With 27 billion in cash, Altos Labs will make our cells young again
Altos Labs wants to slow down and reverse the aging process of our cells. The conditions could probably not be better, with 27 billion in cash and several Nobel laureates on the board right from the start.
A lot had been written about the biotechnology company Altos Labs, even before it became public on 19 January this year.
The biggest reason is probably the dream that one day we will be able to fool death, or at least stay young and healthy much longer than today. And then it does not hurt that a company that might be able to do just this is supported by big names like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who this summer is said to have invested millions in Altos Labs.
When the company now get started it’s clear that not only does it have more than SEK 27 billion in cash, several world-leading researchers have also been linked to the business. The board consists of, for example, Frances Arnold, who in 2018 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “targeted evolution of enzymes” and Jennifer Doudna, who together with Emmanuelle Charpentier received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 for the discovery of the genetic scissors Crispr-Cas9.
Altos Labs has announced that it has now been formed in a press release. It shows the company’s ambition to “sort out the deep biology in the cells’ rejuvenation programming.” The goal is to be able to “restore the cells’ health and resilience to reverse diseases, injuries and disabilities that can occur in life”.
The CEO will be Hal Barron, who previously worked as head of research at the British pharmaceutical manufacturer Glaxosmithkline. One of the pioneers of regenerative medicine, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, who is currently a professor at the California Salk Institute, has also joined the company. (For example, read our article about his work from 2016 here.
