Apollo Ventures Funds Autophagy Enhancement Startup Samsara Therapeutics

As I noted recently, it is somewhat surprising to see so little movement towards the clinic in the field of autophagy enhancement over these past two decades. It has been an area of strong interest in the research community for at least that long. It is well known that upregulation of the cellular maintenance process of autophagy is an important part of the calorie restriction response, a sweeping change to metabolism that slows aging and improves health. Sizable investment in the development of calorie restriction mimetic drugs has taken place in the past fifteen years. Why then has the research and development community failed to do all that much with the direct upregulation of autophagy, despite a steady flow of papers and interest? I don't have the answer to that question, but I'll note that it isn't an unusual situation. There are many areas of research relating to aging in which all that is lacking, it seems, is the will and funding to make the leap to commercial development. Given that, we are now at the point at which the first rejuvenation therapies worthy of the name, senolytic treatments that can clear senescent cells, has energized the investment community. Suddenly quite large amounts of funding are available for any line of work that might slow aging. The people managing venture funds, who are on a countdown of just a few years when it comes to finding placements for funding, are now sifting through the entirety of the scientific output related to aging f...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Investment Source Type: blogs