We are on the eve of a true transhumanist industrial revolution. From human-computer interface research to extending our capabilities, dozens of companies are testing and developing solutions that can help us transcend our limits.
The long-lived goal is to pursue Itô from companies focused on aging, with the promise of defeating age-related diseases and extending our lives indefinitely, transforming death from certainty to possibility. From fate to curable disease.
Lots of money
The industrial field we are talking about is growing at a dizzying speed, but it is not only made up of companies specializing in the fight against aging. Such a revolution requires fine and technological solutions to support the growth of the population and its age. A giant version of what is happening today in Japan, where the robotics industry bends over backwards to accommodate the increase in the elderly and long-lived.
For this reason, if we consider the topic in its entirety, it is not surprising to know that in 2019 that longevity is an industry to 17 trillion euros, which will become 27 in 2026: they will account for more than 20% of world GDP.
Who pulls the sprint?
In this great "primordial soup" that prepares the evolution of the greatest human race against death there are companies at the forefront and gregarious companies: they all have the same importance from a future perspective, but the first 10 on the list can play a role of greatest importance.
Here are the top 10 of long-lived companies:
Rejuvenate Bio, let's start with friends
I start the list with a company that works on longevity for man's best friend. What is the point of living forever without the company of those we love? Rejuvenate bio develops solutions to allow our dogs to grow old with us and not leave us soon.
Led by the famous geneticist George Church (that I told you about here), Rejuvenate Bio has created the first DNA test for dogs, and with the data collected has developed gene therapies against quadrupedal diseases. The first combats canine heart diseases: conditions that affect up to 80% of some breeds. The therapy involves modifying DNA to cause the body to produce proteins that protect the heart on its own.
Elevian, young blood
Elevian is linked to a practice considered controversial, one that involves transfusions of young blood to live longer. It is inevitable that a branch of this kind attracts doubts and controversies (with a certain amount of irony if you think that the rich can afford this expensive "vampire" treatment). However, there is peer-reviewed research attesting to the success of this practice (at least in mice). In any case, the company, founded in 2017, has collected small drops of... funding, with 5 and a half million euros.
Insilico, the AI that discovers new drugs
Insilico medicine is a company that uses artificial intelligence to discover new drugs, and since its foundation in 2014 it has raised over 14 million euros. It is the first company to use an AI technique called GAN (in Italian Generative Adversarial Networks): two neural networks "compete" against each other to derive solutions from a common database. A list of substances or studies that are "cross-referenced" to propose new combinations and new effects. Since its inception, Insilico has produced more than 150 scientific papers with more than 3000 citations.
Human Longevity, custom treatments with AI and Genomics
Human Longevity Inc., founded by Craig Venter in 2013 with around 300 million obtained from investors such as General Electric, reached a valuation of 1.6 billion euros before having some management slip-ups. Venter himself left the company accused of having taken some trade secrets with him. Human Longevity's flagship longevity product is Health Nucleus, a personalized health program developed based on one's DNA and a battery of medical tests. Packages with a value between 5000 and 25000 euros which provide the patient with the "maintenance booklet" of his body, to intervene where necessary.
Unity Biotech, hunting for zombie cells
Unity Biotechnology it is perhaps the longest-lived company with the most practical activities at the moment. 210 million euros obtained and a mission: to hunt for senescent cells (some call them 'zombie cells'), those cells that have stopped replicating but accumulate in tissues and organs causing inflammation and other problems related to aging. Product testing is in phase 2, with a drug for knee osteoarthritis. The results of the application on 180 patients arrive in June 2020.
ResTORbio, a single path against age
Boston-based resTORbio has reached the NASDAQ after €65 million in funding. It is a "long-lived" spinoff of the pharmaceutical company Novartis that tries to market inhibitor drugs mTOR, the enzyme that regulates cell growth, proliferation, motility and survival.
The drugs stimulate the release of the TORC1 protein, capable according to the latest research of "prolonging life expectancy, improving the immune system, protecting the heart, increasing mobility and memory, postponing age-related disorders".
ResTORbio has two therapies in late-stage testing: one for respiratory disorders and the other for Parkinson's.
Celularity, the postpartum placenta does wonders
Celularity has been dealing with regenerative medicine since 2016, cultivating stems obtained from the postpartum placenta with its proprietary platform called IMPACT. He has more than a dozen drugs in the initial testing phase and others in development.
Celularity therapy can be used to regenerate damaged tissues, produce new organs, strengthen the immune system and ultimately satisfy every longevist who has a natural desire to live longer.
Samumed, hitting old age to death
Samumed is perhaps the most highly rated among anti-aging companies: it has raised a lot of funds, over 650 million euros, and is valued at 12 billion euros. It has only one of those responsible for aging in its sights, the so-called signaling route of Wnt.
It is a process involved in the control and regeneration of cells. Samumed has just finished phase 3 of the clinical trials.
Life BioSciences, versatility against death
Biosciences is a startup that includes 5 companies, each specializing in one aspect of aging. For example, Senolytic Therapeutics studies senescent cells, Selphagy Therapeutics tests drugs to induce autophagy, the process by which the body cleans itself of all damaged cells using them as "food" to build new, healthy cells. Together, the 5 companies aim to create complementary drugs that are part of a future therapy capable of systemically eliminating all causes of aging and death.
AgeX, regenerative medicine for immortality
AgeX Therapeutics is a company with a capitalization of over 100 million euros founded in San Francisco in 2017 by Michael D. West. The company's scientific director is Aubrey de Grey, a gerontologist and founder of the SENS Research Foundation, a research company on regenerative anti-aging medicine.
AgeX's activity revolves around the capabilities of pluripotent stem cells, capable of "becoming" any type of cell or tissue necessary to repair the body. Cells which due to their characteristics are virtually immortal.
All the drugs developed by the company are in the early stages of the approval process, which takes on average 12 years to reach the public: my long-lived wish for the company is to survive long enough to make us all immortal or almost so.
In conclusion
Advances in genetics,artificial intelligence and in other apparently unconnected disciplines they are leading the world towards goals that only a few years ago seemed to belong to magic or science fiction. Some great scientists gamble resources and reputations believing that not only will it be possible to eradicate diseases such as cancer, but that it will be possible to literally stop the degeneration of our cells which leads to aging and then death.
