Longevity Biotechnology in H1 2026 - what's new in the companies?
Big checks and expanding Phase 1 pipelines give the illusion of a longevity biotech speeding up, but is the market actually inching us closer to therapies for longer, healthier lives?
This review covers announcements made between January 1 and July 19, 2026. I know, I know - July is officially H2, but too many cool things happened not to include them!
Disclaimer: This article reflects my personal analysis and opinions only. It does not represent the views, investment positions, recommendations or policies of Qiming Venture Partners, its affiliates, partners, employees or portfolio companies.
The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute investment, financial, legal, tax, medical or other professional advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy any security or financial instrument. References to companies, financings, valuations, clinical programs and market opportunities should not be interpreted as endorsements or investment recommendations.
🔥ARDD conference opened registration for 2026
The most elite, largest, validated, GOAT event in longevity — Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting - opened registration for its 13 annual meeting in 2026, scheduled for October 1–3 at the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University. This year the conference focuses heavily on longevity therapeutics and their translation to the clinic, featureing speakers like Ruth Gimeno — Vice President, Eli Lilly, Christophe Weber — Former CEO of Takeda, Elcin Barker Ergun — CEO, Menarini Group ,Ariel Feldstein — Chief Scientific Officer, Pfizer Fiona H. Marshall — President, Novartis, George Church — Harvard University or Alex Zhavoronkov — CEO, Insilico Medicine. The agenda includes Clinical Development Day and the Longevity Medicine Track on October 1, the AI in Drug Discovery Track on October 2 and the Future Technology Track on October 3.
The chairs are the creme de la creme of longevity: Vadim Gladyshev, Jesse Poganik Alex Zhavoronkov, Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, Daniela Bakula, Evelyne Bischof Maximilian Unfried.
The deal is simple - if you are not there, or at least not attending virtually, you are not a serious longevity player.
And now, let’s get to the “meat” of this post - updates from longevity biotech companies:
1. Insilico Medicine
It’s hard to imagine a better BD streak than Insilico Medicine is having in H1 2026. The company just went public on Hong Kong stock exchange at the end of 2025, and managed to move the world’s fist AI designed drug to phase 3 trials, sign over 7.5B USD worth of deals with big pharma, land a Tencent collaboration and much more. Here is a detailed breakdown:
Eli Lilly 2.75B deal (March 29, 2026) Insilico announced a global research-and-development collaboration with Eli Lilly. Insilico received $115 million upfront, while development, regulatory and commercial milestones could bring the total potential value to approximately $2.75 billion, plus royalties. Lilly obtained exclusive worldwide rights to selected preclinical therapeutic programs and additional candidates arising from the collaboration.
Longevity board: On April 21, 2026, Insilico Medicine announced what it called the industry’s first Longevity Board to accelerate AI-driven aging research for drug discovery. Chaired by Eli Lilly’s Andrew Adams, the board is intended to guide work in life models, biomarkers of aging, dual-purpose aging-and-disease targets, and clinical development that validates therapeutic effects on hallmarks of aging using biomarkers and foundation models.
Bora Pharmaceuticals proposed end-to-end alliance potentially exceeding $2.5 billion
July 14, 2026: Insilico Medicine and Bora Pharmaceuticals announced a proposed multi-target strategic alliance connecting Insilico’s AI-enabled drug-discovery platform with Bora’s development, manufacturing, quality and commercialization infrastructure.
SK Biopharmaceuticals neuroimmune and CNS discovery alliance valued at more than $2.5 billion
June 21, 2026: Insilico Medicine and SK Biopharmaceuticals announced a multi-program drug-discovery collaboration covering neuroinflammatory, neurodegenerative and rare neurological disorders. Insilico will apply its AI platform to early discovery, while SK Biopharmaceuticals will lead later-stage development and commercialization.
The agreement includes up to $18 million in upfront and near-term payments and more than $2.5 billion in total potential consideration, together with single-digit royalties.
Liquid AI: scientific foundation-model collaboration Insilico Medicine and Liquid AI collaborated through the MMAI Gym model-training infrastructure to develop scientific foundation models.
Commercial terms were not disclosed.
