Rejuvenation Startups
To date, the field of rejuvenation biotechnology has infinite potential in terms of opportunities to create new startups, only a small part of which is in a state of active development. This state of affairs persists despite the hundreds of millions of dollars allocated by the investment funds of Juvenescence, Life Biosciences and other companies. The scientific community has at its disposal a huge number of opportunities lying on the surface – potential approaches to rejuvenation, obvious even for people with moderate knowledge in this field. Even a person who does not have such knowledge can find out all the necessary information by contacting specialists via email. There has never been a more appropriate moment to create companies whose activities are dedicated to the development of one or more aspects of rejuvenation biotechnology.
With the new senolitics it is necessary to wait
As for the destruction of cells that have entered the phase of physiological aging, many have a "brilliant idea" about this. However, today it is better to wait out this issue until the existing approaches of senolytic therapy come close to clinical practice. New companies developing methods of senolytic therapy use dozens of different approaches, the verification of which will be delayed for several more years. In fact, the world is very big and a huge number of old people live in it, to whom senolitics would benefit. Therefore, it is obvious that the available space is sufficient for a dozen competing methods of removing physiologically aged cells, which could become a component of a large medical rejuvenation system. However, it is worth considering the existence of a real threat that the failure of any of the leading companies in this area will give rise to doubts among investors. The future of the newly created company for the development of senolytics will depend entirely on the results of Unity Biotechnology clinical trials. This is unfair, since Unity Biotechnology programs are not a reflection of other, generally more promising approaches to the destruction of cells that have entered the phase of physiological aging, but this is how the world works. The failure of Unity Biotechnology will raise doubts among potential investors.
How to make cheap senolytics available to an aging population
The most noteworthy fact over the past five years of the development of senolytics is that the first experimental drugs tested in preclinical and clinical studies are really doing their job well. In addition, they are affordable and have a low cost. In animal experiments, very cheap drugs, such as a combination of dasatinib and quercetin, the yellow dye of plant origin fizetin and piperlongumin have convincingly demonstrated their senolytic activity. Why are tens of millions of elderly people suffering from arthritis and other inflammatory age-related conditions in the USA alone, a significant contribution to the development of which is made by the accumulation of cells that have entered the phase of physiological aging? Why has no one founded a logistics company whose activities would significantly improve the quality of life of each of these people with a single dose of senolytic, the cost of which, provided large-scale production and transportation, would be 50-100 US dollars, and the market price could be twice as high? This situation is a rare confluence of income opportunities and potential benefits for society.
Personalized assessment of biological age
Theoretically, the use of epigenetic clocks to estimate biological age is much better than the traditional use of chronological age, but no one knows exactly what they measure. Therefore, today they are completely useless for evaluating the results of specific approaches to rejuvenation, such as the use of senolytics. Modern technologies have already advanced far enough and, in principle, allow us to create a company that would provide those who wish with personalized approaches to determining biological age, suitable for evaluating the results of senolytic therapy or other serious approaches to combating aging. Methods for determining biological age should be developed in parallel with the emergence of new therapeutic approaches, since only this will ensure the expediency of the latter. This principle is not observed in the modern commercial space, so there is a possibility of its implementation.
Competitor of Revel Pharmaceuticals in the field of destruction of glucosepane crosslinking
Revel Pharmaceuticals is the only company working on methods of destruction of glucosepane crosslinking. These cross-links are an important reason for the age-related decrease in the elasticity of the skin and blood vessel walls. Success in this area will not be inferior to the success of senolitics. Many researchers consider this approach to be very promising, but for some reason Revel Pharmaceuticals still has no competitors. It is quite possible to expect that drugs that destroy the cross-links of glucosepan will take second place in rejuvenation therapy after senolytics.
A platform for searching for a bacterial enzyme that destroys metabolic debris
As for forecasts for the future, it can also be assumed that the process of screening bacteria in soil and seawater samples in order to identify enzymes suitable for the destruction of toxic molecular debris in the human body will be much more economically feasible than the modern process of developing small molecules, even if machine learning methods are used. This is especially relevant, given the significant achievements of the last few years in the field of bacterial cultivation. However, today there is no company engaged in the development of such an approach as a platform that would ensure the appearance of many rejuvenation methods in the future. To begin with, there are a huge number of amyloids, oxidized lipids and various components of lipofuscin that could act as targets of anti-aging enzymes. Companies such as LysoClear and Revel Pharmaceuticals have found prototype compounds for their drugs as a result of working with the bacterial world, but they have not transformed the processes they use into a platform, which new generation companies can do.
