The recent announcement that Roche-backed Chugai Pharmaceutical has partnered with Gero to tackle age-related disease is the latest in a series of collaborations signalling growing interest from major pharmaceutical players in the Longevity space.
While developing any new therapy involves high costs and substantial risk, longevity-focused innovation presents a distinct set of challenges, including regulatory uncertainty, a lack of validated biomarkers, and the need for unusually long clinical trials. Large pharmaceutical companies are uniquely positioned to support the development of these therapies, not only by shouldering the financial burden of late-stage trials but also by contributing regulatory expertise, trial infrastructure, and eventually global market access.
Sustained and strategic investment is crucial and it’s important for early-stage companies to present an attractive proposition to potential partners and investors. Strong scientific data and a capable leadership team remain critical, but a robust IP strategy is also a key pillar. Increasingly, due diligence processes from sophisticated investors scrutinise IP portfolios ensure that assets are adequately protected.
Strategic Collaborations Driving Progress
The Chugai-Gero partnership brings together Gero’s AI-driven drug discovery platform with Chugai’s antibody engineering expertise. Gero’s platform applies machine learning to large-scale biological and clinical datasets to uncover novel aging-related drug targets.
This partnership is part of a broader trend. Novartis has teamed up with BioAge Labs, a company that leverages decades of longitudinal human aging data and machine learning to detect determinants of a healthy lifespan to drive identification of drug targets. These collaborations exemplify a pattern of companies with innovative AI-driven discovery capabilities partnering with pharma firms experienced in clinical development and regulatory navigation.
We’re also seeing deals seemingly focused on progressing specific therapeutic assets or programs. Altos Labs acquired Dorian Therapeutics, who are developing “senoblockers” targeting epigenetic regulators to reduce senescent cell burden and enhance stem cell function. The senoblockers have shown potential in treating Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, diabetes and autoimmune diseases. Calico, Alphabet’s longevity biotech company, partnered with Mabwell to license IL-11-targeted therapies which are currently in early-phase trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. HanAll Biopharma entered into a significant licensing agreement with Turn Biotechnologies, to develop therapies focused on using mRNA-transcription factors to transiently reprogram cells and reverse age-related decline.
Investor Momentum in Longevity
Partnerships have been accompanied by successful fundraising rounds that reflect investor interest in the field. Notable deals include: NewLimit which raised $130 million in Series B funding to advance its preclinical asset that uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA encoding transcription factors to hepatocytes, with the aim of rejuvenating liver function; Shift Bioscience which secured $16 million in seed funding to build out its AI-based platform that identifies gene targets for safe cellular rejuvenation; and Rubedo Life Sciences which raised $40 million in Series A financing to progress its senescence-targeting therapies into clinical trials. These funding rounds are not only fuelling R&D but also signalling the commercial potential of technologies targeting the biology of ageing.
Protection of Key Areas
Recent transactions reveal investor priorities, with key areas attracting funding including AI-enabled target discovery platforms, senescence-modulating therapeutics, cellular reprogramming technologies, and anti-inflammatory interventions. Data compiled in a recent industry review suggests that in 2024 alone, longevity discovery platforms and neuro-focused longevity pharma attracted around $2.5 billion each in funding, followed by $2 billion for rejuvenation technologies and $1.5 billion for reprogramming-based approaches.
Discovery platforms are therefore valuable assets that are important to protect. Patents can be used to safeguard a diverse range of platform components, such as algorithms, proprietary cell models, screening methodologies, and data-processing workflows. In some cases, maintaining certain platform aspects as confidential information can be appropriate, and complement patent filings. Companies should also consider protecting the outputs of their proprietary platforms (e.g. novel biological targets and associated validation data), as well as downstream applications of outputs, e.g. therapeutic interventions that modulate targets identified by the platforms. In this way, it’s possible to build a robust, multi-layered IP position.