Human Longevity Inc Foundation Model collaboration: Insilico and Human Life Foundation Models, a newly established company originating from Human Longevity Inc., announced a multi-year, multimillion-dollar collaboration. Human Life Foundation Models contributes de-identified longitudinal clinical, genomic and imaging data, while Insilico contributes its AI infrastructure.
Takeda: In July, Insilico added Takeda as another pharmaceutical partner. The agreement includes approximately $60 million in initiation payments, near-term payments and milestones, with total potential value of around $600 million plus royalties.
Tencent Health — strategic partnership to develop and commercialize specialized AI models for life sciences
July 20, 2026: During the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Insilico Medicine and Tencent Health announced a strategic collaboration covering the training of specialized life-science models, high-performance computing, cloud deployment and commercial distribution. The companies will combine Insilico’s drug-discovery data, scientific-model training experience and MMAI Gym for Science platform with Tencent Health’s medical AI models, cloud-computing infrastructure and enterprise services.
Servier: multi-program oncology partnership valued at up to $888 million
January 4, 2026: Insilico Medicine and Servier announced a multi-year, multi-program oncology drug-discovery and development collaboration. Insilico will lead AI-enabled discovery using its Pharma.AI platform, while the companies will share research and development costs. Servier will lead clinical development and worldwide commercialization of resulting programs.
The agreement provides Insilico with up to $32 million in upfront and near-term research payments and as much as $888 million in total potential payments.
Believe it or not, but there are actually more deals Insilico made in H1 2026 such as with Hygtia Therapeutics about NLRP3, Ribo Life Science on RNA therapeutics, ASKA Pharmaceutical on women’s health, Tigermed on clinical development, Qilu Pharmaceutical on AI-enabled cardiometabolic targets, China Medical System on CNS autoimmune targets, and more! Wow, wow and just wow.
2. Life Biosciences — partial epigenetic reprogramming reached human clinical testing
FDA clearance for IND (January 28th): Life Biosciences (THE company people associate with reprogramming, co-founded by Longevity Superstar Dr David Sinclair) received FDA clearance for its IND application for ER-100, a partial epigenetic reprogramming therapy for optic neuropathies. The company described the event as the first FDA-cleared human clinical program using partial epigenetic reprogramming/cellular rejuvenation. ER-100 is based on controlled expression of three Yamanaka factors, OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4, delivered locally to the eye, with the Phase 1 study designed for patients with open-angle glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
Series D (April 8, 2026): $80 million to support the ER-100 Phase 1 trial and advance the company’s broader Partial Epigenetic Reprogramming platform. The financing was positioned as providing runway into the second half of 2027. The investors were not discosed.
First ever human clinical trail for partial reprogramming: On June 9 2026, Life Biosciences announced that the first participant had been dosed in the Phase 1 ER-100 trial in open-angle glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
This is the cleanest “hardcore longevity to clinic” story of H1 2026. The company is not asking regulators to approve “aging reversal.”, despite how badly the longevity community wants to call it. It is entering through an organ-specific, high-unmet-need indication where local delivery, visual endpoints, and retinal ganglion cell biology make the risk–benefit argument more concrete. The important point is that this is not proof that partial reprogramming works in humans “on aging” ; it is proof that the FDA is willing to evaluate controlled reprogramming when it is packaged as a disease-specific therapy with accepted clinical endpoints.
3. Retro Biosciences
Initial close of the next financing round (May 22, 2026): STAT reported that the latest fundraising valued the company at approximately $1.8 billion pre-money. The round was led by 4P Capital, but Retro did not disclose the total amount raised or the full investor syndicate in the announcement.
First pre-print: So far, Retro Biosciences did not share much details about the specifics of their pipeline. That changed in July 2026 with the company’s first official preprint. The paper’s novelty is showing that transgene-free human iPSC-derived hematopoietic stem cells can combine durable adult-like function with sustained molecular youth. Using cells from multiple adult donors, including people aged 57–60, the authors demonstrated robust multilineage engraftment in mice, maintenance of a phenotypic stem-cell compartment, and successful secondary transplantation—evidence of long-term self-renewal rather than transient progenitor activity. At the same time, the grafts retained very young epigenetic ages, longer telomeres with far fewer critically short telomeres, and low age-associated methylation drift, even after roughly ten months of serial in-vivo proliferation. They also showed that HSC identity continued to mature toward a primary adult HSC-like state after transplantation without reverting to the donor’s biological age, supporting the idea that functional maturation and epigenetic aging can be separated. Good preclinical work!
