When Demetri Maxim was seven years old, his mother’s kidneys stopped working. He was placed on dialysis, which meant he had to go to hospital four times a week to have his blood filtered by a machine because his own kidneys could no longer function independently.
Two years later, Maxim’s mother had a kidney transplant. Although the surgery was successful and allowed her to live a relatively normal life, it was not the end of her family’s struggle with kidney disease. It was discovered that Maxim had inherited Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD).
About this one in seven Americans have chronic kidney disease (CKD), and about 10% Among them, CKD cases are caused by a genetic condition. Maxim has been obsessed with finding a cure for himself and others since he was in high school.
Maxim’s “Aha!” That moment came in 2021, when Nature Magazine published a study Proving that PKD is reversible in mice using CRISPR technology. At the time, he was pursuing a graduate degree in computational biology at Stanford and was also engaged in kidney research under his professor Vivek Bhalla.
Although Maxim was confident that gene therapy could reverse PKD, the biggest hurdle was creating a mechanism to deliver the drugs directly to diseased cells.
To solve this critical challenge, he founded Nephrogen in 2022, a biotech startup that uses AI and advanced screening to develop a specialized delivery system to safely deliver gene-editing drugs to precise cells in the kidney. Part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Nephrogen is one of the 20 finalists in Startup Battlefield.
After three years of development, Maxim claims that Nephrogen has succeeded in creating a delivery system 100 times more efficient in delivering the drug to the kidneys compared to the “vehicles” currently approved by the FDA.
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The next major steps for Nephrogen are to advance the startup-developed drug as well as its novel delivery mechanism into clinical studies, which Maxim estimates will begin in 2027. To support this, the company is raising a seed round of $4 million.
Maxim himself intends to participate in the clinical study given the significant challenges that come with living with PKD.
“You have a lot of back pain. You have to go to the hospital very often. You’re taking medication that is supposed to slow the progression, but it really does nothing. Just forces you to pee all the time,” he said, adding that there is always the risk that his disease will progress and require dialysis.
This makes Nephrogen’s approach all the more important, as its success could completely cure PKD.
If you want to hear first-hand from Nephrogen, and see dozens of additional pitches, participate in valuable workshops, and build relationships that drive business results, go here to learn more about this year’s Disrupt, held October 27-29 in San Francisco.
