LongevityMarketcap.com is a website that tracks all the publicly-traded longevity biotechnology stocks. Currently there are 16 stocks listed.
Let’s do a breakdown of all 16 longevity stocks, and why they are in or out of my portfolio. We’ll start from the top (by marketcap):
Grifols (GRFS) is a Spanish blood protein and chemicals company and the largest company on LongevityMarketcap by far. It’s more of a “blue chip” blood biochemicals company than a pure anti-aging speculative biotech.
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Verdict: If I could only invest in Alkahest, I would. Currently, I think investing in Grifols is too dilutive with its non-longevity business.
Denali Therapeutics (DNLI) is a developer of drugs that targets neurodegenerative disease. According to Gregory Bailey (CEO of Juvenescence) in an interview on the Simple Biotech Podcast, neurodegeneration will be the major gating function on the limits of radical life extension.
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Verdict: Biogen has made a big bet on this company. Might be worth a bet. Though, I expect failure to be the most likely outcome and will size appropriately.
This Australian stem cell therapy company specializes in using allogenic mesenchymal stem cells and mesenchymal progenitor cells treat a variety of diseases, mostly related to inflammation or acute damage.
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Verdict: I’m already invested in Mesoblast. I think they are developing some great rejuvenation technology that could be translated to more broad areas of aging (inflammaging, regeneration) in the future.
ALX Oncology (ALXO) is a Longevity Fund backed immuno-oncology company that focuses on inhibiting the CD47 cell surface protein that helps cancer cells evade the immune system.
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Verdict
This looks like a promising immuno-oncology play that could also target aging in the future. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about this stock to warrant investing during the post-IPO hype phase. If it (ever) drops to 15$ / share I would consider it.
Alector (ALEC) is a neurodegenerative drug developer that has a unique immunotherapy approach. They aim to functionally repair genetic mutations that impair the immune system of the brain.
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Verdict: Same as Denali Therapeutics and all other large neurodegeneration biotechs. Extremely high failure rates so plan accordingly.
Don’t be fooled. Frequency Therapeutics (FREQ) sounds like a company that is focussed primarily on restoring hearing loss. Indeed, that’s the main pipeline.
But actually the company has an ambitious plan to extend its small molecule targeted regenerative medicine approach to all parts of the body. Their drugs aim to stimulate inactive progenitor cells in target organs to regenerate functional tissues. They are currently conducting Phase II trials for sensorineural hearing loss.
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Verdict: I am a fan. As a guy who played drums back in the day and suffers from some hearing loss, I feel like this is personal.
Athersys (ATHX) is a stem cell therapy company much like Mesoblast. However instead of using mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) they develop a proprietary Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cell (MPAC) derived from bone marrow. They currently have clinical trials investigating treatment for ischemic stroke and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS, for Covid-19).
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Verdict: This company has many similarities with Mesoblast so it may also warrant an investment out of principal. I will keep my eye on it.
Unity Biotechnology (UBX) develops drugs that target senescent cells — cells that stop dividing and, instead of dying, secrete harmful factors that are implicated in causing aging.
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Verdict: I’m already invested. It’s the only publicly-listed senolytics company and at these prices I might be tempted to increase my bet.
Lineage Cell Therapeutics (LCTX), formerly BioTime, is a cell therapy company that uses pluripotent cells to treat age-related degenerative diseases and other serious conditions. They currently have Phase II trials targeting Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration and also Spinal Cord Injury. A Phase I trial of a cancer vaccine that stimulates the immune system against telomerase is in the process of enrolment.
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Verdict: A massive 96% drawdown is a huge red flag to me. I am staying away until I can do better due diligence.
Gensight Biologics (SIGHT.PA) is one of the weirdest companies on this list. Weird is good.
They specialize in using gene therapy to target rare inherited retinal diseases such as Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON).
LHON results from a mutation affecting the ND4 mitochondrial gene. Their approach uses adeno-associated virus vectors to express the ND4 gene in the nucleus. Mitochondrial Targeted Sequence (MTS) shuttles ND4 messenger RNA from the nucleus to the membrane of the mitochondrion to synthesize the missing protein.
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Verdict: I don’t know enough about rare disease trials or gene therapy. There is certainly less stigma associated with gene therapy now after Spark Therapeutics’ commercial success. More research needed.
resTORbio (TORC) is a small molecule drug company that develops rapalogs (i.e. rapamycin analogs) to treat age-related disease. Rapamycin is an immunosuppressant drug that also happens to increase the lifespan of mice up to 60%. Currently the company is in Phase 2 trials of a combination rapalog + rapamycin to treat Parkinson’s disease.
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Verdict: The high profile clinical trial failure, weird merger, and lawsuit are big enough red flags for me to stay away from this company. People in the longevity company had high hopes for this company.
Stealth BioTherapeutics (MITO) is a company that develops drugs that target mitochondrial disorders, dysfunctions, and diseases. Their main pipeline revolves around Elamipetride, which is currently being tested in Phase III clinical trials for Barth Syndrome — a rare disease of multiple systems.
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Verdict: Reusing the same failed compound to treat an another mitochondrial dysfunction might be a little risky. I’m staying away from this one.
Organovo (ONVO) is a 3D bioprinting company that makes tissues for research purposes and drug testing. They specialize in printing a variety of 3D tissues using human cells and biogel fillers to simulate real in vivo conditions versus 2D cellular plate cultures.
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Verdict: Not a fan. The reverse split and massive drawdown aren’t enough to convince me to invest.
CohBar (CWBR) is a company that develops therapeutics using mitochondrial peptides (short strings of amino acids). They currently are in Phase 1 clinical trials for treating NASH (a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) and obesity.
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Verdict: The recent crash caused by the share sale might be a represent a good entry. No comment either way.
Biophytis (ALBS.PA) is a French company that is developing drugs inspired by medicinal plant metabolites to treat sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). They are currently running a Phase II clinical trial.
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AgeX Therapeutics (AGE) is a pre-clinical company that is developing stem cell therapies and induced tissue regeneration in order to target aging and age-related diseases.
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Verdict: I’m already invested but technically speaking the stock chart looks pretty precarious. It’s a very small pre-clinical company so I am keeping my position size small.
Even though it is early days in the longevity industry (aka the future world’s biggest industry) there are still a good number of investible stocks. And more will be coming.
As the number of publicly-traded longevity stocks grows we will need some sort of Longevity Biotech ETF that would make owning a diversified portfolio of these companies less onerous.
This neurodegeneration therapeutics stock took a tumble at the end of July due to a report of logistical complications brought on by the pandemic during their phase II dementia trials.
Trials are expensive and delays or missed doses can cause issues with analyzing data after the fact. The stock is now down almost 50% since the report and has been slowly climbing up for the past two weeks. This seems like a potential bottom. I’m interested.
I only seriously started considering this small molecule progenitor cell activator company this week after researching it for this newsletter.
The stock is down about 18% in a couple weeks with momentum indicators getting close to showing a reversal. If we reach a TD sequential 9 on Thursday I might buy at end of day.
—Nathan