Ultra-modern medicine and the biotechnology industry are embracing a new field. Scientists are actively working to extend the lifespans of dogs and cats. At the first Animal Longevity Summit, held in Toronto, representatives from academia and industry discussed gene therapies designed to halt ageing, new drugs, and cryopreservation methods.
After billions of dollars were invested in research into extending human lifespan, investors have turned their attention to pets. The animal healthcare market in the United States is worth more than $150 billion. Some researchers are currently focusing on improving animals’ diets, probiotics, or using drugs already approved for humans, but biotechnology startups are going much further.
Bucharest-based The Cat Health Company is testing drugs to combat age-related diseases in cats, including muscle wasting (sarcopenia) and kidney disorders. The company has already advanced two drugs into clinical trials. Meanwhile, California-based Rejuvenate Bio and Brussels-based Genflow Biosciences are developing gene therapies to treat heart disease and sarcopenia in dogs.
Scientists explain that public funding agencies primarily award grants for research into human health. As a result, academia needs to collaborate with industry to develop therapies specifically tailored to animals.
“If successful, we will sell the gene therapy developed for dogs to larger companies and use the proceeds to investigate exactly the same approach in humans,” says Eric Leire, founder of Genflow Biosciences.
Cryopreservation — freezing biological material in the hope of reviving it in the future — attracted particular attention at the summit. Although no frozen animal or human has ever been revived, nearly 12,000 pet owners are already on the waiting list for services offered by Texas-based Cryopets.
According to the company’s founder, Kai Micah Mills, freezing a cat costs approximately $10,000, while cryopreserving a large-breed dog costs more than $50,000. Mills founded the company in an attempt to save his own 15-year-old cat, but plans to freeze other family members in the future, including a spider.
“It was a real revelation to me to see how interested people are in extending the lives of their pets. But as for cryopreservation, I don’t know what to say… I heard some truly strange presentations there,” notes Vera Gorbunova, a researcher at the University of Rochester.