4. NewLimit — $435 million and a promised 2027 human trial
June 2, 2026: NewLimit announced the closing of a $435 million Series C led by Founders Fund, with participation from Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, Quiet Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Eli Lilly Ventures and others. The company said it planned to bring its first epigenetic-reprogramming medicine into human trials in 2027.
Source: NewLimit: $435 million Series C, June 2, 2026
July 10, 2026: NewLimit published a progress update reporting more than 120-fold manufacturing scale-up of its lead program and additional reprogramming payloads in hepatocytes and endothelial cells. These remain internal, company-reported preclinical results.
Source: NewLimit: May–June progress update, July 10, 2026
5. Junevity — Lilly entered transcription-factor resetting
January 12, 2026: Junevity announced the first peer-reviewed publication from its founders showing that repression of individual transcriptional regulators could restore aspects of tissue-repair biology in aged experimental systems.
Source: Junevity: Peer-reviewed cellular-reprogramming research, January 12, 2026
June 2, 2026: Junevity announced a Catalyze Agreement with Eli Lilly ExploR&D to use its RESET platform to discover novel siRNA targets for Parkinson’s disease.
Source: Junevity announcement: Eli Lilly ExploR&D collaboration, June 2, 2026
This may be one of the more sensible approaches hiding under the wide umbrella of “reprogramming.” Instead of resetting a cell through a powerful and pleiotropic Yamanaka-factor system (or their engineered versions), Junevity is trying to identify narrower transcriptional control points that move a diseased cell toward a healthier state. The Lilly agreement is early and has no disclosed economics. But it provides external validation that the platform may generate targets interesting enough for pharma to investigate.
6. Juvena Therapeutics — regenerative biologics received another $33.5 million
January 12, 2026: Juvena Therapeutics announced a $33.5 million Series B led by Bison Ventures to advance its regenerative-biologics pipeline.
Source: Juvena Therapeutics: $33.5 million Series B, January 12, 2026
Juvena is an interesting bridge between regenerative medicine and conventional biologic development. Instead of administering poorly characterized cell preparations and hoping something regenerative happens, it is trying to identify specific proteins responsible for the beneficial effects of stem-cell secretomes and convert them into standardized pharmaceutical products.
7. Cambrian Bio — government capital and human metabolic data
February 24, 2026: Cambrian announced an award of up to $30.8 million through ARPA-H’s PROSPR program to advance its TORnado platform of selective mTORC1 inhibitors intended to improve intrinsic capacity in older people.
Source: Cambrian Bio: ARPA-H award of up to $30.8 million, February 24, 2026
June 18, 2026: Cambrian reported Phase 1b data for ATX-304 in 23 adults with obesity and prediabetes. The company reported statistically significant changes in liver fat, visceral adipose tissue, triglycerides, adiponectin and resting metabolic rate, with an overall tolerability profile comparable with placebo. Two Phase 2 studies are planned.
Source: Cambrian Bio: ATX-304 Phase 1b results, June 18, 2026
Cambrian is now a better example of “aging biology translated through normal medicine” than of a broad longevity holding company. ATX-304 is entering an extremely competitive obesity market, but it is differentiated from appetite-suppressing incretins by attempting to increase energy expenditure and improve metabolic flexibility. The ARPA-H award is also strategically important. The agency is explicitly funding an intervention aimed at intrinsic capacity in older adults, which is much closer to a healthspan endpoint than most conventional disease programs.
8. Calico — the supposedly unknowable pipeline became less unknowable
May 21, 2026: Calico and Nexo Therapeutics announced a multi-target collaboration to discover and develop small-molecule therapies for age-related diseases.
Source: Calico: Collaboration with Nexo Therapeutics, May 21, 2026
June 23, 2026: Calico announced that the FDA had granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to fosigotifator for vanishing white matter disease. The asset is being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 program.
