BIG MONEY SEARCHES FOR THE SECRET TO LONGEVITY
Mogul seeks investors to fund research into extending human lifespan to 200 years
Sergey Young sits back in his chair and smiles. “Frankly speaking, I’m against immortality,” he says quietly, between sips of camomile tea. “I think if you take out death from human life, we lose something important.”
It’s breakfast time at London’s Four Seasons Hotel, and Young — who has just set up a new US$100m Longevity Vision Fund to back anti-aging treatments — is in a philosophical mood.
The 47-year-old Russian — who expects to live to 200 — believes cutting-edge advances in medical technology are on the verge of ushering in a bold new era of far longer and more fulfilling lives.
“Today, no one knows how to live beyond 122,” he says. “The oldest person on the planet was a Frenchwoman who died back in 1997.” But that record is destined to be smashed — and soon, he says.
Since its creation, the fund has pumped tens of millions of dollars into a string of biotech companies. “We are investing in things like early diagnosis of cancer, artificial intelligence for drug development. I’m meeting more than 100 companies a year. It’s an exciting space.”
So what’s up next?
Young conjures up a captivating vision of the future: “We are looking at human avatars, replaceable body parts, 3D body printing,” he says.
It sounds far-fetched, and it’s easy to scoff. The hunt for an elixir of eternal youth is a trope that goes back centuries, after all. But Young — who spent nearly a decade managing the oil fortune of Roman Abramovich, one of the world’s richest men — is a credible figure. He deserves to be taken seriously — and he has serious money behind him.
There is a certain logic behind his views, too.
“Seventy to 80 years ago, the average lifespan on earth was 43 years. Right now in countries like the U.K. and U.S., it’s anywhere between 75 to 80 years. So we’re going to continue to expand (that).”
He believes a confluence of factors, advances in AI as well as a range of different medical technologies is now approaching a tipping point that will allow people to significantly extend their lives.
The fundamental principle behind the fund is simple — find investments that help answer the following questions: “What are the obstacles behind extending human lives? And what are the technological breakthroughs that we can use to speed this up?”
One of the companies he has backed is Juvenescence, a U.K.based biotech startup, which is working on technology to rejuvenate tissues that are failing in old age and develop “senolytic” drugs which remove aging or deteriorating cells from the body. LyGenesis, a company based in Pittsburgh, specializes in organ regeneration via a technique that involves using a patient’s lymph nodes as bioreactors.
Another portfolio company is Freenome, a San Francisco firm using machine learning to develop technology for early-stage detection of colorectal cancer, which if caught early enough can often be effectively treated.
Young acknowledges there are ethical problems around life extension. With more than 7.5bn people, does the world really need people to live far longer, increasing the burden on the planet’s resources? The burden of caring for the elderly is already difficult for health services.
Critics say the technology would also be so expensive that it would widen existing social inequalities. Wealthier people already live longer lives because they have better lifestyles and diet and can afford superior care.
Although interested in such questions, Young is more motivated by the technological possibilities.
“Is it going to divide the nation? Or will Mother Earth support this growing population?” He doesn’t offer answers himself.
His journey into anti-aging technology began five years ago, when he went for a routine blood test and was informed by a doctor that he had sharply elevated cholesterol.
“I said: ‘OK, what do I do?’ And he said, ‘You need to take a pill called a statin.’ I said, ‘No problem, is it for one month, two months, three months?’ And the answer was, ‘No, for the rest of your life.’
“So I started to experiment with lifestyle changes, diet changes, a lot of literature, you know, academics and so on.”
He says the average human lifespan has been growing longer for decades due to basic medical advances — everything from the invention of penicillin to ultrasound scanners and new forms of preventive medicine.
Last year, he launched the Longevity Vision Fund for what he says are three main reasons: “First of all, to make a little bit of money for investors. Second, to give investors early access to these technologies and third, just to make the world better and make longevity affordable and accessible.
“My mission — I know, it sounds a little bit pathetic and crazy — is to change the lives of 1 billion people.”