We’re building a new foundation for U.S. drug manufacturing
rBIO was founded with a singular mission: to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to American soil and make life-saving biologics more affordable for the people who depend on them.
Our story
rBIO was born out of a simple but urgent realization: most of the prescription drugs Americans rely on are made overseas — and many are becoming harder to access.
Founder and CEO Cameron Owen, a molecular biologist and serial entrepreneur, discovered the extent of this vulnerability while leading a prior company focused on personalized medicine. As global supply chains faltered during the pandemic, he saw an opportunity to combine synthetic biology with a domestic manufacturing model.
What began as a bold concept in 2019 has since matured into a validated production platform and a breakthrough insulin biosimilar program.
Today, rBIO is advancing its first drug, R-biolin, toward clinical trials — and preparing a pipeline of biosimilars for the future.
Our mission
To use synthetic biology to produce high-quality biosimilars at scale — and make essential medicines affordable and available to all.
Our approach
We custom-engineer microorganisms to express peptide hormones and therapeutic proteins.
Using novel expression controls, rBIO’s platform doubles insulin yields versus legacy recombinant methods.
Our goal is to modernize how life-saving drugs are made — starting with insulin.
Our team
Cameron Owen — CEO & Co-founder
A trained microbiologist with a background in genetics and bioinformatics, Cameron has worked at the intersection of molecular biology, technology commercialization, and public health.
Deenadayalan Bakthavatsalam, PhD — Chief Scientific Officer
An expert in microbial biology and protein engineering, Dr. Bakthavatsalam leads rBIO’s scientific programs, including the development of R-biolin and the optimization of the company’s recombinant expression platform.