Source: Calico: FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for fosigotifator, June 23, 2026
9. Juvenescence — Phase 1 completed, efficacy still unanswered
February 26, 2026: Juvenescence announced completion of the randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial of MDI-2517, its small-molecule PAI-1 inhibitor. The company reported favorable safety and tolerability and a pharmacokinetic profile compatible with once-daily dosing.
Source: Juvenescence: Completion of the MDI-2517 Phase 1 trial, February 26, 2026
PAI-1 sits at the intersection of inflammation, fibrosis, metabolism and aging biology, giving Juvenescence multiple possible indications.
10. BioAge Labs — the post-failure rerating became an NLRP3 story
January 21, 2026: BioAge announced the pricing of an upsized public offering expected to generate approximately $115 million in gross proceeds.
Source: BioAge Labs: Pricing of $115 million public offering, January 21, 2026
April 21, 2026: BioAge reported Phase 1 data for BGE-102, an orally available, brain-penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor. In participants with obesity and elevated inflammation, the company reported large reductions in hsCRP, IL-6 and fibrinogen, with no serious adverse events or treatment-related discontinuations.
Source: BioAge Labs: BGE-102 Phase 1 results, April 21, 2026
May 8, 2026: BioAge reported $384.9 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, with projected runway through 2029.
Source: BioAge Labs: Q1 2026 results and business update, May 8, 2026
June 16, 2026: BioAge announced that the first participant had been dosed in QUELL-CV, a Phase 2 dose-ranging trial of BGE-102 in approximately 160 adults with obesity, systemic inflammation and additional cardiovascular risk factors.
Source: BioAge Labs: First participant dosed in QUELL-CV, June 16, 2026
All the success cases above contributed to BioAge fully rebouncing their stock price from phase-2-failure related drop - great job and a hope story for many other biotechs.
11. Rubedo Life Sciences — senolytics finally produced an early human signal
March 26, 2026: Rubedo announced preliminary results from its European Phase 1 trial of topical RLS-1496 in plaque psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and photo-aged skin. The trial met its primary safety endpoint, and the company reported early target-engagement and clinical signals.
Source: Business Wire: Rubedo RLS-1496 Phase 1 results, March 26, 2026
May 28, 2026: Rubedo announced preliminary Phase 1b/2a results in actinic keratosis. In the first 18 of 24 evaluated patients, the company reported a 46% reduction in lesion count after four weeks, compared with an 11% reduction in untreated control areas, with no serious adverse events or treatment discontinuations.
Source: Business Wire: Rubedo actinic-keratosis Phase 1b/2a results, May 28, 2026
Senolytics have generated years of impressive animal data, failed program (RIP Unity) and an enormous supplement market, but very little convincing human therapeutic evidence. Rubedo’s findings are preliminary and come from small dermatological studies. They do not show that clearing senescent cells extends lifespan, treats systemic aging or works in every disease with a senescence signature. But this is among the first human evidence suggesting that a more targeted senotherapeutic strategy may produce measurable target engagement and a clinical effect. And let’s not foget how huge is the “anti-aging skincare” market.
12. Cyclarity Therapeutics — oxidized cholesterol came out in the urine
May 14, 2026: Cyclarity announced first-in-human data for UDP-003, its engineered cyclodextrin designed to bind and remove 7-ketocholesterol. The Phase 1 study showed no serious adverse events, predictable pharmacokinetics and dose-dependent urinary excretion of the targeted oxidized cholesterol.
Source: Cyclarity: First clinical UDP-003 data, May 14, 2026
It is not evidence of plaque regression. It is definitely not evidence of fewer heart attacks or strokes. The next challenge is showing that removing 7-ketocholesterol meaningfully changes atherosclerotic disease in patients. Still, compared with another preclinical plaque image in a mouse, seeing the targeted damage product leave the human body is real progress.
13. Repair Biotechnologies — the FDA opened a potentially shorter rare-disease route
May 12, 2026: Repair Biotechnologies announced that the FDA had accepted REP-0003 into the Rare Disease Evidence Principles process for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.
