b'Kari Cao and RenewRx:a reliable extension of their care team, new A Focus on Pregnancy- revenue opportunities, and a streamlined Triggered Diabetes billing platform. Kari Cao felt burned out. For much of herNow, Cao and Carter are working on another 12-year career, the Denver physician associatepivot. In parallel with their existing coaching (PA) had about 1,200 patients on the rosterprogram, RenewRx is aiming to develop AI and was able to spend maybe 15 minutes peras the backbone of a software as a medical patient, many of them with complex needs.device (SaMD), enabling providers to bill for She wondered how the medical professionremote patient monitoring while automating couldusetechnologytoprovidebetteraspects of personalized coaching at scale.ongoing care to bridge the long gaps betweenCao is, she admits, not an AI specialist. But not those 15-minute encounters.long ago, she wasnt a nutritional specialist, Diet was clearly an area begging for improve- either. And now shes running a startup thats ment. Despite the food is medicine maxim,part of the 2025 MedTech Innovator cohort.I think itsshe had gone through only three hours ofI think its about leading with curiosity, asking dietary training before becoming a PA. Thegood questions, and knowing where to bring about leadingaverage clinician had no more than 10 hoursin experts, right? she said. of it. Nick Traggis and Ambrosia with curiosity,Getting furloughed during the pandemicBiosciences: Building on triggered a career change she was consid- Array BioPharmas Legacyering anyway. Cao went to culinary school asking goodto become a certified chef with a nutritionalKnowing where to bring in experts sparked focus, and then, with Kelly Carter, a certifiedthe creation of Boulder-based Ambrosia questions, andnutritionist, cofounded RenewRx in 2021.Biosciences in 2024. Nick Traggis was entre-preneur in residence at Boulder Ventures at The idea then was to focus on dietary improve-knowing wherements for chronic disease management. Butthe time. He and Boulder Ventures founder months into that effort, it became clear thatKyle Lefkoff saw opportunity in Pfizers June to bring ineven well-intentioned patients struggled to2024 layoff of a 100-person oncology-focused make lasting changesunless, she said, theredrug-development group that had been Array experts, right? was a powerful catalyst. BioPharmas until Pfizer acquired the company in 2019.A conversation with her sister, Kelli Pfaff, KARI CAObrought about the sort of pivot that StanLefkoff, who had cofounded Array in 1998, FOUNDER & CEOLapidus recommends: an early and inexpen- knew the Pfizer team had world-class capa-RENEWRX sive one. Pfaff had developed gestationalbilities in small-molecule drug development, diabetes during both of her pregnancies. and that the talent might scatter to coastal biotechnology hubs. Conversations with obesity All I could give her at that time was a list ofspecialist Faraz Naqvi, M.D., and University of rulesdont do this, dont do that, Cao said. Colorado Boulder research scientist John Mayer, About 10% of women develop high bloodPh.D., who had worked on first-generation sugar during pregnancyoften with littleGLP-1 peptides at Novo Nordisk and Lilly, guidance on how to manage it. Seeing this gap,led to a pivot. Rather than cancer drugs, they Cao and Carter pivoted RenewRx to initiallywould focus on orally delivered, small-molecule focus on diabetes in pregnancy. therapies for obesity and other metabolic For patients, the RenewRx app integrates withdisorders. Ambrosia Biosciences was born, continuous glucose monitors to deliver real- with Traggis as CEO.time insights. It features bite-sized, engagingPfizer saw it as an oncology-only organization, nutrition videos, personalized meal plans, andTraggis says. So it took a little more imagi-direct access to care-management coachesnation, if you will, to say, Hey, lets apply this for one-on-one support. For providers, theresteams expertise in a different direction.18 BIOSCIENCE COLORADO 2025-2026'