newsfilter.io
Panel

Breakthroughs Reshaping Aging and Longevity | Global Conference 2026

Milken InstituteRichard Lui, Joe Betts-LaCroix, Tom Hale, Richard Isaacson, Carina Kern, John Whyte
Watch on YouTube →

Panel Overview & Key Figures

  • Joe Betts Lacroix: Co-founder and CEO of Retro Biosciences; developing therapeutics (e.g., RTR242) to reverse aging and add healthy lifespan years.
  • Tom Hale: CEO of Aura Health; leading continuous health monitoring via wearables (e.g., rings) for sleep, activity, and blood pressure.
  • Richard Isaacson: Director of the Atria Prevention Program; neurologist focused on preventing Alzheimer's before symptom onset.
  • Karina Kern: Co-founder and CEO of Link Jevity; targeting necrosis (unregulated cell death) as a root cause of multiple age-related diseases.
  • John White: CEO of the American Medical Association; overseeing the integration of longevity medicine into mainstream practice.

Systemic Barriers to Longevity Breakthroughs

  • Reimbursement Structures: The current "sick care" model pays physicians to treat symptoms after onset, not to prevent disease or monitor upstream risk factors.
  • Clinical Trial Limitations: Slowing aging requires decade-long trials which are cost-prohibitive; interventions that reverse aging allow for shorter (1-year) "before-and-after" efficacy measurement.
  • Disease Silos: Current medical education treats kidney, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases as distinct, despite aging biology showing they are interconnected.
  • Behavioral Change: Panelists identify human behavior change as the hardest hurdle to preventative health, surpassing biological or regulatory challenges.
  • Data Privacy: Most consumer wearables are not "covered entities" under HIPAA, leaving user health data without traditional medical privacy protections.
  • Regulatory Readiness: Two FDA-approved basket trials for aging-related diseases indicate regulatory pathways are opening, though no therapeutic is yet approved specifically for "aging."

Specific Breakthroughs & Therapeutics in Development

  • Retro Biosciences (RTR242): A molecule in clinical trials that restarts autophagy in aged neurons to clear toxic aggregates, effectively "cleaning out" brain cells.
  • Link Jevity: Developing a first-in-class therapeutic targeting necrosis (undesirable cell death from damage), with a Phase 2 trial planned for kidney disease as an accelerated aging model.
  • Aura Health: Conducting the "Blood Pressure Profile Study" (400,000 participants) to validate continuous blood pressure monitoring via ring wearables with theoretical accuracy within 5%.
  • Atria Health:
    • Completed an NIH-funded RCT showing free digital brain health interventions can reduce Alzheimer's risk by 16% in six months via behavior change.
    • Developing the "Neuro Insights" test (target cost < $150) to measure brain-specific cholesterol/proteins at home, analogous to lipid panels.
  • AI Integration: Retro Biosciences uses Generative AI to double R&D productivity and create new protein models, potentially reducing the "scientific discovery" timeline to near-infinity efficiency.

Investment Strategy & Economic Implications

  • Best Investment Targets:
    • Karina Kern: "Swiss Army knife" therapeutics targeting multiple age-related diseases simultaneously by hitting conserved biological nodes.
    • Joe Betts: Scrappy, cash-efficient teams focused on high-leverage upstream interventions (e.g., aging reversal) rather than single-disease cures.
    • Tom Hale: Education and systems supporting "Blue Zones" principles (sleep, diet, exercise) and behavioral accountability.
    • Richard Isaacson: Low-cost ($12M-$50M) clinical research combining clinicians, real patients, and brain proteomics.
  • Economic Shifts:
    • Medicare Cost: Kidney disease alone consumes 24% of the annual Medicare budget, suggesting massive savings from upstream anti-aging interventions.
    • Market Timing: Panelists estimate a 3-6 out of 10 readiness score for the healthcare system, noting a lag in incentives, training, and diagnostic codes for prevention.
    • Data Utility: Continuous data collection enables personalized risk prediction (e.g., sleep fragmentation patterns predicting Alzheimer's decades in advance) rather than population-based averages.

Consumer Guidance & Behavioral Recommendations

  • Sleep Regularity: Setting a specific alarm for bedtime is more critical than just total sleep duration for predicting sleep quality and longevity.
  • Exercise: Cited universally as the most effective "supplement" for extending lifespan.
  • Supplement Strategy: Vitamin B-complex and Vitamin D are suggested for absorption issues in aging, though panelists note individual needs vary.
  • Critical Evaluation: Investors and consumers should demand evidence of tangible degenerative changes rather than abstract "vitality" claims.
  • Wearables: Insurance coverage for validated wearables is needed to democratize access and prevent health disparities.

Forward-Looking Timeline (Next 5 Years)

  • Regulatory Milestones: Expectation that at least one anti-aging therapeutic will reach the market, with four others in human testing.
  • Scientific Shift: A move from treating individual diseases to treating the "aging clock" itself, normalizing biomarkers like amyloid and tau to healthy ranges.
  • Cultural Acceptance: Aging science is moving from fringe science to mainstream acceptance, with regulators, the public, and scientists aligned on the trajectory.
  • Optimism Level: High (9/10) due to technological capability, though capital constraints remain a potential limiting factor for speed.