Life Biosciences Announces Publication in Cell Demonstrating Therapeutic Benefit of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy Activators in Alzheimer’s Disease Models

BOSTON, April 22, 2021 — Life Biosciences, a pioneering life sciences company targeting the biology of aging, today announced the publication of preclinical research demonstrating clinical benefit of its chaperone-mediated autophagy activator platform in mice models of Alzheimer’s disease. The article, titled “Chaperone-mediated autophagy prevents collapse of the neuronal metastable proteome“ by Bourdenx et al., was published online in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on April 22, 2021.

Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) controls the levels of soluble proteins in cells. It has been proposed that the age-related decline of CMA leads to an increased concentration of insoluble proteins that may play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. This study demonstrated that the upregulation of CMA with one of Life Biosciences’ tool oral compounds significantly improved neurologic function and decreased the accumulation of insoluble protein aggregates in two different mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, even after the onset of neurologic dysfunction.

“The publication of this preclinical study validates our CMA platform and demonstrates that an age-related decline in CMA activity may contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Joan Mannick, MD, Head of Research and Development at Life Biosciences. “As we look ahead, we anticipate advancing our platform of CMA activating candidates towards the clinic for the potential treatment of aging-related diseases including neurodegenerative diseases.”

Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD, a Life Biosciences founder scientist and Professor and Co-Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, commented, “The results of this study identify a direct contribution of CMA to the maintenance of the neuronal proteome in vivo in physiological and pathological conditions. Additionally, this paper provides evidence of the potential value of CMA activation as a therapeutic strategy for age-related neurodegenerative disorders. We look forward to progressing the clinical development of our compounds that activate CMA and believe that this new approach has the potential to prevent the buildup of insoluble proteins that underlie neurologic dysfunction.”

Life Biosciences has in-licensed the intellectual property related to targeting of CMA from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

About Life Biosciences
Life Biosciences is a private biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel therapies to extend healthy human lifespan. The Company is focusing on three platforms targeting key mechanisms underlying aging biology: mitochondrial uncoupling, chaperone-mediated autophagy, and epigenetic reprogramming. Therapies developed within each platform have the potential to prevent, treat, and/or reverse multiple aging-related diseases. For more information, please visit www.lifebiosciences.com.

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Maggie Farrand
media@lifebiosciences.com

Investor Relations Contact
Stern Investor Relations
Alexander Lobo
alex.lobo@sternir.com

Life Biosciences to Present at 5th Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium

BOSTON, April 14, 2021 — Life Biosciences, a pioneering life sciences company targeting the biology of aging, today announced that Joan Mannick, MD, Head of Research and Development, will participate in the 5^th Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium (SDDS 2021) being held virtually on April 19-20, 2021.

5th Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium (SDDS 2021)
Session VIII: Discovery Research II
Presentation: Targeting the Biology of Aging to Prevent or Treat Aging-related Diseases
Moderators: Marc Tessier-Lavigne, PhD, and Kuldev Singh, MD
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
2:45pm ET / 11:45am PT

The Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium takes advantage of the collective experience and expertise of participants to cover a broad range of policy, research, and venture topics. This symposium provides an invaluable forum for interdisciplinary exchange at the forefront of drug research. Those interested in attending the virtual symposium may register here.

About Life Biosciences
Life Biosciences is a private biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel therapies to extend healthy human lifespan. The Company is focusing on three platforms targeting key mechanisms underlying aging biology: mitochondrial uncoupling, chaperone-mediated autophagy, and epigenetic reprogramming. Therapies developed within each platform have the potential to prevent, treat, and/or reverse multiple aging-related diseases. For more information, please visit www.lifebiosciences.com.

Media Contact
Maggie Farrand
media@lifebiosciences.com

Investor Relations Contact
Stern Investor Relations
Alexander Lobo
alex.lobo@sternir.com

Life Biosciences Announces Pioneering Research in Nature Describing New Mechanisms for Reversing Age-Related Disease

BOSTON, Feb. 18, 2021 — Life Biosciences, a pioneering life sciences company targeting the biology of aging, has in-licensed intellectual property related to scientific findings recently described in two publications in the journal Nature. The publications, based on research conducted in animal models, report that therapies targeting the biology of aging have the potential to not only slow the progression but also to reverse aging-related disease. Life Biosciences intends to develop new therapies for aging-related conditions.

