Juvenescence: Think aging up, rather than disease down

Back in January, we reported that leading longevity biotech Juvenescence had appointed Dr Richard Marshall CBE as CEO. As well bringing fifteen years’ GSK experience to the role, Marshall was also latterly Senior VP, Global Head of Development, Respiratory & Immunology at AstraZeneca.

Longevity.Technology: Juvenescence is focused on antiaging research and the development of therapeutics to combat age-related diseases. Its various collaborations and subsidiaries enable it to explore diverse approaches, including small molecules, gene therapies and regenerative medicine, to address the challenges of aging and redefine the possibilities of healthy aging.

In appointing a CEO with an impressive Big Pharma track record, Juvenescence continues its commitment, not only to to novel and innovative therapeutics, but to moving antiaging drugs through human trials and into the clinic. We sat down with Dr Marshall to find out why having diversity of pipeline and thinking is so key to success, what Juvenescence’s USP is, and why, when it comes to supplements, we need to watch this space!

Joining Juvenescence was an easy decision to make – particularly as I got to understand Juvenescence, the mission they’re on, getting to know the founders and how passionate they are about the company and the mission. And, also, getting to know the pipeline – I very quickly understood why they needed somebody with a long track-record in pharma R&D because we have such a rich pipeline to progress. When you add those three things together – mission, team and founders, and pipeline – they wasn’t any hesitation from my perspective.

I’ve devoted my career to improving health; I think there’s a long way to for therapeutics, and we have a pipeline of therapeutics, but what I really like is being part of this conceptual change to how you go about improving health. Juvenescence, of course, came about when the investor Jim Mellon was trying to understand what are things that are going to be most meaningful in terms of their impact on society and the economy, and he identified the demographic shifts happening across the globe with which we’re all very familiar, and he recognised, I think, that isn’t just going to be an incremental increase in the burden of healthcare, but was going to be an enormous change that could potentially cause catastrophic health economic burdens.

Read the full article here.