To make a breakthrough by blocking telomere elongation as a universal antitumor therapy
Laboratory studies devoted to blocking the process of telomere elongation by telomerase have already progressed far enough. They are either very close, or they are already ready to move to the startup stage. Someone has to go on stage, license one of these approaches and start the process of transferring it into clinical practice. Truly effective cancer treatments that will displace immunotherapy due to their lower cost, versatility and effectiveness will be based on suppressing the process of telomere elongation. The cells of all malignant tumors must restore the length of their telomeres, since blocking this process will lead to the disappearance of the tumor. If such a therapy is invented, it will allow to cope with any cancerous tumor.
Three Pillars of Immune System Rejuvenation
There are three necessary primary components of rejuvenation of the immune system, while it is important that the number of companies working in this field significantly exceeds the modest modern indicator. Firstly, it is necessary to ensure the restoration of the size and functions of the aging thymus, and it would be nice if Repair Biotechnologies, Intervene Immune and Lygenesis had competitors working on competing approaches. Secondly, a method is needed to eliminate and replace damaged and malfunctioning cells of the aging immune system that does not require such rigid, high-risk approaches as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and high-dose chemotherapy. There is a need for a more gentle and sparing strategy of selective cell destruction, suitable for exposure to elderly patients. Thirdly, the industry needs a method of introducing a new, functional, young population of hematopoietic stem cells, which will be more gentle than traditional transplantation procedures and suitable for elderly patients. The success of any of these areas will attract significant financial injections, which can be used to promote the other two areas.
Cell therapy platform for reliable delivery and engraftment of new stem cell populations
Functional extinction of stem cells is an important manifestation of aging. The existing approaches of cell therapy have practically no effect on this aspect. Aging stem cell populations need to be reinforced or replaced with new young stem cells. The surrounding niche and signaling mechanisms need to be adjusted to prevent the transition of new cells to an inactive state. Achieving these goals for capricious stem cell populations, or at least for the most important of them, requires the development of special platforms. This direction should lead to significant improvements in health and function in old age.
80/20 solution for Reliable gene therapy
The community needs a gene therapy platform that works in most cases and for most tissues with minimal modifications, providing a high degree of cell coverage and a high degree of reconfigurable targeting (targeting) by cell or tissue type. It may be possible to achieve this by improving the most popular AAV viral vector based on an adeno-associated virus, or such a technique will be the result of work on one of the programmable gene therapy approaches, such as the one being developed by Oisin Biotechnologies. Anyway, the need for such therapy is very high. A lot could be achieved right now if every new gene therapy approach did not have to be developed from scratch. Today, it takes years to get enough cell coverage and overcome the most serious barriers, such as the patient's immune system. In the future, gene therapy for many areas will largely replace drugs based on small molecules, but this requires a significant increase in the effectiveness of the development of such approaches. According to the 80/20 principle, the first platforms that are good enough for most applications should bring very serious results.
Solve problems with medical tourism
The number of people resorting to recovery methods, including rejuvenation, will be hundreds of times higher than the number of people currently undergoing medical procedures. There are significantly more people who want to improve their health than people who have diseases and need therapy from the point of view of the modern system. The nature of the medical tourism industry will change radically, given the much larger population of potential customers that will arise in the world of many new methods of wellness. This will create favorable conditions for solving the problem of the chaotic and deceptive nature of the existing market of such medical services, and in order to realize the full potential of regulatory authorities in the responsible introduction of new therapeutic approaches in clinical research and practical medicine. Currently, many companies decide to conduct clinical trials in Australia, since in this case their costs are half or even less of the costs of undergoing the corresponding standard procedures in the USA or Europe. There is no reason why costs elsewhere cannot be only a tenth of the costs in the USA and Europe and therapeutic approaches will be introduced into clinical practice exclusively through medical tourism. This kind of competition is the only way to reduce the load of "regulatory garbage" that slows down progress.
Methods of direct repair of mitochondrial damage
The loss of mitochondrial function is the main component of aging-associated extinction involved in the development of many age-related pathologies. While antioxidants that selectively affect mitochondria and somewhat improve the situation are currently being actively developed and have already put a number of products on the market, much more effective approaches are required to combat the problem of age-related damage and functional extinction of mitochondria. For example, the use of the MitoSENS strategy, which consists in the allotopic expression of the most important mitochondrial proteins as a backup source. In addition, it is possible to consider the possibility of introducing new mitochondria into cells, which, due to modification, can be resistant to signaling mechanisms and damage that causes a general violation of mitochondrial functions and quality control. Another intervention option is the methods of complete stable recovery in aging tissues of normal, young-age processes of mitophagy and mitochondrial division. In general, the problem is very serious and needs ambitious solutions.
Evgenia Ryabtseva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Fight Aging!: Request for Startups in the Rejuvenation Biotechnology Space, 2019 Edition.