“These two studies open a new frontier in biotechnology and medicine,” says Mehmood Khan, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Life Biosciences. “They pave the way for the development of groundbreaking treatments to restore the function of aging organ systems and thereby allow people to live healthier longer.”

The first article reports on studies led by David Sinclair, PhD, AO, a co-founder of Life Biosciences, and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California Los Angeles, and Yale School of Medicine. In this study, conducted in cell lines and in animal models, the researchers rejuvenated damaged or aged cells in the eye with a gene therapy that induced expression of three of the Yamanaka factor proteins. This gene therapy allowed nerves in the eye to regrow after injury and safely restored vision, both in old mice and in a mouse model of glaucoma. The full article, titled “Reprogramming to recover youthful epigenetic information and restore vision,” is available through the Nature website (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2975-4). The license held by Life Biosciences subsidiary, Iduna Therapeutics, from Harvard University covers a patented gene therapy system for the expression of specific factors known to induce pluripotency and rejuvenation.

“The study shows for the first time that it may be possible to wind the clock back in complex tissues to restore youthful biological functions such as vision,” said Sinclair. “It is promising research in terms of how we address aging-related diseases, including diseases such as glaucoma, which affect many patients later in life.”

The second article reports on studies led by Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD, a Life Biosciences founder scientist and member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Cuervo and her colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the University of Colorado Denver reported that the diminished ability of old mouse and human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to produce new blood cells is correlated with a decline in a process called chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). CMA breaks down unwanted proteins in cells and recycles them into nutrients. When CMA was activated in the hematopoietic stem cells of geriatric mice, either genetically or by treatment with a small molecule, the old stem cells regained the capacity of young stem cells to generate new blood cells. The findings indicate that therapies that activate CMA have the potential to restore the function of aging hematopoietic stem cells and improve immune function. Life Biosciences has in-licensed the intellectual property related to targeting of CMA from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The full article, titled “Chaperone-mediated autophagy sustains haematopoietic stem-cell function,” is available through the Nature website (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03129-z).

“By activating chaperone-mediated autophagy, we are able to restore the functionality of hematopoietic stem cells in both old mice and older humans, which has very important therapeutic implications,” said Cuervo. “We are looking forward to further investigating how we can put chaperone-mediated autophagy to use in restoring the vitality of aging cells in older people.”

About Life Biosciences
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Boston, Life Biosciences brings scientists together from the world’s preeminent research and academic institutions into a discovery, development, and commercialization ecosystem dedicated to extending the healthy human lifespan. We are pursuing clinical therapies across multiple molecular pathways that regulate the biology of aging. This means our therapies each have the potential to address multiple age-related diseases that impact longevity far upstream from conventional medicine. www.lifebiosciences.com

Media Contact
Maggie Farrand
media@lifebiosciences.com

Life Biosciences Appoints Joan Mannick, MD, to Lead its Research and Development

Expert on aging will focus on R&D pipeline and clinical preparations

BOSTON, Feb. 1, 2021 —Life Biosciences, a pioneering life sciences company targeting aging biology, announced today the appointment of Joan Mannick, MD, as Head of Research and Development. With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Mannick will direct and manage the company’s portfolio of R&D operations.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Mannick as our Head of R&D,” said Mehmood Khan, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Life Biosciences. “Joan’s expertise aligns so closely with our vision of pursuing therapies for age-related diseases by targeting the biological causes of aging, and I’m confident she will help us take Life Biosciences to the next level.”

Dr. Mannick joins Life Biosciences from Adicet Bio, formerly resTORbio, where she served as Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer and led R&D efforts. Before that, she served as Executive Director of the New Indications Discovery Unit at Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, where she led their clinical-stage program targeting aging biology as a new way to treat aging-related conditions. Prior to joining Novartis, Dr. Mannick was Medical Director at Genzyme Corporation working in multiple therapeutic areas including leading an investigator-sponsored program for an early stage oncology product. She has served as faculty member at Harvard Medical School and University of Massachusetts Medical School. She received her AB from Harvard College and MD from Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, followed by an infectious diseases fellowship as part of the Harvard Combined Infectious Diseases Program.