Source: Repair Biotechnologies: RDEP eligibility for REP-0003, May 12, 2026
The rare-disease entry through homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia is strategically smart. It provides a severe, genetically defined population with accelerated plaque accumulation and enormous unmet need. If REP-0003 can show meaningful plaque regression there, Repair may later have a foundation for broader cardiovascular development.
14. Longeveron — frailty returned as a legitimate clinical endpoint
February 25, 2026: Longeveron announced publication in Cell Stem Cell of Phase 2b results for laromestrocel in age-related clinical frailty. The company reported improvement in physical condition nine months after treatment compared with placebo.
Source: Longeveron: Phase 2b frailty results published, February 25, 2026
May 13, 2026: Longeveron’s first-quarter update reiterated development programs for laromestrocel in frailty, Alzheimer’s disease, hypoplastic left heart syndrome and pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy.
Source: Longeveron: Q1 2026 business update, May 13, 2026
Frailty is one of the most clinically meaningful manifestations of aging and one of the hardest to commercialize. It is heterogeneous, multisystemic and highly sensitive to endpoint selection, background care and patient motivation. That makes positive randomized data important, but it also makes replication and a clear regulatory pathway essential.
15. Vandria — mitophagy produced measurable human pharmacology
July 13, 2026: Vandria announced additional Phase 1 data for VNA-318, its brain-penetrant mitophagy inducer. The company reported drug exposure in cerebrospinal fluid, quantitative-EEG changes and peripheral metabolic biomarker changes consistent with its proposed mechanism.
Source: Vandria: Additional VNA-318 Phase 1 data, July 13, 2026
These are pharmacodynamic data in healthy volunteers, not evidence that VNA-318 improves cognition or slows Alzheimer’s disease. However, CNS penetration plus a measurable effect in the human brain is exactly what an early trial should establish. Vandria now has a stronger translational package for deciding whether the biology survives contact with patients.
16. Gero — a real $17 million financing, plus prestige
June 10, 2026: Gero announced that it had been selected as a World Economic Forum 2026 Technology Pioneer.
Source: Business Wire: Gero named a WEF Technology Pioneer, June 10, 2026
June 17, 2026: Gero announced $17 million in new financing, bringing its total equity funding to $34 million. The company said the proceeds would support preclinical development and expansion of pharmaceutical partnerships.
Source: Business Wire: Gero raises $17 million, June 17, 2026
Gero has credible pharma relationships. The public still has limited visibility into which targets, modalities and programs are becoming proprietary clinical assets. At some point, “the physics of aging” needs to resolve into a development candidate.
17. Genflow Biosciences — several steps toward partnerships, but not a disclosed commercial deal
April 13, 2026: Genflow announced international patent publication expanding protection around its SIRT6-based muscular-disease program.
Source: Genflow Biosciences RNS archive: Patent publication, April 13, 2026
April 20, 2026: Genflow announced a strategic technology collaboration with Acuitas Therapeutics, providing access to Acuitas’s lipid-nanoparticle delivery platform.
Source: Genflow Biosciences: Acuitas collaboration announcement, April 20, 2026
April 28, 2026: Genflow announced that additional Tier-1 animal-health companies had entered confidentiality agreements to evaluate data from its canine SIRT6 gene-therapy program.
Source: Genflow Biosciences: Expansion of animal-health confidentiality agreements, April 28, 2026
18. Loyal — pet longevity raised another $100 million
January 13, 2026: Loyal announced that the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine had accepted the Target Animal Safety technical section of the expanded conditional-approval application for LOY-002.
This was a safety-section milestone. It was not the Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness milestone, which had been announced in 2025.
Source: Loyal: FDA acceptance of the LOY-002 Target Animal Safety section, January 13, 2026
February 11, 2026: Loyal announced a $100 million Series C led by age1, with participation from Baillie Gifford and existing investors, bringing total capital raised to more than $250 million.
Source: Loyal: $100 million Series C, February 11, 2026
I was originally hesitant about including Loyal because dogs respond differently from humans to many therapeutics. But if the scientist in me shuts up for a moment, pet longevity is a beautiful market entry. It creates a faster regulatory pathway, emotionally engaged customers, measurable lifespan outcomes and the possibility of making lifespan-extension medicine feel normal before anyone tries to sell it for humans.
