There is a thirst for improvement in the longevity industry, as seen by biotech researchers working together with decentralised tech developers.
The internet was buzzing with trend predictions for the year ahead as the first month of 2022 came to a conclusion. Bloggers, Twitter influencers, and established business moguls alike were, and still are, ecstatic about the new possibilities opened up by an explosion of Web3 innovation. However, you may have missed the introduction of a new firm named Altos Labs, which is apparently supported by Amazon’s former CEO Jeffrey Bezos, if you were reading through pages of celebrity-sponsored NFT drops or rumours about the metaverse.
Words like mysterious and secret were used in the aftermath of the launch, which is typical of how many mainstream journalists talk about the longevity business. I’ve stated in previous pieces that there are many misconceptions about the longevity industry, and this fresh batch of headlines appears to reinforce that.
I believe the longevity industry is much more than hidden deals among the world’s wealthiest billionaires. There are plenty of potential investors, significant discoveries, and development opportunities in this field. Longevity is here to stay, according to the message. And for those in the crypto sector, or those who live in a world populated by trend-setters and techies, the moment has come to start learning about this fascinating field.
Longevity is a factor to consider.
The Altos Labs purchase, which was shrouded in secrecy in the media, was symptomatic of the significant amount of interest in the broad longevity sector. The deal is thought to be the largest biotech deal to date, with an estimated $3 billion in funding on day one, and has attracted the expertise to match. The initial executive team is made up of world-renowned scientists, CEOs, and doctors who are eager to push the science of anti-aging to new heights.
The Altos announcement was evocative of Google co-founder Larry Page’s announcement in 2013 of Calico Labs, another longevity startup. Despite questions about the Google spin-productivity, off’s it successfully published its first preprint on cell reprogramming in May 2021. Deals in fields including stem cell therapy, liver regeneration, senescence targeting, reproductive longevity, and more have made news in the last two months alone.
It’s apparent that the world’s most brilliant minds want to live longer lives. It is our responsibility to ensure that when longevity technology becomes widely available, it is accessible to all.
Longevity breakthroughs
A big milestone was reported by Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based drug discovery business, at the end of 2021. Their first AI-created drug is now being tested on humans. The drug will be used to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung illness, and preliminary studies have showed promising results. This is the first AI-discovered medicine to reach this stage, and it’s a promising sign of what’s to come in the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic in the longevity field, with numerous applications in drug discovery and beyond.
Cell regeneration, plant-powered supplements, and advancements in wearable technology that helps monitor age-related disorders are all new and interesting topics. Charitable groups such as VitaDAO and the Longevity Science Foundation are working relentlessly to support these early-stage ideas with research funding and to help them gain public acceptance.
Development of the longevity sector
In June 2021, On Deck, a firm that provides acceleration programmes for outstanding talent in a variety of industries, inaugurated its first Longevity Biotech Fellowship. Top longevity and biotech businesses such as turn.bio, Juvena Therapeutics, Retro Sciences, and others participated in the inaugural cohort. Researchers from Yale, the University of Washington, and ETH Zurich contributed to the curated community as well. Applications are now being accepted for On Deck’s second cohort, which will begin later this month. The community claims to be pushing the limits of traditional medicine and is building the biotech ecosystem one member at a time.
International groups are also raising public awareness on longevity. A World Economic Forum essay on the socioeconomic ramifications of living longer lives included Martha Deevy, head of the Stanford Center on Longevity. As a result of employees living longer and retiring later, the concept of the multi-generational workplace has been broadened to accommodate five or six different generations in one office area. While old age is generally associated with dependency and frailty, this narrative is shifting, according to Deevy. A lifetime balance of education, work, and rest should be emphasised in new societal systems. We need to pay attention to the longevity industry since the repercussions of living longer lives are already showing up in unexpected areas of our daily lives, according to Deevy’s article.
Cryptography and longevity
The longevity industry has clearly been busy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. According to a recent study, 70% of respondents feel that the human lifespan should continue to rise if the essential medical and technical breakthroughs are made. Similarly, 68 percent of respondents said they would take anti-aging medications if they were proven to be effective and had no negative effects. There is a desire to improve longevity, and the examples above illustrate that we are on the right track. There’s still work to be done; keep tuned for additional information about lifespan nonfungible tokens (NFTs), crypto investment in this field, and other developments.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
