September 29, 2022 | Issue #20

Good Evening

. Welcome back to another issue of Spannr. 

In this week's newsletter

:

🧬 NYSE welcomes FOXO Technologies

🤷 Strong results for promising Alzheimer's drug

📌 The latest business news & weekend reading

FOXO Technologies Successfully Lists on the NYSE With A Goal To Change the Life Insurance Industry

On face value, FOXO Technologies might look like any other company selling life insurance – specifically other InsurTech companies.But brewing underneath the surface, FOXO is working on technology that they believe will help modernize how the life insurance industry underwrites and sells products.Is FOXO a hidden gem in the longevity investing world?As explained in our latest post, it's current valuation should make you raise an eyebrow.

Alzheimer’s Progression Slowed by Drug in Major Trial

Biogen (BIIB), a multinational biotech company specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases, added billions to its market cap yesterday after surprising trial results on an experimental Alzheimer's drug it developed with Tokoyo-based Eisai (ESALY).On Tuesday, Biogen and Eisai reported that their experimental drug, lecanemab, slowed progress of the brain-wasting disease by 27% compared with a placebo, in a trial of 1,800 patients suffering from early stages of Alzheimer's.As a result, share prices of both Biogen and Eisai soared on the news, jumping 43% and 60%, respectively, overnight. Raising hopes while creating quite the stir across the entire field, shares of smaller Alzheimer's drug developers also jumped – Prothena (PRTA) by 85%, and Acumen Pharmaceuticals (ABOS) by 72%.The drug targets a toxic protein plaque known as Amyloid-βeta that has long been considered crucial to halting the progression of the fatal brain disease.So, Time To Celebrate?!Well, not quite. For starters, anything supporting the so-called amyloid hypothesis warrants skepticism given its history of controversy, repeated failures, and politicization.To add, while lecanemab appears to slow the disease, the medicine doesn't restore mental capacity or totally stop its loss. More so, even if lacenemab does succeed, the magnitude of the delay – or the slowing of cognitive decline – is relatively small.José Luis Ricón, the author of the online publication, Nintil (check out his longevity primers if you haven't already), shared similar skepticism shortly after the news:

Bottom LineWhile the top-line results for lecanemab are exciting, we're still in the very early days of determining whether the effects are clinically meaningful.Keep in mind: Research focused on amyloid, and the development and testing of experimental drugs targeting it, have sucked up billions of dollars in government, foundation, and pharma funding with (so far) nothing to show for it. While there's still plenty of room for optimism, the lack of progress has been an increasingly frustrating narrative for longevity enthusiasts as the National Institute on Aging (NIA) continues to spend more than 60% of its annual budget on Alzheimer's-related efforts.

• Cleara Biotech, a preclinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing therapies for treating different pathologies of “scarred cellular” senescence, announced that it closed a $2.5 million seed financing round earlier in the year, led by Apollo Health Ventures, with participation from Curie Capital B.V., ROM Utrecht Region and Longevity Tech Fund

• ADM Diagnostics, a company developing a diagnostic test to detect the effects of repeated head impact upon the brain, and to differentiate these effects from Alzheimer's disease Awarded $1.96 Million Grant From the NIA

• SRW Laboratories introduces a stabilized form of high purity NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) to their line-up of cellular nutrition supplements

• Curative Biotechnology, a development stage biomedical company focused on novel therapies for rare diseases, announces intent to uplist to NYSE American Exchange

• Magnitude Biosciences, a preclinical Contract Research Organisation (CRO) providing C. elegans commercial lab services, reveals a new target for aging therapeutics

• Methuselah Foundation Launches $1 Million Competition to Stimulate Development of Alternatives to Animal Testing to Reduce Costs and Increase Speed of Preclinical Research

• Colossal Biosciences, George Church’s woolly mammoth revival firm, spins out a computational bio outfit

• New research is revealing that cancer is rife with bacteria and fungi — a rich ecosystem that scientists call the tumor microbiome (New York Times)

• The Search for the Fountain of Longevity, not Youth (BioSpace)

• 7 Lessons From The 9th Aging Research and Drug Development meeting (ARDD) at the University of Copenhagen earlier this month (NEO.LIFE)

• Addressing The Nation’s Leading Cause of Death: How Digital Health Can Unclog America’s Heart Health Problem (7wire Ventures)

• What Synthetic Embryos Can and Can’t Do, Now and in the Future (Future)