A surprise announcement was made by a private longevity company today. Could this be the catalyst that accelerates investor interest in the life extension industry?
I actually knew this was coming. Not the exact details, but I had been watching Celine Halioua posting cryptic messages for the past couple of weeks. She eluded to an industry-changing announcement that her company, Cellular Longevity, would be making.
Before I explain what happened, I want to share my personal involvement in the longevity industry.
For the past two years, I have been building Spannr. If I’m being honest with you, this building journey has been very difficult. I’m pretty familiar with the entrepreneur grind, but Spannr has been particularly exhausting – both mentally and emotionally.
Simply put, the world of longevity is confusing, highly technical, and full of scam artists. Just like building any company, you don’t fully grasp the complexities of an industry until you’re neck deep in the quagmire. At that point, you either wave the white flag, or just keep swimming…
Anyway, the TAM (total addressable market) for longevity applications is mind boggling. Just ask yourself this question: If you could extend the healthy years of your life, and possibly extend your lifespan… would you?
The next question is: How much would you spend?
I’ll let you answer those questions yourself… But I’m sure you get the point here.
Build and Cross Your Fingers?
That is my general thesis around building Spannr. I have no idea where the world of longevity will go, but I do know that it’s a trend that is unfolding before our eyes… and I want to be a part of it, somehow.
What’s going to happen in the coming years when we combine mega-computing power with AI/ML, and then apply that to biology? What kind of drugs are we going to discover or create? How will we be able to run successful (and fast) clinical trials? Can we simulate billions of human biology scenarios, in search of certain cures, without ever harming a person?
The list of questions is currently much longer than the list of answers.
And don’t forget about the world’s demographics. I’ve written about this topic extensively in the past. The summary is: The world is going to have more old people than it’s ever had before. And these old people have record amounts of wealth. What are they going to spend all that money on? Their grandkids?
Let me refocus…
Building or investing in the longevity industry, right now, is an incredibly unique opportunity that could also turn out to be unbelievably lucrative.
(Before I get hate mail… Extending people’s healthspans and/or lifespans is not a threat to the world. In fact, the whole overpopulation scare is a complete farce, as we actually have a population decline crisis on our horizon. Furthermore, bringing drugs and therapies to market that can extend an individual’s healthspan will actually alleviate much of our current healthcare crisis. The reality is that most healthcare systems, especially in the west, only provide care and medicine in reactionary circumstances. This is akin to putting bandaids on bullet holes.)
Startups, Dogs, and Longevity
Back to Celine and her company, Cellular Longevity, which is better known as “Loyal.”
I’ve been following Celine and her company since the beginning. That’s because we currently track all longevity companies (which you can check out for free here), and because I think her approach is very pragmatic.
Celine and her team at Loyal are a “clinical-stage veterinary medicine company developing drugs intended to extend the healthspan and lifespan of dogs.”
Extending the lives of dogs is great, but there is more to the story…
Dogs are an interesting animal to work with for a variety of reasons. We covered this topic in depth at Spannr, last year, in an article titled: Barking Up the Right Tree: How Dogs Just Might Be the Key to Human Longevity
The gist is that dogs have similar living environments to humans, have less medical regulatory hurdles for research, and have shorter lifespans which enable research to progress faster. Any potential lessons learned could be applied to humans.
Today, Loyal announced that they received formal acceptance from the FDA that a drug can be developed and approved to extend lifespan. This is believed to be the first, and only, acknowledgement from the FDA in regards to a drug that can extend lifespan.
It’s difficult to explain the importance of this announcement, because, well, it’s never happened before.
You can read the details of the formal announcement here.
Get Involved, Now
I believe investing and participating in the longevity trend is the most exciting opportunity in the world. As I mentioned before, there are obvious economic upsides here, but the personal benefits are even more interesting.
For example we’ve made a “Longevity 101” guide that gives a quick intro to everything about personal health, and it’ll probably educate you about investing opportunities in the industry as well.
Over the next couple of years, I expect to see more groundbreaking announcements about the extension of human healthspan and lifespan. I also anticipate increased consumer interest as more companies bring unique products and services to market.
The longevity opportunity is still in its infancy. Dip your toes in the water, now!
