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Biotech Firms Raised $Millions For Anti-Agathics (Longevity Drugs)
Sure, human beings have developed antibiotics, but how about something that really addresses the problem - death itself? In his terrific tetralogy Cities in Flight, published from 1950-57, James Blish describes anti-death drugs:
"So what we're looking for now is not an antibiotic - an anti-life drug - but an anti-agathic, an anti-death drug..."
In the novel, the fictional company Pfizner spends a vast fortune in the development of anti-death drugs, finally succeeding. The life-extending drugs finally make possible journeys between the stars.
In our real-life world, far-seeing companies are making investments.
If the possibility of finding a cure for some rare genetic diseases is not promising enough on its own, the promise of anti-aging and longevity benefits has piqued the attention of private investor interest as PitchBook has identified at least 25 companies that are working on developing anti-aging and longevity technologies that are mostly staying comfortably private.
It appears as if venture capital has spent around $183 million on 5 deals in 2019 which is a 49% increase from 2018. Epirium surpassed the $50 million series B of Life Biosciences drawing in the largest funding of the year to date. Private equity is also investing in anti-aging and longevity R&D as Samumed has acquired $438 million in private equity funding in August from an undisclosed investor, this comes after amassing $326 million in venture capital investments since 2013.
Via WorldHealth.
"...What we want now is something much more direct: an antitoxin against the ageing toxin of humans. We know that the ageing toxin exists in all complex animals. We know that it's a single, specific substance, quite distinct from the poisons that cause the degenerative diseases. And we know that it can be neutralized. When your lab animals were given ascomycin, they didn't develop a single degenerative disease - but they died anyhow, at about the usual time, as if they'd been set, like a clock, at birth...
(Read more about James Blish' anti-agathic drugs)
Epirium claims to have developed a novel pharmacological approach to treat diseases caused by mitochondrial depletion and dysfunction, and the company has carried out proof of concept human studies with plans to move to clinical trials in 2020.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/15/2020)
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