“I am thrilled to join Life Biosciences because I think it has in-licensed the most exciting programs of any company in the aging field,” said Dr. Mannick. “With truly inspiring science and an incredibly talented team of world-leading researchers, Life Biosciences has huge potential to change the course of aging and age-related diseases, and I am honored to now be a part of it.”

About Life Biosciences
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Boston, Life Biosciences brings scientists together from the world’s preeminent research and academic institutions into a discovery, development, and commercialization ecosystem dedicated to extending the healthy human lifespan. We are pursuing clinical therapies across multiple molecular pathways that regulate the biology of aging. This means our therapies each have the potential to address multiple age-related diseases that impact longevity far upstream from conventional medicine. www.lifebiosciences.com

Media Contact
Maggie Farrand
media@lifebiosciences.com

Life Biosciences Strengthens Executive Leadership Team with Addition of Amit Shashank as General Counsel

BOSTON, May 13, 2019 — Life Biosciences announced today that Amit Shashank is joining the company as General Counsel.  Mr. Shashank is a strategically-oriented global leader, with more than twenty years of international experience in technology and business services organizations – both private and public – and demonstrated expertise that spans complex mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, and all phases of corporation financings including initial public offerings (IPOs).  Amit has broad legal and compliance experience across a number of industries including healthcare, financial services, telecommunications and semiconductors.

“I am thrilled to be joining Life Biosciences at this moment in the company’s development,” said Mr. Shashank.  “Life Biosciences has both a sweeping mission – to bring extended health spans to everyone in the world – and a brilliant research team to accomplish it.  The company’s pending research and its focus on the underlying pathways of aging offer a paradigm shift from the existing model of drug discovery and development.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Amit to the team,” said Mehmood Khan, the Chief Executive Officer of Life Biosciences.  “At a company like ours conducting breakthrough research that will require complex regulatory approvals and is actively pursuing strategic alliances and other business opportunities, the role of General Counsel is of critical importance.  I can’t think of anyone more perfectly suited to this role than Amit.”

Most recently, Mr. Shashank served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Aricent, a global R&D engineering and design powerhouse with over 10,000 employees.  In 2018, Mr. Shashank was instrumental in supporting KKR & Co. in the sale of Aricent to Altran Technologies for $2.0 billion.  Prior to Aricent, Amit served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary at ExlService Holdings, Inc., an operations management and analytics company with more than 20,000 employees globally, where he led the IPO and NASDAQ listing of the company.

Mr. Shashank began his career at Shearman and Sterling LLP after graduating from The University of Michigan Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Journal of International Law.  Amit is also a Rhodes Scholar.

–       Life Biosciences Overview   –

Life Biosciences is dedicated to tackling eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as the cause of the systemic breakdown of the body, rather than a series of isolated symptoms, events and conditions. The company brings together the world’s leading scientists and researchers to increase health spans and reduce disease for everyone, including companion animals.

Life Biosciences has established Daughter companies around the world to independently and collaboratively attack these pathways through pioneering research and product development. Its Daughter companies have access to Life Biosciences’ centralized resources, including experienced management and drug development expertise, access to LifeLabs, a state-of-the-art research facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the full resources of Lua, a HIPAA-compliant communications platform which also provides data analytics to support and connect Life Biosciences’ laboratory and teams across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

For more information on Life Biosciences, please visit www.lifebiosciences.com.

Press Contact: 
media@lifebiosciences.com

Dr. Mehmood Khan Named CEO of Life Biosciences

PepsiCo’s Former Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, Former President of Global R&D, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, to Lead Longevity Biotech

Life Biosciences Announces Closing of $50 Million Series B Financing Round

BOSTON, Jan. 15, 2019 — Life Biosciences has announced the closing of a Series B financing round of $50 million, according to Tristan Edwards, chief executive officer and co-founder. The Company initially targeted a $25 million round but upsized to meet investor demand. The proceeds of the investment will be used to continue Life Biosciences’ and its Daughter Companies’ research and development activities in potential therapeutics to combat age-related decline, and related purposes.

“We are excited by this investor response to our Series B, and the validation it represents,” said Edwards. “The range of investors in this round includes individuals, family trusts, and other professional investors. We believe this response recognizes the power of our teams and science, and the progress we are making in addressing the pathways of aging.”

