Could ‘young’ blood stop us getting old?
FON client Elevian is featured in The Guardian this week in an article titled Could ‘young’ blood stop us getting old? The author highlights the original studies performed by Elevian’s scientific co-founders discovering that young blood can rejuvenate aged animals. They go on to describe three companies leveraging this fascinating biology to develop new treatments.
One company, Ambrosia, currently offers young plasma for sale in medical clinics. The FDA recently gave guidance that young blood treatments lack proof of safety and efficacy, calling this approach into question.
Another company, Alkahest, is developing blood fractions that concentrate putative regenerative factors. Alkahest are in clinical trials using these young blood fractions to treat Alzheimer’s Disease.
The last company, Elevian, has identified a specific young blood factor, GDF11, whose activity decreases with age. When replenished in aged animals, GDF11 broadly stimulates regenerative pathways and has been shown to be effective in treating many animal models of age-related diseases.
Elevian is raising financing to support initial clinical trials to treat stroke and other age-related diseases.
When comparing the different therapeutic strategies, independent researcher, Paul Robbins from the University of Minnesota states that Elevian could be closer to a home run. “If it does work as initially published it could change our treatments for ageing,” says Robbins. Read the full article here.
