Drug discovery platform company focused on immune system rejuvenation aims to extend healthy lifespans.

ImmuneAGE Bio, the first drug discovery platform company focused on immune system rejuvenation, has been funded to the tune of $50,000 by the VitaDAO community. The funding will help advance the company’s groundbreaking research on immune system rejuvenation and received solid backing from the VitaDAO community, with a whopping 99.83% voting yes to the award.

Longevity.Technology: Immune aging is linked to age-related diseases like cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration and cancer, and the global COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of immune aging as a critical factor in health. ImmuneAge was founded by Sebastian Brunemeier, who is also the CEO, and Nicola Vannini, PhD, a Professor of Immune Metabolism.

ImmuneAGE’s unique screening platform is able to quickly iterate new candidates to select a final pre-clinical candidate.

ImmuneAGE’s lead compound, IA101 is a non-toxic small molecule that targets hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the bone marrow, aiming to rejuvenate them to extend healthspan and lifespan. The rejuvenation of HSCs from the bone marrow is based on a geroscience screening platform enabled by a new ‘StemSupply’ method achieving over a thousand times greater expansion of HSCs.

IA101 has shown efficacy and safety in multiple human trials, benefits identified by VitaDAO as “de-risking clinical development” [1].

The funds will help develop new IA101 analogs, enhance potency and identify molecular targets, paving the way for future therapies and strengthening the compound’s IP, which the company will file around at a later stage.

The ImmuneAGE Bio proposal was been evaluated by a team of experts at VitaDao who noted that that ImmuneAGE is the first longevity biotech focusing solely on immune aging drug discovery. The panel noted that IA101 had already demonstrated promising in vivo proof of concept data and outperformed all other HSC immune compounds in the literature.

In the funding approval announcement, VitaDAO said: “The founder is a prominent entrepreneur in the longevity space, and the team has considerable experience in drug development, immunology, venture capital, and pharma/biotech. The company also has a prestigious investor base at an early stage [1].”

However, it is still early days for the research, with VitaDao noting the proposal is not wholly without risks.

“Immune rejuvenation is uncharted territory, and the company needs to prioritize its clinical strategy to focus on the right indication,” the Collective said. “The target of IA101 is unknown, although the company has plans to identify it. Additionally, life extension in mice may not necessarily translate to humans, as with any other candidate longevity intervention. Finally, the company is still in the early stages and faces financing risks if market conditions weaken, although their pre-seed round was heavily oversubscribed and raised quickly in less than a month [1].”

[1] https://www.vitadao.com/projects/immuneage-pharma-rejuvenation-of-aged-hscs