and said I could run a marathon now if I wanted to. He also said that if this hadn’t been found and fixed, I would have had a major heart attack or stroke or maybe both… within six months. That is now nearly sixteen years ago. This convinced me the test really worked.
Since then, we have developed the test in a strip format, like a glucose test, that can tell in five minutes with a single drop of blood if a person is at risk of stroke. In a separate company, GRACE Laboratories, we have developed a sideline test that can tell in five minutes, with a single drop of blood, if a athlete has sustained a concussion on the field. We are currently looking for funding for FDA clearance to get both these tests available for use by the medical community.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We thought we were on our way when we licensed the stroke test to a division of a major pharmaceutical company for adaption to their blood analyzer. However, that division was sold to another company two months after we licensed. The other company was not interested in our tests and elected not to go forward. So, we had to start over again.
Please tell us about CIS Biotech .
CIS Biotech is a research and development company focused on bringing unique biomarkers for neurological disorders to the market. Our tests have sensitivity and specificity in the 90th percentile. We have a number of patents filed and issued. Once we have received the funding for FDA clearance and completed the necessary clinical trials for clearance, we expect our tests to be used to save many lives by giving the medical community the ability to predict stroke so patient can be treated to prevent the stroke from occurring.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Going fishing with my father and uncles.
Contact Info:
- Phone number: 404-683-2940
- Email address: rrrhinehart@gmail.com
- Website: www.cisbiotech.com
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