Longevity biotech expects first clinical trial in autophagy this year, while advancing cellular programming and plasma-based therapies.
Hot on the heels of the news that it co-developed a new AI model for longevity science with OpenAI, Retro Biosciences is reportedly raising $1 billion to fuel the next stages of its development. According to the Financial Times, the longevity biotech, led by CEO Joe Betts-LaCroix, is also preparing to launch its first clinical trial this year.
San Francisco-based Retro Bio is on a stated mission to extend healthy human lifespan by 10 years, and previously received $180 million in seed funding from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. With Altman reportedly ready to invest more, the startup is also reportedly speaking to family offices, venture capitalists and sovereign wealth funds as it seeks to accelerate multiple approaches to extending human longevity.
Retro Bio is simultaneously working on research and development programs in three key areas: cellular reprogramming, plasma-inspired therapeutics and autophagy. While the recent collaboration with OpenAI was focused on the company’s work in cellular reprogramming, its autophagy program is its most advanced.
“The kind of autophagy that we’re working on is specifically around enhancing the degradations of crap that has accumulated and that isn’t specifically of some complex signaling network or pathway,” Betts-LaCroix told us previously.
It appears that Retro Bio’s first clinical trial will emerge from its autophagy program, and is expected to begin at some point this year.
If the company is successful in it its raising activities, it will join the likes of Altos Labs and Xaira Therapeutics in raising more than $1 billion in a single round. All three companies are leveraging AI extensively in their operations, with Retro apparently in talks with a US data center provider to provide the necessary computing power for its AI models. Last year, Altos launched its own AI and computational biology institute dedicated to decoding ‘cellular resilience’, while Xaira aims to leverage AI to advance fundamental research in biology and translate these advances into new medicines.
