Biopharma ignores vast swaths of actionable biology. VC incentive structures push biotech toward M&A-friendly indications, regulatory gatekeeping narrows the field further, and intellectual snobbery does the rest. The result: fertility and longevity, two of the highest-leverage areas in human health, are nearly vacant. This piece by investor Elad Gil names specific gaps and points to the peer-reviewed science already sitting behind each one.
On fertility: Hayashi's group in Japan has already produced live mice from two fathers by converting somatic cells into sperm and eggs via induced pluripotency. The human version would let any two adults reproduce, regardless of sex or age. Separately, girls are born with 1 to 2 million oocytes but arrive at puberty with roughly 300,000, and only a fraction of those ever mature. Methods to expand and mature that pool for IVF are, per Gil, dramatically underdeveloped. On longevity: aging is a genetically manipulatable and druggable phenotype with clear published data behind it, yet fewer than a half-dozen serious companies are working the problem. Gil names BioAge and NewLimit, both portfolio companies, as the short list of legitimate players.
The original piece goes further, covering neurosensory aging, the weakening of the ciliary muscle behind presbyopia in people in their 40s, and hearing loss, arguing both are druggable targets with no serious startup activity. The full argument is worth reading not for the conclusions but for the specific citations Gil uses to show the science is ready and the field is simply empty.
[READ ORIGINAL →]