As we head toward the festive season, ‘sharing is caring’ really is the motto in the longevity world. Collaborations between companies, foundations, and funders are seeing early results.
From AI discoveries to potential policy changes that allow wider medicine access, November has been a month of growth. Of course, not all ambitious adventures succeed, but transformative change in longevity tech is making strides.
Upcoming conferences and events
2nd Roundtable of Longevity Clinics is underway
On December 6-7 2024, the International Institute of Longevity will host the 2nd Roundtable of Longevity Clinics. This event brings together leading longevity practitioners, businesses, and investors in one space to delve into epigenetic clocks, regenerative medicine, clinical interventions, and lifestyle practices such as nutrition and exercise, with a focus on enhancing human healthspan and lifespan. Find out more about the event here.
Founders Longevity Forum in Singapore is set for February
The Founders Longevity Forum will gather experts in epigenetics, AI, and regenerative medicine from around the world. The recently released agenda includes precision geromedicine and longevity investment as topics of interest, focusing on healthspan extension and aging solutions. Speakers include Hannah Went and Petr Sramek. Tickets to the event are available here.
Tech breakthroughs & new research
Genesis Therapeutics partners with NVIDIA to accelerate AI drug discovery
AI-focused drug discovery company Genesis Therapeutics has announced a partnership with NVIDIA to optimize its neural networks and enhance its process for finding 3D protein and molecule data. This partnership focuses on refining neural networks and using generative and predictive Ai to target proteins and design therapies.
Telomir Pharma moving ahead to Phase 2 after successful clinical trial
Telomere-focused biotech company Telomir Pharmaceuticals has announced its plans to proceed to Phase 2 clinical trials with its compound Telomir-1. In recent C. elegans studies, the drug has provided improvements in lifespan, healthspan, and mobility, making it a leading candidate for future testing.
Virtual reality tech aids in early cognitive decline detection
Virtuleap, a VR company that combines neuroscience with technology, has created a tool alongside pharmaceutical companies to enhance early detection of dementia. The current kit, known as Cogniclear VR analyses real-world tasks and physiological cues like pupil dilation and heart rate variability to gather 250K+ data points in just under 3 minutes. This new system could offer clinicians a new way to analyze cognitive health and aid in early interventions.
DeSci and DAOs
VitaDAO has partnered with Pump Science to test longevity compounds
VitaFAST, backed by VitaDAO, has teamed up with Pump Science to utilize gamification to test new longevity compounds. The project seeks to evaluate compounds over 12 weeks in worm life extension experiments. During this initial stage, any promising compounds will progress to further testing, being incorporated into VitaFAST’s research and products.
Crypto platform backs BIO Protocol to boost science funding
Binance Labs has announced its backing of BIO Protocol, a decentralized science platform that utilizes blockchain to fund biotech DAOs working in research for longevity, rare disease and other areas. Dubbed the “Y Combinator”, a start-up accelerator, of science, BIO has raised $13 million to date and has plans to keep expanding.
News and funding
$84M secured by TRex Bio to advance immune-regulating therapy
San Francisco-based biotech TRex Bio has just raised $84 million in Series B funding to support its Phase 1 trial of TRB-061, a TNFR2 agonist targeting regulatory T cells (Tregs). This is hoped to control inflammation and promote healing. Led by Delos Capital, the funding will also support plans to expand the company’s clinical pipelines for wider therapies into inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Metabolic tracking on your finger: coming soon
Dexcom and Oura have partnered to reinvigorate the health wearables market with innovative ring technology that allows users to monitor their blood glucose level from a ring. Dexcom is a leader in the glucose monitoring sphere, whole Oura is known for its health wearables that track metrics such as sleep, stress, health and more. This latest collaboration has seen Dexcom invest $75 million into Oura with plans for a launch in mid 2025.
Potential Medicare expansion could offer obesity drugs to more people
Weight loss drugs, such as Wegovy, Mounjaro, Saxenda, and Ozempic, have hit headlines recently. As these drugs are currently available in both the US and UK as treatments for diabetes, Medicare in the US is contemplating offering increased access to these preparations to a wider range of the population. The latest discussion suggests that offering these medications to obese patients could cut out-of-pocket expenses by 95% and reduce diabetes risk more broadly. Changes to these regulations could be set to appear as early as 2026.
AI doctor’s office shuts
Not all innovations end with success, but they are always learning experiences. An AI health start-up, which last year raised $500 million to create the world’s first AI doctor’s office, known as a CarePod, has ceased its operations. As the team at Forward helps its patients look for new providers, new lessons are learned for the future of AI in healthcare.
Social media pages to follow this month
BIO Protocol — DeSci accelerator
Paul Kohlhaas — Pioneer in the world of DeSci
Quantum Bio DAO — Supports community building, governance tokens, and open competition for research grants
