EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
Calico, Alphabet’s biotech arm, announces a $1B push to combat aging
Calico LLC, an Alphabet Inc. division dedicated to combating aging and associated diseases, today announced a $1 billion collaboration with pharmaceutical giant AbbVie Inc. to advance its mission.
The move is an extension of a partnership that the two organizations originally launched in 2014 with an initial budget of $1.5 billion. According to Calico, their work has so far led to the creation of more than two dozen early-stage research programs focused on advancing oncology and neurosciences.
The joint investment extends the collaboration for an additional three years, though the companies are clearly counting on it to last much longer. Under the terms of the agreement, Calico will be responsible for research and early development until 2022. It will then begin work on turning the discoveries produced along the way into new medical treatments that can be used in the real world.
This latter part of the project, expected to last through 2027, will see Calico perform so-called Phase 2a studies, which represent the proof-of-concept stage of clinical research projects. AbbVie, meanwhile, is mainly playing a support role. But the drugmaker will have the option of taking over late-stage drug development and commercialization once the effort reaches that stage.
Improving human longevity is just one of several bold missions that Alphabet is pursuing outside its core business areas. The company has another life sciences group, Verily Life Sciences LLC, that’s working on several different projects intended to advance medicine. One of its most recent studies harnessed artificial intelligence to scan patients’ eyes for signs of cardiovascular disease.
Alphabet’s research ambitions extend beyond the medical sector as well. Last week, MIT Technology Review reported that the company is considering a spinoff of an internal project focused on developing energy storage systems into a standalone group. According the publication, the effort involves Bill Gates’ $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures research fund.
Image: Pixabay
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