Biotechnology company launched in 2022 with reportedly around three billion dollars to pursue cellular rejuvenation and reverse aspects of aging through epigenetic reprogramming.
Facts
- Founded
- 2021, launched publicly 2022
- Leadership
- Rick Klausner, Hal Barron
- Headquarters
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Focus
- Cellular rejuvenation and reprogramming
- Funding
- Around three billion dollars
- Backers
- Reportedly Jeff Bezos and Yuri Milner
Overview
Altos Labs is a biotechnology company focused on cellular rejuvenation, the idea of restoring cells to a younger and healthier state as a way to treat disease and, potentially, to address aging itself. Launched publicly in January 2022 with one of the largest initial funding rounds in biotechnology history, reportedly around three billion dollars, Altos assembled a roster of prominent scientists to study epigenetic reprogramming at unusual scale. The company was built on the premise that partial reprogramming, using techniques derived from the Nobel Prize winning work of Shinya YamanakaPersonShinya YamanakaJapanese stem-cell scientist who discovered induced pluripotent stem cells and shared the 2012 Nobel Prize, laying the foundation for reprogramming-based rejuvenation.Person →, might reverse cellular markers of aging without erasing a cell's identity. Altos describes its mission as restoring cell health and resilience to reverse disease, and its leaders have been careful to distinguish that goal from selling anti-aging products directly to consumers.
Founding and funding
Altos emerged from stealth in January 2022. Rick Klausner, a former director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, was a central architect of the company, and Hal Barron, previously a senior executive at the pharmaceutical company GSK and a board member at CalicoCompanyCalicoAlphabet-backed research company founded in 2013 and led by Arthur Levinson that studies the biology of aging and lifespan, known for its secrecy and AbbVie partnership.Company →, became chief executive. The initial funding, widely reported at around three billion dollars, was said to include backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and investor Yuri Milner, though the company has not confirmed the full investor list. Altos attracted attention not only for its budget but for how it recruited, offering leading academics large compensation packages and the freedom to pursue basic science and publish openly, an arrangement designed to lure researchers away from universities without forcing them to chase near-term products.
Science and programs
At the heart of Altos is partial cellular reprogrammingArticleCellular ReprogrammingPartial reprogramming aims to restore youthful cell function without erasing identity or triggering uncontrolled growth.Read entry →. In full reprogramming, the four Yamanaka factors can turn an adult cell into an induced pluripotent stem cell, a process central to stem cell research. Altos and its scientists study whether applying such factors briefly, or partially, can roll back the hallmarks of agingArticleHallmarks of AgingA shared framework that organizes aging into interconnected biological processes, giving longevity research a common map of what to measure and target.Read entry → in a cell while keeping it the same cell type. The company organized around Institutes of Science in the Bay Area, San Diego, and Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, who left the Salk Institute to join Altos, is a leading figure in its reprogramming research, and his earlier academic work showed that partial reprogramming could rejuvenate cells and extend lifespan in mice with a premature aging condition. Steve HorvathPersonSteve HorvathGeneticist and biostatistician who built the epigenetic clock, a DNA methylation test that measures biological age and became a standard tool in aging research.Person →, known for developing the epigenetic clock, joined to help measure biological ageTermBiological ageAn estimate of organism or tissue state relative to typical aging patterns, usually inferred from biomarkers rather than birthdays.In glossary →, and Shinya YamanakaPersonShinya YamanakaJapanese stem-cell scientist who discovered induced pluripotent stem cells and shared the 2012 Nobel Prize, laying the foundation for reprogramming-based rejuvenation.Person → agreed to serve as an unpaid senior scientific adviser.
Reception
Altos launched amid unusual excitement and unusual skepticism. Supporters saw a serious, well-funded attempt to turn reprogramming from a laboratory curiosity into medicine, staffed by some of the field's most accomplished scientists. Skeptics noted that reprogramming carries real risks, including the potential to trigger tumors if cells lose their identity, and that no reprogramming therapy has yet been proven to rejuvenate or extend life in humans. Altos is frequently discussed alongside other well-financed longevity ventures such as Retro BiosciencesCompanyRetro BiosciencesLongevity biotechnology company launched in 2022 and reportedly funded largely by Sam Altman, aiming to add years to human lifespan through reprogramming, autophagy, and plasma work.Company → and CalicoCompanyCalicoAlphabet-backed research company founded in 2013 and led by Arthur Levinson that studies the biology of aging and lifespan, known for its secrecy and AbbVie partnership.Company →, and within the wider debate over whether aging can be treated as a medical condition. The company itself has emphasized disease treatment over promises of radical life extension, positioning its work as long-term science rather than a near-term cure.