Last week in San Diego, CEOs and VCs in the aging & longevity space got together to share their insights on anti-aging medicine. Here's a summary. 𝟰 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 -Types of outcomes investors want to see. -Changes in academic funding landscape -Regulatory landscape -Ethical considerations 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 Longevity is not about living longer. It's about increasing the number of years in which you are at your best and improving recovery from disease. Think of the resilience children have. Aging is epigenetic. Changes in methylation patterns alter gene expression. This is not about telomeres or gene mutations anymore. First therapies to market may be AAV gene therapies. These therapies can restore methylation patterns to baseline and will focus on shared genes associated with aging and chronic disease. The 4 disease categories associated with aging are called the 4 horsemen. They are heart disease, diabetes, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Therapies addressing the above conditions represent a multi-trillion dollar market, and investors are looking to de-risk by putting money into clinical assets. Capital markets are slowly recovering with increase in IPOs and slight lowering of interest rates. CPI is still up and labor market is still in oversupply. Advise cautious optimism using the mantra "survive till 25'" Pre-clinical companies will have difficulty raising capital in this space. First-time CEOs should expect major challenges. NIH is putting more money into risky "moonshot" projects that encourage biotech partnerships, have commercialization plans, and can demonstrate path to market in 3-5 years. Projects are expected to have reasonable endpoints and broad applications. No more decades-long studies, and a slow move away from precision medicine. To increase accessibility and reduce cost, a larger specialized labor force is needed that can scale and administer gene therapies globally. The convergence of engineering an biology principles will be important for building a capable future workforce. ------------ Big thank you to LaunchBio for all of the non-profit work they do in providing meaningful updates on therapeutic fields, as well as bringing investors and startups together. Special thank you to Melissa Schmidt of LaunchBio for inviting me to attend this series. #biotechnology, #biotech #startup
Anis Fahandej-Sadi
11mo
Just curious from your observations Ali Divan, Ph.D. - what's the general consensus of interest/funding in this space on a scale of "We're helping you feel 20 until your 80" to "We're helping you feel 20 until you're 160"? It's feels like more of the first one from your first paragraph under "Key Takeaways", but just wanting to confirm.
Ryan H. Vaughn
11mo
Wow, that's a lot of insightful information about the longevity field. What caught your attention the most?
Melissa Schmidt
11mo
Thanks for such a thorough yet concise summary Ali! Thank you for making it out!
Manish Kumar
10mo
Thank you for providing this insightful summary. It's clear that the anti-aging gene therapy hold promise and is an area ripe for further exploration. However, significant challenges persist, particularly concerning off-target effects and long-term safety considerations.
Frank Metzel
11mo
I'm surprised to read that longevity is not about living longer, as I often hear this "Get 120" phrase associated with longevity discussions. But the approach of getting older healthier makes more sense to me, anyway. Thanks for summarizing the event, Ali Divan, Ph.D.
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11moAlso thank you to the panelists, Daniel Oliver, Anthony Molina, David H. Crean, Alex Aravanis MD PhD, and moderator Rubén Darío Flores Saaib