Juvenescence is one of the more recent venture groups to become enthusiastically involved in supporting the development of means to treat aging, and the organization's principals are now beginning to build their positions in earnest. As this unfolds, we obtain insight into their interpretation of the field of longevity science, the lines of development that they believe to be plausible and interesting. The founding members have expressed a strong interest in SENS rejuvenation research programs, but will they follow up with the investments to match? It always seems impolite to ask that question, but our community has been disappointed in the past.

You might recall that Juvenescence invested in AgeX Therapeutics not so long ago. AgeX aims to build out an platform that is intended as an incremental advance over present approaches to regenerative medicine, mixing in telomerase upregulation with the production and deployment of cell therapies. Juvenescence has now expanded their support of AgeX Therapeutics. It will be interesting to see how this line of work matures, and whether the AgeX staff choose to explore some of the surprising outcomes that are emerging from the induced pluripotency field these days, particularly those resulting from inducing pluripotency in vivo - something that sounds like a terrible idea, but has in fact produced initially intriguing results in mice.

BioTime, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on degenerative diseases, today announced a new strategic alignment between AgeX Therapeutics and Juvenescence Limited, a global leader in developing therapeutics focused on improving and extending human lifespans. Under the terms of the agreement, Juvenescence will purchase, in a single transaction, 14.4 million shares of AgeX Therapeutics from BioTime for $43.2 million. "We feel it is a great fit with the Juvenescence team of drug developers and scientists. First and foremost, we look forward to developing and bringing products to the patients as novel treatments to potentially offset some of the maladies of getting old." AgeX Therapeutics, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc., is a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for age-related degenerative disease. The company's mission is to apply the proprietary technology platform related to telomerase-mediated cell immortality and regenerative biology to address a broad range of diseases of aging. The products under development include two cell-based therapies derived from telomerase-positive pluripotent stem cells and two product candidates derived from the company's proprietary induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) technology. AGEX-BAT1 and AGEX-VASC1 are cell-based therapies in the preclinical stage of development comprised of young regenerative cells designed to correct metabolic imbalances in aging and to restore vascular support in ischemic tissues respectively. AGEX-iTR1547 is a drug-based formulation in preclinical development intended to restore regenerative potential in a wide array of aged tissues afflicted with degenerative disease using the company's proprietary iTR technology. Renelon is a first-generation iTR product designed to promote scarless tissue repair which the Company plans to initially develop as a topically-administered device.

Link: http://www.agexinc.com/biotime-to-receive-43-million-from-juvenescence/