From sneezes to startup
Robert Song ’24 MBAi was irritated. Or, more precisely, his allergies were irritated. What started as a happy visit to a friend’s house quickly devolved into itchy-eyed, sneeze-filled misery as his allergies flared around his host’s two cats.
But that uncomfortable encounter led to an idea to launch a company aiming to change the tissue-laden game for allergy sufferers around the world. Song co-founded AlleRNA during his journey through Northwestern's MBAi Program, a joint-degree program offered between the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering.
“The reality is that existing treatments don’t go far enough," Song said. “Daily medications only mask symptoms. Allergy shots are expensive, painful, and often unpredictable. Even so-called ‘hypoallergenic’ pets aren’t truly allergen-free. Our goal is to harness advances in RNA biology to transform veterinary medicine, beginning with allergies.”
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America estimates that 15 to 30 percent of Americans are allergic to cats and/or dogs. Roughly 60 million people in the United States have allergies or asthma. That provides a vibrant target market for Song and AlleRNA.
The company takes its name from a blending of the words “allergy” and “mRNA,” the latter being the breakthrough science behind numerous recent medical advancements, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
“RNA medicines have already reshaped what is possible in human health,” Song said. “We are bringing that same innovation to veterinary medicine.” That’s because pet allergies are more than an inconvenience, Song said. Allergies play large roles in many humans’ lives and shape how those lives unfold.
“Millions avoid ever bringing pets into their homes. Friends and relatives are left out of gatherings,” Song said. “Families are even sometimes forced to surrender the pets they love when allergies become overwhelming.” AlleRNA has designed and optimized multiple vaccine forms and validated them in preclinical studies. That work has helped the company narrow its list of potential vaccines to the most promising candidates.
Leveraging tech to drive innovation
The team’s next milestone is advancing into animal testing, a critical step toward translating the concept into real-world veterinary care. “This will be a major milestone,” he said. “It is the first time we will see how the vaccine performs in living systems, and it represents the transition from concept to biological proof.”
Behind these aspirations is Song’s MBAi education. When he joined the program in 2023, he had no intention to start his own company. But during his MBAi journey, he found an outlet for his relentless curiosity and restlessness with the constant stream of ideas he has to make the world a better place. “MBAi gave me the chance to test those ideas, learn from others and see problems through a new lens,” he said. “I realized it is not about waiting for the perfect idea. It is about identifying a real problem and taking the first step to solve it, and that ultimately set the stage for AlleRNA.”
The program strengthened his bend toward curiosity and taught him that AI used with intent can stretch how far and fast humans can think. It also taught him to lean on experts from his cohort to solve complicated problems that might be outside his area of expertise. But perhaps more than anything, it made him comfortable living with the uncertainty that comes with startup life.
”Startups do not come with a rulebook, and building something that has not been done before is abstract,” he said. “MBAi has been invaluable as I continue to grow as a founder. In many ways, I took the foundation I built at MBAi and am stress-testing it in the real world.”
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