Investment will enable the longevity company to test if its patented drug can slow human tissue aging.

Biophysical Therapeutics, a Delaware company that recently emerged from stealth, has landed a $100,000 investment from Reinforced Ventures, a syndicate that invests in startups at pre-seed stage, choosing ‘overlooked areas of deep tech before they are discovered by the herd’.

Longevity.Technology: Biophysical Therapeutics was founded by Cambridge University graduate Dr Michael Forrest and counts Professor George Church (Harvard Medical School) and Professor Bruno Conti (Scripps Research Institute) as advisors. Professor Conti has shown in mice [1] that slightly reducing metabolic rate can greatly extend lifespan, and Biophysical Therapeutics has a patented drug that dose-dependently reduces metabolic rate. Already proven in mice, the drug will now be tested to see if it can slow human tissue aging.

If the company’s tests are successful, Biophysical Therapeutics has its initial sights set on cosmetic applications; it’s a game plan that makes sense, as cosmetics do not have to undergo clinical trials, this utility is close to market, and there is immense consumer demand for cosmetics that can slow (rather than merely hide) aging.  

Forrest told Longevity.Technology: “We are very excited to work with Liam Krut and Euan Guttridge of deep-tech investor Reinforced Ventures. Raising in this depressed investing environment is a testament to the team, traction so far, and the amplitude of the opportunity. With our demonstrated capital efficiency, this sum should go far.”

Liam Krut, an Investment Partner at Reinforced Ventures, told us he is excited by Forrest’s ‘dramatic results’. “We are eager to be his partners in this watershed experiment,” Krut added.

[1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1132191