ZUG, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A consortium of biotech founders, clinicians, and leading longevity research institutions announced today the launch of the Longevity Science Foundation. The new Swiss foundation has committed to distributing more than $1 billion over the next ten years to research, institutions and projects advancing healthy human longevity and extending the healthy human lifespan to more than 120 years.
The Foundation is advised by a Visionary Board of leading longevity researchers, led by Evelyne Bischof and joined by Andrea B. Maier, Eric Verdin, Matt Kaeberlein, and Alex Zhavoronkov.
The Longevity Science Foundation will provide funding to promising longevity research institutions and groups around the world. The focus of the Foundation will be to select support projects in four major areas of healthy longevity medicine and tech – therapeutics, personalised medicine, AI, and predictive diagnostics. The Foundation is seeking to fund projects that can make a significant difference in people’s lives as soon as possible - even within five years.
One of the main focuses of the Foundation is in driving longevity medicine from theoretical concepts to real-world applications. The Foundation’s donations will support the transformation of scientific findings and deep technological advances into treatments and solutions that can be used in the clinic today. By identifying and funding the most promising and cutting-edge advances, the Foundation seeks to address one of the most pressing issues in the science and applicability of longevity medicine - radical inequality in accessing and understanding longevity-focused treatment. Significant funding gaps remain an obstacle to bringing longevity medicine out of the laboratory and into the real world.
"The symbiotic efforts of the Foundation are a splendid chance for the field of Longevity Medicine to argue its position as a novel, most progressive and crucial medical specialty, as well as to accelerate the bridging of the gap between the gerosciences and the clinic. This includes advancing a patient-centered and personalised approach. After all, we are all patients suffering from aging, and as such as we should all be engaged in finding a solution," said Evelyne Yehudit Bischof, chairman of the Visionary Board for the Longevity Science Foundation and renowned longevity physician at Human Longevity Inc.
“The Longevity Science Foundation enables the rapid acceleration of basic science of human longevity and its translation towards human trials and clinical practice. In 5 years, healthy longevity will not only exist as a lab-proven concept, but will become part of everyone’s life,” said Andrea B. Maier, member of the Visionary Board and co-director of the Centre for Healthy Longevity at the National University of Singapore.
“Age is the greatest risk factor for nearly every major cause of death and disability in developed nations. Therapeutically targeting biological aging is key to fulfilling the promise of 21-st century medicine, and the Foundation is poised to play a central role in making this a reality,” said Matt Kaeberlein, CEO of the American Aging Association and Professor at the University of Washington, where he leads several major initiatives including the NIH Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and the Healthy Aging and Longevity (HALO) Research Institute.
Alex Zhavoronkov, Visionary Board member and an expert in AI-powered drug discovery noted that “the Foundation has created a unique and transparent mechanism for boosting early longevity research worldwide and ensuring mass public participation in decision making. This approach finally allows us to speak about getting closer to the idea of mass adoption of longevity ideas and treatments.”
“This new Foundation comes at a particularly important time to support the rapidly growing field of aging research. We have more possible targets than we can follow. The Foundation will allow our field to initiate new lines of investigation in aging research and to pursue them all the way to the clinic with the ultimate goal of increasing healthspan and lifespan in humans,” said Eric Verdin, Visionary Board Member and CEO and President of the Buck Institute.
The Foundation will also empower people from all over the world to directly support the development of longevity research. All contributors to the foundation will receive voting rights as part of their donation and will be able to help decide which projects receive funding. All projects will be first pre-selected by the Foundation’s board and evaluated for their technical soundness and potential impact on human longevity. The Foundation will also research essential topics in longevity research and share findings with the public to enhance awareness of longevity care and available treatments.
About the Longevity Science Foundation
The Longevity Science Foundation is a Swiss non-profit organisation advancing human longevity by funding research and development of medical technologies to extend the healthy human lifespan to more than 120 years. The long-term mission of the Longevity Science Foundation is to help make longevity-focused care accessible to everyone, no matter their background, by bringing cutting-edge science on aging out of the laboratory and into the mainstream. To learn more, visit www.longevity.foundation.
