Investing in Extending Life

By CNA’s DAWN TAN, Jan 2023

In the second of a four-part series that explores the idea of living longer, CNA’s Dawn Tan looks at the appeal of the longevity industry for investors and private sector firms.

Big investors are zeroing in on age reversal research by biotechnology firms, with massive funding accelerating the pace of such studies. Hong Kong-based Insilico Medicine is among the biotech firms benefitting from the interest.

Multiple investors have poured in more than US$400 million to support the firm since 2014. Among its biggest backers is Pavilion Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings.

Dr Alex Zhavoronkov, chief executive of Insilico Medicine, said Singapore is one of the major hubs for longevity research.

“Singapore is betting on future technologies and is attracting top scientists from all over the world,” he said.

He added that in Asia, countries like Singapore and Japan recognise the value of dual-purpose therapeutics, which involves going after a specific disease or several diseases while targeting ageing at the same time.

New biotech technologies have gained credibility because of such dual purposes, noted Dr Zhavoronkov.

“You can take some of those therapeutics to the market to tackle a specific disease for example, an age-associated disease and tackle ageing at the same time,” he said.

“And now, investors realise that they can, so to speak, kill multiple birds with one stone by investing in longevity companies that have a more or less credible business model, and at the same time, you've got the shot at something that is possibly transformative and can yield above average rewards.”