Tech billionaires are pouring millions into companies working toward death-defying technology. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reportedly invested in Altos Labs, which conducts partial cellular reprogramming research.
This company claims it aims to restore people’s health and extend longevity by eliminating senescent cells responsible for age-related changes. But does such research make sense?
1. He’s invested in Altos Labs
There’s an old saying that holds that young people dream of becoming wealthy while wealthy people dream of staying young. Jeff Bezos seems to take this notion to heart; at 57 years old he reportedly invested billions of dollars into an initiative designed to reverse aging and defy death called Altos Labs that is out of stealth mode this week and employing top scientists working on its project according to MIT Technology Review’s reports on it. According to these scientists’ investigations reprogramming cells with rejuvenating effects so as to rejuvenate them thus prolonging youthful aging or making someone younger overall.
Hal Barron was hired as its inaugural chief scientific officer from British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. In this capacity he will recruit top scientists to join their company’s research institutes planned in San Francisco; San Diego; and Cambridge – they have even partnered with Izpisua Belmonte who successfully restored vision to mice using cellular reprogramming!
Reprogramming cells may seem like an attractive solution to combating age-related diseases; however, human trials have yet to demonstrate its efficacy and even if successful would likely take years before actual patients could benefit. Scientists continue their work in finding ways to delay aging and combat diseases associated with ageing.
Bezos appears committed to anti-aging research; his investment firm, Bezos Expeditions, holds stakes in several other startups conducting cellular reprogramming research.
Billionaires are always on the lookout for the next big thing, and rejuvenation science seems to be Bezos’ latest obsession. Perhaps he hopes it can give him one last shot at immortality before passing. We’ll have to see whether his latest venture turns out to be alchemy or magic rock-like!
2. He’s invested in Unity Biotechnology
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is among those investing in a company dedicated to delaying aging, according to MIT Tech Review. Furthermore, this firm is hiring scientists at million dollar salaries for biological reprogramming research that could rejuvenate cells in the lab. Furthermore, this firm specializes in drug development that targets senescent cells which stop dividing and cause many age-related diseases.
Unity Biotechnology has garnered significant investments from investors such as billionaire Peter Thiel and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, in its mission of producing transformative medicines that slow, halt or reverse diseases of aging. Their lead candidate drug is UBX0101 for osteoarthritis treatment that’s been through early trials.
Anti-Aging startup Noonan Labs has not released the results from their trials yet; however, this is not the first time an anti-aging startup has failed to live up to their promises. Ambrosia introduced blood plasma infusions as an anti-ageing strategy and touted them as an alternative to diet restriction and exercise for improving energy and slowing aging processes; however, their CEO Jesse Karmazin was unable to scale up production quickly enough, leading the company to close in 2019.
Although some experts are wary of immortality, others remain hopeful. If this becomes reality, wealthy individuals could live for much longer and may gain additional political influence; but for most of us immortality remains unreachable.
At present, all we can do to combat aging is focus on staying healthy and avoiding bad habits, but should a cure for aging become available, we should seize that opportunity immediately – that way we’d have more years ahead to enjoy travel, sports and relationships – if they deliver as expected, hopefully they’ll make all our efforts worth while!
3. He’s invested in Ambrosia
Bezos’ wealth allows him to invest in anti-ageing research that could extend his lifespan beyond most people. He is already one of the key backers for Unity Biotechnology’s efforts to develop anti-ageing drugs; additionally he invested in Altos Labs which works to reprogram cells so they regenerate and repair themselves, potentially increasing human lifespan.
Reversing the signs of aging may seem like a luxury rather than a necessity for most of us; cosmetic procedures like dental implants, hair transplants and botox have become mainstream treatments; in addition, poor diet, lifestyle and stress can cause our bodies to age faster. But Bezos wants to go one step further: He has apparently invested in a company which seeks to reverse aging completely.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos currently ranks as the richest person on earth with an estimated net worth of $209 billion, but his desire to live forever extends far beyond himself alone – it encompasses all humanity as he wants them all to benefit from technologies designed to prolong lives.
He has also invested in companies working to extend the human lifespan, such as Ambrosia and Unity Biotechnology, but their hopes of immortality remain far away from being realized.
Ambrosia was recently shut down by the FDA because its teen plasma transfusion services claimed they could rejuvenate old mice by replacing their blood with newer blood. But according to FDA regulation, parabiosis (or parabiosis) is considered pseudoscience and should be avoided at all costs.
However, that hasn’t stopped other tech moguls from funding life-extending ventures. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan recently launched The Breakthrough Prize, offering $3 million to researchers who advance medicine. Meanwhile Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google, invested in Calico which investigates age-related diseases and therapies.
Can scientists really stop aging during our lifetimes, and will they be able to market this breakthrough successfully to the public? Time will tell.
4. He’s invested in SpaceX
Jeff Bezos has achieved great success as the owner of The Washington Post and an Amazon billionaire who boasts one of the fastest private jets around, but now his attention has turned towards another grand project: Altos Labs is dedicated to finding ways to reverse human aging using biological reprogramming to rejuvenate cells in a laboratory environment before applying this technology on animals and eventually humans – with success meaning Bezos and other wealthy people could live forever if successful!
Bezos’s interest in delaying aging appears closely connected to his longstanding passion for space travel. Beyond his involvement with Blue Origin and ownership of The Washington Post, Bezos founded Amazon’s e-commerce business and purchased Whole Foods Market. When not traveling through space himself, he enjoys flying his private jet and has led divers in recovering some of the damaged rocket engines used during Apollo 11 mission.
Bezos first hinted last year at his possible move to Mars by 2024; initially he said he planned to live on Everest for one year to test out his ideas. Bezos founded Blue Origin – an agency which competes against SpaceX for NASA lunar exploration contracts – but eventually settled on moving away.
SpaceX and Jeff Bezos have had a contentious relationship in the past, trading barbs on social media. Most notably, Musk tweeted in April 2017 that filing legal actions is actually his full-time occupation – an apparent reference to Amazon’s attempt to derail a SpaceX rocket for lunar mission development.
Although several billionaires, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, have invested money into life-extension treatments, Elon Musk is skeptical that these will prove effective. He warns that helping wealthy individuals live longer may worsen existing inequalities because it gives them more time to accumulate wealth and become even more influential; additionally, these treatments may only prolong lives among healthy individuals while hastening the death of people suffering chronic disease and disability.