Funding for the Longevity Industry Continues, Even in a Poor Market
Setting aside the movements of the broader market from year to year, and noting that this past year has been a poor time for venture funding, we should expect the funding available for biotech companies in the longevity industry to continue to increase in the years ahead. The fundamental reasons for this trend appear at the end of this article: the science looks very promising, there are many good projects sitting on the sidelines waiting for a champion to take them forward, and the upside for investors seems high. A therapy that targets one or more underlying mechanisms of aging will likely be applicable to a long list of age-related conditions.
While the wonders of modern medicine helped to double global life expectancy between 1920 and 2020, human health span has not followed the upward trend. Today, more than ever, people are living more years in poor health. The call to develop therapeutics that interfere with aging, helping people live not only longer but healthier lives, is increasing. So it isn't surprising that, even in the current economy, some up-and-coming longevity-focused biotech companies are managing to snag funds to push closer to the clinic with therapeutics that have the potential to transform how we age.
Rejuvenation Technologies posted $10.6 million in seed financing, led by Khosla Ventures, a firm headed by businessman and entrepreneur Vinod Khosla. Rejuvenation is looking to rewind the body's molecular aging clock by targeting telomere shortening. The biotech's platform is built around optimized telomerase mRNA encapsulated in custom tissue-targeted lipid nanoparticles. Khosla Ventures was a driving factor in the company's successful seed round. Vinod Khosla has been a name in the longevity space - and telomeres - since his involvement in funding Geron in the 1990s, when it was focused on modifying human aging by way of telomerase activity. As a leader in the space, his participation means something to other investors.
For Rejuvenation, the time was right to enter this space due to the convergence of knowledge and tools. The knowledge around the effect of telomere shortening on aging and age-related disease is not new. However, the mRNA technology the company will utilize has finally had its kinks worked out. "The challenge is delivery and that was what held us up for a few years. It was breakthroughs in 2019 and 2021 that brought ways to deliver messenger RNA with this efficiency and tolerability that it is now ready for the clinic."
In the current economy, attracting investors is no small feat. Yet progress in the longevity field is vital not only for society but also for the global financial burden, according to a cost-benefit analysis which suggests that aging research could be comparable or superior in cost-effectiveness to the most cost-effective global health interventions. Perhaps reflecting this need, the longevity sector is projected to be worth at least $600 billion by 2025, according to analysts.
Over the past five years, investors have shown an increased interest in the longevity space, with investment peaking in 2021 at a record-breaking $7.65 billion. 2022 financing came close to that high at $6.94 billion, pumped up from a $3 billion investment in Altos Labs. It can be hard to pinpoint the potential market size for a successful longevity therapeutic. "Studies are all over the map. One solid way to look at this is to see the statins market since it is effectively used as a longevity drug, namely for reducing cardiac risk. Most of them are off-patent, but it's still $15 billion a year in sales. If you like high-risk, high-return, cost-effective lifesaving projects, then aging research is an especially good investment because the level of existing funding is so low, and the size of the impact of success is so high."