Altos Labs is NOT a Longevity Company?
Channel: Lifespan News
Date: 2022-01-23

In an article published by Endpoints News on January 19, Altos Labs’ founder & chief scientist Rick Klausner is quoted as saying “We do not view this as either an aging company or a longevity company, and I really feel strongly about that. And I think the science that’s going to emerge shows that yes, you can make cells that get dysfunctional over time healthier and more resilient, but it’s independent of age.”

The news team at Lifespan.io reached out to Altos Labs to find out more, and they received a response saying “Altos is not an anti-aging or longevity company.”

When Rick Klausner says that Altos is focused on reversing the dysfunction that occurs in cells over time, and that they seek to rejuvenate cells to a healthier and more resilient state, but that that’s independent of age and does not make them an anti-aging company, I think the real issue here is a semantic dispute.

To be fair, I can appreciate where Rick Klausner and the Altos team is coming from. A number of people still have an aversion to the idea of trying to extend healthy human lifespan, and even some of those who fully embrace the endeavor are rooted not in science and rationality, but in misplaced hopes and gullibility. There are plenty of reasons for a for-profit company with a lot at stake to try to control their branding and message, making sure that the focus is on the science and medical breakthroughs and not on who their investors are or anyone’s wild ideas about concepts such as immortality.

This situation probably wasn’t helped by the fact that perhaps the earliest public report about Altos Labs, the MIT Technology Review article from Antonio Regalado, featured a headline about living forever and a poorly-photoshopped image Jeff Bezos as a knight playing a game of chess with the personification of death.

This is likely not the visual that Altos Labs wants people to think of when they hear the company’s name. Others articles talked about bionic billionaires, immortality, and the fountain of youth.

Media outlets want clicks, because that gives them attention and ad dollars. Sensationalism and outrage get those clicks, and this can overshadow the messaging that a company such as Altos, and the scientists within it, really feel should be highlighted.

At the end of the day, the technology that Altos Labs is working to develop may be able to reverse the damage and dysfunction that accumulate in cells as a byproduct of the biological aging process. This could, in theory, revert people to what we would call a younger biological age, even though their chronological age continues to increase. And this has the potential to extend both their healthspan and their lifespan.

So while some involved “feel strongly” that Altos Labs is not an anti-aging or longevity company, and while I understand why they want to frame things in that way, I think there’s more than enough justification for people to refer to Altos as such. At a minimum, I think we can call Altos Labs a “rejuvenation company”, since that’s a word they use themselves. And rejuvenation is a viable approach to tackling aging. A system that rejuvenates faster than the damage of aging accrues will never experience those problems.

If Altos Labs doesn’t want to be associated with longevity, that’s a clear indication there’s a branding problem with it - and it’s up to all of us to correct that.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
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Altos Labs Website - https://altoslabs.com/

Endpoints - https://endpts.com/what-kind-of-biotech-startup-wins-a-3b-syndicate-woos-a-gallery-of-marquee-scientists-and-recruits-gsks-hal-barron-as-ceo-in-a-stunner-let-rick-klausner-explain/

MIT Tech Review - https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/04/1034364/altos-labs-silicon-valleys-jeff-bezos-milner-bet-living-forever/

Economist - https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/a-3bn-bet-on-finding-the-fountain-of-youth/21807244

The Sun - https://www.the-sun.com/news/3610571/jeff-bezos-anti-ageing-company/

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