GlycanAge – unlock healthy aging through a test that accurately measures your unique response to lifestyle change.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be bringing you extracts from 7 trailblazer profiles from our new Biological age diagnostics report – dynamic and innovative companies we feel are driving this exciting space. Each profile includes a flagship product deep dive which offers a forensic consideration of product development, efficacy, target market, channels to market, success factors, IP and funding.
Here’s the lowdown on GlycanAge, and to read the full version of GlycanAge’s profile (and much more besides!) in our biological age diagnostics report please click here. Our new report comes to you in HTML making it a sharper, cleaner read, and more navigable – we very much hope you enjoy it!
GlycanAge - Biological Age Diagnostics Trailblazer
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GlycanAge, founded by Professor Gordan Lauc, aims to calculate a person’s biological age using glycan analysis. Glycans are important, but often overlooked building blocks of life; the surfaces of all cells are covered with a thick layer of glycans and there is no cell on this planet that can survive without this thick coating. The same is true for most proteins, including the infamous S-glycoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. SARS-CoV-2 depends on its S-glycoprotein for virus entry and cell fusion, but without it, is merely a non-functional backbone that cannot perform its function. Clearly glycans are important to all life, and it has been nearly a decade since a comprehensive policy document, endorsed by the US National Academies, concluded that “glycans are directly involved in the pathophysiology of every major disease”.
Glycans are linked to the aging of our immune system and they can reveal how we are changing on the inside. Glycans attached to immunoglobulins are one of the major features that differentiate immunoglobulins from young and old people. This difference is partly defined only by our chronological age, but even more with our biological age determined by our lifestyle choices. GlycanAge is the only company that analyses the level of low-grade chronic inflammation in order to calculate a person’s biological age, by analysing glycans on the main protein of the immune system – immunoglobulin G.
Changes in glycan composition can regulate inflammatory responses, aid viral immune escape, regulate apoptosis and promote cancer cell metastasis. Glycans are the ultimate layer of complexity of life and they integrate genetic, epigenetic and environmental information into physiological processes that are vital in all aspects of health and disease. They are the first messengers of any change in the homeostasis of the body. By unlocking the potential of the human glycome, GlycanAge is enabling their customers (both individuals and clinical partners) to better navigate biological age diagnostics and disease prevention.
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GlycanAge was incorporated in 2016 as a commercial spinout of Genos, the largest research institute and pioneer of high-throughput glycomics and precision medicine. Genos is the world’s leading laboratory in high-throughput glycan analytics and, in total, has analysed over 150,000 individual glycomes, with a current pace of over 30,000 analyses per year. Led by Professor Gordan Lauc, Genos was the first to perform large scale studies of the human plasma glycome (in 2009) and human IgG glycome (in 2011), which were the basis for the subsequent first genome-wide association studies of the human plasma and IgG glycomes. Genos received 23M euro of non-dilutive grant funding, of which 15M was used for IgG research over the span of 10 years, in which over 100+ scientific papers were published.
The research team behind Genos is combining glycomic data with extensive genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and physiological data in a systems biology approach. GlycanAge was established as a commercial spinout of Genos with the intention to translate research discoveries into biological age diagnostics products for the healthcare market to improve quality of life for all.
Gordan Lauc: “I have worked in the field of glycan biomarkers for 30 years and finally we are at the stage where we can offer reliable tests for the healthcare market. GlycanAge is the first of the series of glycan markers, it can be used not only by clinicians but also end customers as well. While medicine is still focusing on treating disease, GlycanAge is helping people to navigate their own healthy ageing and prevent diseases.”
The majority of chronic diseases are non-communicable diseases that are formed by often years of exposure to inflammation. The main protein of our immune system is immunoglobulin G and different glycans attached can change how it functions, which can be analysed using IgG glycomics. As we age, glycans become increasingly pro-inflammatory, and an increase in low-grade chronic inflammation and progressive inflammaging is one of the key hallmarks of aging that has not been researched enough due to lack of adequate biomarkers. In a research study on how different aging clocks are associated with health outcomes, IgG Glycomics was one of the best at predicting future hospitalisation due to the broadest range of diseases including influenza, pneumonia, circulatory diseases, diabetes and metabolic diseases, outperforming 11 other molecular aging clocks.
GlycanAge has so far managed to experience 300% year-on-year growth with only one product, GlycanAge. This was achieved with almost no marketing spend, one salesperson and minimal investment from the CEO alongside a few strategic angels, including Tim Marbach from Asia Venture Group and Maud Pasturaud from the Atomico Angel Group.
GlycanAge is also expanding in the perimenopausal and menopausal health markets with a study that showed that changes in estrogen levels change the composition of the glycans on IgG. Upon FDA approval, GlycanAge will release MenoAge, one of the first tests that will serve as the most reliable indicator of average estrogen levels over the past three months. Further products also include DiabRisk, which will predict the risk of developing type II diabetes and is also still awaiting regulatory approval.
With access to new markets, the company will position itself as a global leader in biological age diagnostics testing with a potential exit through an IPO or by becoming an acquisition target for large diagnostic companies.
The company has incredible room for growth with little or no competition. The company is seeking outside capital to cover regulatory costs and serve as fuel for marketing efforts which will bring predictable and scalable revenue increase in the next 2 years. GlycanAge will open a $5M seed round in 2022, allowing investors to unlock new market growth opportunities and invest in menopause R&D, building a world-class customer-obsessed sales and marketing team to deliver exponential growth and dominate the menopause space. GlycanAge are raising US$5M to setup the first of its kind high throughput glycomic lab in the US, scale up operational and sales capacities, invest further into menopause R&D and launch MenoAge.