– Life Biosciences Overview –

Life Biosciences is dedicated to tackling the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as the cause of the systemic breakdown of the body, rather than a series of isolated symptoms, events and conditions. The company brings together the world’s leading scientists and researchers to increase healthspans and reduce disease for everyone, including companion animals.

Life Biosciences was co-founded in 2017 by renowned scientists and Tristan Edwards, who developed its innovative structure as Chapter Two in his life after a highly successful career as a global institutional investor working across all asset classes.  There are six Daughter companies working independently and together within the Life Biosciences research environment.

The company also recently announced a significant investment in Prana, a publicly traded Australian biotech company, and the acquisition of Lua, Life Biosciences’ HIPAA-compliant medical technology platform. Life Biosciences provides Daughter companies with the resources required to maximize human potential, including Life Lua’s data and communications platform, experienced management, drug development experience, and a 24,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art vivarium, robotics and drug screening facility in Cambridge, Mass (USA), in addition to laboratories and offices on four continents.

Co-founded in 2017 by Tristan Edwards and renowned scientists, Life Biosciences is a company addressing the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as a systemic breakdown of the body, not a series of isolated symptoms and conditions. It has established Daughter companies around the world to independently and collaboratively attack these pathways through pioneering research and product development. The company provides Daughter companies with the full resources of Life Lua’s data and communications platform; LifeLab, its 24,000- square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility that includes a vivarium, robotics, and drug screening capabilities. Life Biosciences seeks to increase healthspans for everyone, including companion animals.

For more information on Life Biosciences, please visit www.lifebiosciences.com.
Press Contact:
media@lifebiosciences.com 
susanm@lifebiosciences.com 
erinf@lifebiosciences.com

Life Biosciences Names New Member of Board Of Directors

— CEO Of Logitech Bracken Darrell –

BOSTON, Dec. 4, 2018 — Life Biosciences Inc. announced today the addition of Logitech’s Bracken Darrell to its board of directors.  Mr. Darrell is chief executive officer at Logitech, where he brings more than 20 years’ experience in business and brand management in successful global consumer companies, including Procter & Gamble, General Electric and Whirlpool. Logitech International S.A. is a Swiss provider of cloud and mobile peripherals, with its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland and administrative headquarters in Newark, Ca.

His broad executive management experience has spanned manufacturing, supply chain, product innovation, consumer services and marketing, targeting customers in mature and emerging markets. He has led growth and reinvention for iconic brands such as Old Spice, Braun, and Logitech.

“We could not be more proud and excited to have Bracken join our board,” said Life Biosciences Co-founders David Sinclair, PhD, AO, and Tristan Edwards in a joint statement. “His business and management expertise brings world class consumer insight to our work. As we grow and our work results in new drugs, novel therapies and treatments, Bracken’s respected management and business-building wisdom will be ever more essential.”                              

Life Biosciences was co-founded in 2017 by Dr. Sinclair, a professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Edwards, who developed its innovative structure as Chapter Two in his life, after a highly successful career as a global institutional investor, working across all asset classes. In addition to its Daughter company business model, the company invests in other groundbreaking firms, providing them with the resources to maximize their potential.

There are six Daughter companies working independently and together within the Life Biosciences research environment. The company provides Daughter companies with the resources required to maximize human potential, including the recently acquired Lua’s AI-driven data and communications platform, experienced drug development expertise and its network of laboratories and offices on four continents.

Co-founded in 2017 by David Sinclair, PhD, AO, and Tristan Edwards, Life Biosciences is the first and largest company addressing the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as a systemic breakdown of the body, not a series of isolated symptoms and conditions. It has established Daughter companies around the world, led by a Dream Team of respected scientists, to independently and collaboratively attack these pathways through pioneering research and product development. The company provides Daughter companies with the full resources of LifeLab, its 24,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility that includes a vivarium, robotics, and drug screening capabilities; and an emerging AI platform being developed by the company’s Lua subsidiary. Life Biosciences seeks to increase healthspans for everyone, including companion animals. 

For more information on Life Biosciences, please visit www.lifebiosciences.com.         

Press Contact:
susanm@lifebiosciences.com 
erinf@lifebiosciences.com