LOY-002’s molecular target remains undisclosed, which makes scientific diligence difficult. Commercially, however, Loyal has built the most regulator-legible longevity product in the field.
19. Rejuvenate Bio — Merck Animal Health validated the animal-first gene-therapy strategy
June 8, 2026: Rejuvenate Bio announced a $6 million financing led by VCapital, with participation from Merck Animal Health and others. It also announced a strategic R&D collaboration with Merck Animal Health around a new veterinary gene-therapy program.
Source: Rejuvenate Bio: $6 million financing and Merck collaboration, June 8, 2026
The financing is small relative to Loyal, but Merck’s participation is strategically more important than the dollar amount. Rejuvenate Bio’s human pipeline remains preclinical. For now, veterinary medicine offers the company a more realistic path to product development, commercial partnerships and in-species efficacy data.
20. Mighty Therapeutics — Stealth changed its name after becoming commercial
The first correction is simple: Stealth BioTherapeutics and Mighty Therapeutics are not two separate companies.
January 6, 2026: Stealth announced that Forzinity, its FDA-approved elamipretide product for Barth syndrome, had become commercially available in the United States and outlined its development priorities for 2026.
Source: Stealth BioTherapeutics: Commercial and pipeline update, January 6, 2026
April 30, 2026: Stealth reported that 33 patients had initiated therapy, 85% had obtained full coverage and the first site had been initiated for its required Phase 4 confirmatory trial.
Source: Stealth BioTherapeutics: Forzinity launch update, April 30, 2026
June 16, 2026: The company formally changed its name from Stealth BioTherapeutics to Mighty Therapeutics.
Source: Mighty Therapeutics: Company-name change, June 16, 2026
This is the only company in the deck with an FDA-approved mitochondria-targeted product, although the indication is an ultra-rare genetic mitochondrial disease rather than aging (since the initial trial for aging failed in most of it’s endpoints). That does not prove mitochondrial medicines will treat ordinary aging, but it gives the field regulatory, manufacturing and commercial infrastructure that did not previously exist.
21. L-Nutra — fasting-mimicking nutrition attracted Mubadala
January 21, 2026: L-Nutra announced a $36.5 million investment from Mubadala, bringing total Series D proceeds to $83.5 million.
Source: L-Nutra: Mubadala investment, January 21, 2026
L-Nutra is not a moonshot rejuvenation biotech, but it matters because longevity is also being institutionalized through products closer to preventive medicine, nutrition and consumer-health infrastructure, and bringing serious investor’s like Mubadala gives stong “pro-longevity” market signal.
22. Corsera Health — cardiovascular prevention was reframed as healthspan extension
January 7, 2026: Corsera Health announced an oversubscribed $80 million Series A co-led by Forbion and Population Health Partners. The company also announced that it had initiated dosing in a Phase 1 trial of COR-1004, a subcutaneously administered siRNA targeting PCSK9.
Source: Corsera Health: $80 million Series A and first COR-1004 dosing, January 7, 2026
PCSK9 and angiotensinogen are clinically legible targets. Cardiovascular disease is already an accepted prevention market. The novel part is connecting long-duration therapeutics, lifetime-risk modelling and healthspan economics into one product architecture.
23. Tally Health and TruDiagnostic — biological-age testing began to consolidate
April 29, 2026: Infinite Epigenetics, the parent company of TruDiagnostic, announced the acquisition of Tally Health. Tally is expected to remain a standalone consumer brand while its platform and methylation data are combined with TruDiagnostic’s laboratory and clinical-research infrastructure.
Source: Infinite Epigenetics: Acquisition of Tally Health, April 29, 2026
24. Niagen Bioscience — ChromaDex moved from supplements toward clinical distribution and drug development
February 26, 2026: Niagen Bioscience announced the sale of its non-core reference-standards business to LGC, allowing the company to focus more narrowly on its nicotinamide-riboside platform.
Source: Niagen Bioscience: Sale of reference-standards business, February 26, 2026
May 4, 2026: Niagen launched a clinician-directed telehealth platform offering access to at-home subcutaneous NR injections for eligible patients.
