The company, which largely remains in stealth mode, has set itself a mission of increasing the human lifespan by a decade.
Retro Biosciences, a US-based company focused on the cellular drivers of aging, has emerged with $180m in funding from undisclosed investors.
The company was co-founded by Sheng Ding, who holds appointments at Gladstone Institutes, University of California (UC), San Francisco, Tsinghua University and Global Health Drug Discovery Institute.
Retro remains in stealth mode – it made its launch announcement on Twitter rather than through a traditional press release – but its website notes that it will aim to increase the healthy human lifespan by a decade.
The company has three programmes in its pipeline, focused on cellular reprogramming, autophagy and plasma-inspired therapeutics. Its ambition is to create therapeutics that can prevent multiple diseases.
Retro looks to use the $180m to progress through initial proof-of-concept studies, specifically using the money to invest in single-cell multi-omics, machine learning-powered computational biology and lab automation.
