Longevity is a long-standing buzzword in life sciences, but it now has staying power. The smart trajectory is to stop chasing aging as an abstract target and concentrate on specific mechanisms that can clearly advance specific, age-related diseases, according to two investors in a discussion with BioSpace.
Roughly a decade ago, longevity burst into headlines as the next big thing in biotech. But the hype fizzled not because of a lack of robust science, said Sergey Jakimov, managing partner at LongeVC, a venture capital firm focused on biotech and longevity investing. Rather, start-ups failed due to an unfocused strategy that viewed slowing aging as a vague, monolithic goal rather than a focus on aging-related to be measured, regulated and covered by payers.
Ideally, longevity can be considered the investigation and understanding of underlying mechanisms across several age-related disease categories, to impact a wider patient population and prolong lifespan, Jakimov said.
Regulatory and Payer Paradigms
Since aging is not classified by regulatory authorities as a disease, companies need to think in standard clinical development terms of age-related conditions, said Artem Trotsyuk, U.S. operating partner at LongeVC. Longevity players need to “speak the FDA language” as any other biotech and develop data-driven trials with measurable endpoints and post-approval requirements, Jakimov and Trotsyuk agreed.
Hence, a realistic path for a longevity start-up is to pursue a specific disease target and validate that mechanism rooted in aging biology, Jakimov said. In practice, that research must be proven like traditional drug targets, he added. Variability in aging reinforces the need for developers to focus on concrete indications with mechanistic clarity, Trotsyuk added.
Once a drug is approved, payers expect real-world outcomes data, and longevity companies must build their evidence strategies early to meet this, Trotsyuk said.
GLP-1s: Longevity Poster Child?
GLP-1 agonists might be considered the first successful longevity product, Jakimov said. The drug class started with a narrow indication- diabetes- and then expanded to obesity, once not considered a stand-alone indication, Trotsyuk said. GLP-1s now have potential broader systemic health perks, such as cardiovascular, kidney and Alzheimer’s disease benefits, they agreed.
GLP-1 programs focused on specific mechanisms and receptor pathways early, whereas longevity companies cannot target aging as it doesn’t exist as a mechanism, Trotsyuk said.
Longevity players should follow the GLP-1 playbook, Jakimov said. First, they should demonstrate solid data in a specific condition, then claim wider health benefits and expand said indication once initial sales and channels are in place. To make a commercial dent, longevity developers need to understand large pharma behavior in terms of largescale distribution, market access and control of patient and provider channels, Jakimov said.
Pitch Do’s and Don’ts
Longevity start-ups need to have a clear story in their pitch decks, rather than chase buzzword trends, Trotsyuk said. In that vein, LongeVC avoids investment in TikTok-style health trends and nutraceuticals that lack data, even if they are safe or popular, Jakimov said.
The firm’s broad remit covers therapeutic and nontherapeutic interventions, tools, diagnostics and measurements that capture what it means to be healthy and age well.
Firstly, LongeVC considers the potential asset’s health space, such as cardiovascular disease, and the desired indication to pursue. It then benchmarks the company’s approach against others in the same space it has already seen. A close eye is paid to whether so-called novel technology is just a repackaged older approach and the extent of development progress made in a certain period, Trotsyuk said.
In due diligence stage, consideration is given to data appearing in paper, internal reports and in detailed mechanism explanations. A feasibility demonstration is crucial: while there is more flexibility at the concept stage, there is less tolerance for thin data by Series A/B.
Red flags include platforms that generate hits, targets or molecules without a clear drug product, Trotsyuk said. Company teams also must be realistic on the timelines, regulatory hurdles and business development involved, Jakimov said. Teams who want to avoid engaging industry now and assume deals will come quickly later, despite deal cycles typically taking a year or more, arouse skepticism, he added.
Although healthspan endpoints may eventually be recognized by regulators and payers, the path to real longevity currently runs straight through classic biotech discipline.
You can hear more on this week’s Denatured podcast episode.