Source: Niagen Bioscience: Niagen Plus telehealth and injection platform, May 4, 2026
July 8, 2026: Niagen announced its first formal pharmaceutical-development program. NB4168 is a proprietary oral molecule intended to produce greater NR exposure, with ataxia telangiectasia selected as the first indication.
Source: Niagen Bioscience: Launch of the NB4168 pharmaceutical program, July 8, 2026
Niagen is no longer just a supplement company. It is attempting to build three businesses from one molecular family: consumer supplements, clinician-distributed compounded products and regulated pharmaceuticals. That strategy creates several revenue channels but also significant regulatory and reputational complexity. A compounded prescription injection is not the same thing as an FDA-approved drug. NB4168 is the program that will determine whether Niagen can cross from NAD-product commercialization into real pharmaceutical development.
25. Function Health — biomarker testing acquired a supplement-data layer
May 12, 2026: Function Health announced the acquisition of SuppCo, a platform for organizing supplement routines and evaluating products.
Source: Function Health: Acquisition of SuppCo, May 12, 2026
Function already owns longitudinal blood-testing relationships and is expanding into MRI and CT. SuppCo adds a data and user-behavior layer around one of the first things longevity consumers do after receiving test results: buy supplements. The scientific risk is obvious. Linking supplement routines to biomarker changes can generate useful hypotheses, but observational correlations inside a commercial platform can very easily become personalized-looking recommendations unsupported by causal evidence.
26. NOVOS Labs — a supplement company produced randomized human data, with caveats
February 19, 2026: NOVOS announced results from a six-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of NOVOS Core in adults over 40. The company reported improvements in flow-mediated dilation, pulse-wave velocity and systolic blood pressure compared with placebo.
Source: NOVOS: NOVOS Core clinical-trial announcement, February 19, 2026
The study did not test cardiovascular events, disability, lifespan or clinical disease outcomes. The results were released by the company, and I have not located a full peer-reviewed publication of the complete trial as of July 19. Still, running a controlled human study on a multi-ingredient longevity supplement is better than assuming that ingredients with separate mechanistic rationales will magically remain effective when placed into one sachet.
27. Rejuvant — an interesting association was marketed as much more than an association
May 21, 2026: Aging Cell published a cross-sectional analysis of 4,260 health enthusiasts who had purchased epigenetic tests and completed lifestyle and supplement questionnaires. Rejuvant use was associated with an average 1.8-year lower epigenetic-age residual in adjusted models.
Source: Aging Cell: Supplement use and epigenetic-age analysis, first published May 21, 2026
28. Mitrix Bio — “full-body mitochondrial transplantation” moved into humans without a conventional clinical-development package
April 6, 2026: Mitrix announced what it described as the first human safety studies of full-body mitochondrial transplantation. The announcement described two older participants receiving escalating mitochondrial infusions.
Source: Mitrix Bio: Human mitochondrial-transplantation safety-study announcement, April 6, 2026
April 6, 2026: Mitrix separately announced the opening of affiliated clinics in California, Texas and Florida offering access to experimental mitochondrial interventions. Its own announcement described the procedure as unproven and experimental.
Source: Mitrix Bio: Clinic-launch announcement, April 6, 2026
29. Revel Pharmaceuticals — going out of Stealth
July 14, 2026: Revel Pharmaceuticals in collaboration with Calico published research describing CMLase, an engineered enzyme designed to remove Nε-carboxymethyl-lysine, or CML, from damaged proteins. In ex-vivo tissue experiments, the enzyme reduced CML in aged human lens proteins, arterial tissue and skin. The study did not involve dosing living humans or demonstrate clinical benefit, but it’s the first POC at reversing advanced glycation endproducts from proteins.
To show the excitement of the geroscience field about this, I will directly quote Aubrey De Grey’s LinkedIn post “This is a massive breakthrough in arguably the single most neglected aspect of aging, extracellular matrix damage. Outstanding researchers have tried and failed for decades to do this. Massive kudos to Aaron and his team!”
Source: Nature Communications: “Reversal of protein chemical aging by enzymatic deglycation,” July 14, 2026
Have I missed any important updates from other longevity companies? Please let me know in the comments!