"Raised $18.4 Billion in One Year Alone"... Aging and AI Fuel a Longevity Boom

Aging and AI put the longevity industry in the spotlight... Investment expands
Global pharmaceutical companies partner with biotech firms on drug development
High-priced longevity services proliferate... proving their effectiveness remains a challenge

As interest grows in the longevity industry, which seeks ways to live longer without aging, the market is expanding rapidly, from clinics whose effectiveness has not been verified to the development of new drugs that slow aging itself.

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Can AI usher in an era of people living to 150? Tech giants enter the longevity industry

According to the British current affairs magazine The Economist on November 2 (local time), longevity biotech companies raised $18.4 billion over the past year alone, more than the total amount raised over the entire preceding decade.

Investment in the longevity industry is growing as an aging population drives demand for longer, healthier lives and advances in artificial intelligence (AI) increase the potential for drug development. With people aged 65 and older approaching one-fifth of the population in OECD member countries, and projected to exceed one-quarter by 2050, expectations that AI will reduce the cost and time required to develop new drugs are attracting investment.

Tech industry giants are also entering the longevity sector. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has invested more than $180 million (about 242.3 billion won) in Retro Biosciences, which aims to extend healthy lifespan by 10 years. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that AI could extend human lifespans to 150 years.

Will lifespan extension be the next obesity drug? Technologies to reverse aging also draw attention

Global pharmaceutical companies are taking note of the longevity industry's growth potential following the success of obesity drugs. Eli Lilly became the first pharmaceutical company to surpass a market capitalization of $1 trillion (about 1,346 trillion won), led by its GLP-1 obesity drugs. Alex Zhavoronkov, founder of AI drug development company Insilico Medicine, said, "You can sell one year of life. How much could you charge for it?"

Pharmaceutical companies are partnering with biotech firms to develop drugs related to longevity. Eli Lilly signed a deal worth up to $2.75 billion (about 3.7015 trillion won) with Insilico, while Novartis signed a deal worth up to $550 million (about 740.3 billion won) with BioAge Labs.

However, because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not consider aging a disease, pharmaceutical companies and others are pursuing a strategy of first seeking approval for a drug to treat a specific condition and then expanding its uses. GLP-1 drugs are a leading example. After being approved to treat diabetes and obesity, they were also found to be effective against heart and kidney diseases and sleep apnea.

Work is also underway to develop technologies that reverse aging itself. Key players include Retro Biosciences, backed by Altman; Altos Labs, which raised $3 billion (about 4.038 trillion won) in 2022; and NewLimit, co-founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. They are focusing on "epigenetic reprogramming," a technology that reverses changes in the systems regulating DNA that occur with age.

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Cryotherapy at minus 110 degrees and hyperbaric oxygen therapy... Scientific evidence remains limited

The market for consumer-facing longevity services is also growing. The United States is estimated to have around 800 longevity clinics. A clinic in London, England, sells a five-session package that includes cryotherapy at minus 110 degrees and hyperbaric oxygen therapy for about 3,000 pounds (about 5.38 million won). Prenuvo charges about $4,000 (about 5.38 million won) for a full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

However, scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of longevity services remains limited. The American College of Radiology has pointed out that there is no documented evidence that full-body screening is cost-effective or extends lifespan.

There have also been past failures in developing longevity drugs. In 2008, British pharmaceutical company GSK acquired Sirtris, which was developing a drug using resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, but shut down the business five years later.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.