Investing in the Age of Longevity – Longevity Science & Tech.
A lexicon of longevity can be dazzling and confusing at times. For instance, I lead with the tag phrase Recoding aLongevity Society originally motivated by broad thoughts of the promise and peril of longer lifetimes and, collectively, what kind of society will we design and build affected by continuous changes and shaped by the contributions from all generations, across all ages – in a global narrative – with multiple plot lines, social, political, economic, scientific and technological.
Longevity narratives we’ve come to know in the 21st century take us many places. As presented in Joseph Coughlin 2017 book there’s The Longevity Economy which broadly looks at consumer market opportunities and the economic activities of older populations generally accepted as those aged 50 and over. From here it gets tricky. When we narrate with Longevity Market or Longevity Industry it could mean all of what is found above in the Longevity Economy container – or more.
With that, here I share another side of what makes a longevity market or industry. As in 2023, one of the virtual sessions I attended at this year’s The Longevity Forumin its 7th annual Longevity Week was Investing in the Age of Longevity– a Master Investor panel moderated by Phil Newman, Founder and CEO at Longevity.Technology. Let’s follow the money in a somewhat mind blowing world of medical and science technology – research and product development.
Leading off with a quote from a Longevity.Technology article: “The longevity sector, dedicated to extending human life, improving overall health and enhancing healthspans, remains in a constant state of evolution” – Phil Newman, on one of his slides in this Master Investor presentation went on to describe Longevity as “a beautiful mess.” Let curious minds prevail to understand.
According to Newman, although 2023 saw a fall-off in the so called antiaging/longevity market, investment in 2024 has bounced back to reach $76B overall in what he has identified in 25 domains, and just to name five these include – longevity supplements, longevity immunity, rejuvenation, longevity clinics and neurotech. In 2024 the top four investment areas are: longevity discovery platforms, rejuvenation, cellular reprogramming and neuropharma.
In case you are lost, longevity discovery platforms, this top 1st Q investment area refers to AI driven platforms used to discover such things as unique molecules which can be moved forward as assets in clinical drug trial stage to prove safety and efficaciousness. One example mentioned was the US-based company, NuraBiowhich works on neuroprotective medicines, dedicated to help those affected by serious neurological diseases.
Newman has re-categorized Longevity across ten levels and for examples, here I will only mention influencers on the panel from four companies in this Longevity market. Referred to in my last post, first is Juvenescence a clinical-stage drug development company where co-founder Executive Chairman Greg Bailey spoke of the future of supplements. No surprise, in 2021 Juvenescence launched its drink supplement Metabolic Switch, which helps promote healthy metabolism.
Sticking with the rejuvenation theme, from the UK, Daniel Ives, CEO of Shift Bioscience – which is about AI based simulation guided cell rejuvenation – coolly spoke about their work on human fibroblast age reversal. If any of this seems beyond your everyday realm of thinking about ageing and longevity, it is worth noting that all of this is going on as you wonder if these investment areas will impact you any time soon.
Meanwhile take a glance at the Shift website. One dramatic statement you will find says: “Aging is reversed between generations. Each of us developed from a single cell passed down by our parents, yet we’re not born at our parent’s age and we begin our post-development lives in full health. Somehow the biology from our parents is safely scrubbed, renewed and restarted.” What?
Staying in the UK we find Longevity Clinics. Sara Pazin CEO of Founders Health announced their opening soon in London. Members can sign up for integrated health and longevity services – health assessments, body scan diagnostic testing, longevity & wellness plans, evidence-based treatments & therapies, and ongoing behavioural change coaching. As they invite: “Step into a space that blends science and elevated lifestyle, a place you can relax and rejuvenate.”
Maybe that’s the magic, rejuvenation. Yet for good measure the one to cap it all off for me was Emil Kenziorra, CEO of Tomorrow.Bio outlining their cryopreservation service. This reminded me of some hilarious friends who when I turned 30, as a joke, gave me a briefcase with brochures about Cryonics which was making news at that time – offering me a glimpse at my resurrection, never mind rejuvenation.
Postscript. As I listened through this Age of Longevity session, observing how this LongevityTech sector stands alongside the AgeTech sector, I couldn’t help at the same time reflect on how much we are making investments to meet everyday people needs, the here and now challenges across a longevity society in the development of community health and social care policies and services – all this while drifting in thought of my elevated lifestyle and contemplating my digital immortality.
