© Reuters. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Paid $3B With The Hope He’ll Live Longer — Here’s The Problem
Benzinga – Rejuvenation is no longer just for the human face but possibly the human race, according to a small biotech company that claims it has developed technology that extends the lifespan of mice by 7%.
Although the breakthrough hasn’t been peer-reviewed, San Diego-based Rejuvenate Bio claims it has been successful in reprogramming the genes of small rodents, causing mice to live an average of 18 weeks longer, following the treatment, than the control group, according to MIT Technology Review.
What It Means For Humans: Vittorio Sebastiano, a professor at Standford University, advised against testing the technology on humans. However, Rejuvenate Bio’s chief scientific officer Noah Davidsohn sees a possible application for senior folks.
“This is a powerful technology, and here is the proof of concept,” Davidsohn said according to the report, adding that he “wanted to show that it’s actually something we can do in our elderly population.”
Rejuvenate Bio isn’t the only biotech company trying to find a cure for death. Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos made a $3 billion investment in biotech startup Altos Labs a year ago, according to Popular Mechanics. Like Rejuvenate Bio, Altos is working to use cellular rejuvenation to reverse disease and, ultimately, aging.
The Concern: Beyond the physical concerns of testing the technology on humans, which has been shown to cause cancer in mice, the cost for humans being able to access an FDA-approved cell rejuvenation if it ever got that far, would be high.
This could mean that only the world’s richest would be able to afford to prolong their lives, which would allow the rich another way to get richer, by compounding their wealth during the borrowed time. While there’s already a long-term gender gap between the rich, bioethicist at Utrecht University, Christopher Wareham, worries the gap between the rich and the poor could widen if science confirms methods that could extend the life of humans.
“Suppose, for example, we had a kind of vaccine for the pandemic of age”, he said, according to the Financial Times. “This is going to potentially exacerbate all the kinds of existing inequalities that we have . . . The longer you’re around, the more your wealth compounds, and the wealthier you are, the more political influence you have.”
Alphabet, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as entrepreneur Yuri Milner from Israel are some of the other mega-rich believers in the science who are funding research into human longevity.
Read Next: Yes, Elon Musk Is Rich, And So Is Bill Gates – But Who Are The Wealthiest Women In The World?
Originally published Jan. 16, 2023.
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