Biosafety Graduate Chris Jenkins Supports Finding Cures Safely in Gene Therapy

06/04/2020

 

The health crisis our world is facing today is exactly the kind of problem Saint Louis University alumnus Chris Jenkins, Ph.D. has been preparing to help solve.  Describing it as “some real public health in action” he is directly involved in “Operation Warp Speed”, the federal government’s program to accelerate development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

Jenkins earned his MPH and Ph.D. in Public Health with a concentration in biosecurity and disaster preparedness at SLU, where he worked as a biosafety specialist while finishing his master’s degree.

“Along with the mentorship of Biological Safety Officer Mark Campbell and SLU, my career trajectory rapidly advanced to where starting an organization with team members of similar skillsets was the next step,” says Jenkins, who would go on to establish Sabai Global, an umbrella for several companies — Clinical Biosafety Services, Castle Institutional Review Board and Shield Consulting.

Sabai Global in particular, supports the safe use of gene therapy to find treatments or cures to diseases.

Most recently, Sabai Global joined the fight against COVID-19 by assisting Inovio Pharmaceuticals with its first COVID-19 clinical trial. The trial was conducted in April with 40 subjects, and Sabai Global is about to help Inovio with its second round of COVID-19 clinical trials.  The company is also assisting pharmaceutical giant Pfizer with its COVID-19 clinical trial, and will be assisting with Moderna, Astra-Zeneca, and Janssen for sites running those trials. 

Jenkins started Sabai Global in April 2017 with one pharmaceutical sponsor. Today, Sabai Global and its subsidiaries work with more than 200 pharmaceutical sponsors and 170 clinical dosing centers. His staff includes 14 full-time employees and ten part-time employees. Some of them are also SLU graduates and former employees. A believer in paying it forward, Jenkins is currently in talks with the university to develop an internship program for SLU students.

Sabai Global oversees clinical trials that use genetically modified drugs to treat autoimmune diseases, chronic illnesses, and cancer. The company ensures the safety of patients receiving such drugs.

Our company makes sure the patient understands the drug they are receiving, the risks and benefits; and the dosing center handles and administers these types of drugs safely,” Jenkins says. 

With the recent resurgence of gene therapy trials, which saw a sharp increase about five years ago, Jenkins’ company is growing. 

COVID-19: Not the only threat to human life

While COVID-19 patients are a main priority for healthcare workers these days, the reality is other life-threatening diseases are not taking a back seat to the virus. That’s one reason the majority of Jenkins’ work still centers around cancer trials such as CAR-T therapy.  In addition to cancer trials, his company recently supported successful rare disease trials involving children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA Type1) that has saved over 350 lives so far.

It is incredibly rewarding,” says Jenkins, “to allow children with SMA Type 1, who normally are dead by age two, to be dosed with a virus that corrects their faulty gene and see it transform the outlook for their lives.”

Engineered by biotechnology company Avexis, the drug used to treat infants with SMA Type 1 is the world’s most expensive drug at $2.1 million for a single dose (and yes, insurance covers it). 

Jenkins credits a few things for his success and the important work he’s doing today, and SLU is at the top of that list. He also acknowledges one of the most difficult times of his life. 

Shortly after earning his Ph.D., Jenkins started working for a corporation that at first seemed to be the place he would put down roots professionally, but things didn’t go quite the way he had planned. Working 60 to 70 hours a week, his work-life balance became way out of sync, so he decided to walk away. He soon landed another role in Texas, but that didn’t last as long as he had hoped. Although a painful season in his life, it turned out to water the seed for Sabai Global, which was planted with his stint as a biosafety specialist for SLU. Additionally, the company’s name is a testament to the power of healing and reconciliation. Inspired by one of his greatest inspirations—his wife, who is Thai—Sabai is a common Thai phrase that means “all is good” or “not a care in the world.” 

The resurgence of gene therapy and the excellent work Jenkins’s organization does for its clients and partners has helped the organization grow. UniQure, a leading gene therapy company with the first virus for rare disease in Europe, Glybera in 2015, praised Clinical Biosafety Services for helping accelerate its timelines as

“It has had a direct effect in making our study successfully navigate difficult timelines, and it has done wonders for building our reputation as a sponsor who wants to help.” 

While Jenkins’s SLU experience prepared him to become founder and CEO of a successful gene therapy business, it was those tough times that propelled him to step out on faith and begin building an organization that is helping save lives and opening doors for future leaders in the field of gene therapy. Jenkins’s advice to others is this: “Keep an open mind. You can never fully anticipate exactly where the winds of change will lead you—and they will.” 

About the College for Public Health and Social Justice 

The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.

Guided by a mission of social justice and focus on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, urban planning, applied behavior analysis, criminology and criminal justice, and outcomes research and data science.