Saudi Crown Prince sponsors the research and development of "anti-aging drugs" with heavy funding! Investing over 1 billion US dollars

Release time:Apr 16, 2024 18:52 PM

In recent years, under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi economy has continuously transitioned towards the "post oil era" and has made great achievements in fields such as football, cultural tourism, new energy, and science and technology innovation. Recently, Saudi Arabia has set its sights on an emerging industry: anti-aging.

According to reports, Muhammad recently allocated an annual budget of over $1 billion to the Heevolution Foundation he founded, aimed at funding universities and startups to participate in the development of anti-aging drugs. Previously, he announced that the health and new energy industries would be the pillar industries of Saudi Arabia for the next 20 years, hoping to build Saudi Arabia into a global "health capital".

Looking at the world, anti-aging drugs are still a blue ocean, with only a few sporadic laboratories in the United States conducting initial research and development. Once such drugs are successfully developed, they will greatly improve the quality of life and lifespan of all humanity. Saudi Arabia's entry may rewrite the pattern of anti-aging efforts.

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Saudi Arabia aims to become the global "health capital"

The name Heevolution is composed of two words: "health" and "evolution". According to the official website of the Heevolution Foundation, the organization was established in 2021 and is the world's first non-profit organization to fund early research on anti-aging. Its headquarters are located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and its laboratories are spread across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. The purpose of this institution is to increase the number of companies and research institutes involved in anti-aging research globally through funding, ultimately providing opportunities for everyone to live a healthy and long life. The research subjects they fund are drugs that combat aging itself, rather than drugs that simply treat a particular disease.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in the field of public health, with an average life expectancy of 75.37 years. The United Nations predicts that based on Saudi Arabia's investment in healthcare, the country's average life expectancy is expected to reach 86.84 years by the end of this century. In July 2022, Mohammad announced that research in the field of health, such as anti-aging, would be one of Saudi Arabia's pillar industries for the next 20 years. Mohammad stated at the time, "Our goal is to make Saudi Arabia a global health capital and a leading research and innovation center. By 2040, our research and development investment in the health field will account for 2.5% of GDP. This will create many high paying and high-quality jobs in the scientific research field in Saudi Arabia, and add 60 billion riyals of additional income to the Saudi economy each year." After the Crown Prince's statement, the Saudi government's highest committee on research and innovation followed up and stated that it will provide preferential treatment to attract top health and medical talents from around the world to work and settle in Saudi Arabia.

Obviously, Saudi Arabia is not just providing verbal support for the development of anti-aging drugs, but has made genuine investment.

According to reports, Heevolution had only $20 million in funds during its initial establishment and was subject to strict supervision in its use. But recently, Muhammad has accelerated his investment pace and developed an annual budget plan of over $1 billion for the Herevolution Foundation.

At present, the global research and development of anti-aging drugs mainly rely on funding from the American Academy of Anti Aging Medical Sciences and individual donations from wealthy individuals. The significant investment of the Saudi Herevolution Foundation is bound to change the global landscape in this field. "People around the world in this field are holding their breath and waiting to see how Saudi Arabia will allocate this funding," said Austad, an anti-aging research expert at the University of Alabama in the United States, to the media

Why are anti-aging drugs receiving attention?

People not only need to live a long life, but also live a healthy life

"Eternal life" may be an unrealistic fantasy, but aging as elegantly and slowly as possible and living to a higher age is a practical goal. However, at present, anti-aging research is still emerging globally, facing multiple obstacles such as legal regulation, research and development financing, and technological routes. This is also one of the reasons why the Saudi government focuses on technological breakthroughs in this field.

For example, in the United States, where anti-aging research is at the forefront, the Food and Drug Administration still refuses to list "aging" itself as a "single disease that can be treated with drugs". This means that drugs that are solely designed to prevent and reverse the aging process of human cells cannot apply for FDA marketing approval, so pharmaceutical companies have limited investment motivation in this field.

From a technical perspective, although current anti-aging drugs can be seen to have certain effects in animal experiments, the progress of such drugs in human experiments is very difficult due to the lack of a "biological microscope" to track the health level of human cells under safe conditions. According to analysis, if following the standard "double-blind randomized trial" process in the medical community, it would theoretically take 30 years to observe and determine the anti-aging effect of a drug on the human body.

The Mayo Clinic is currently one of the leading anti-aging research institutions in the United States. According to the clinic, although it is unlikely to invent a magical drug to increase your lifespan from 70 to 150 years old, it is technically possible to increase the lifespan of human health and high-quality survival. The clinic stated that the effect of anti-aging drugs is not only to prolong human life, but also to make people live healthier and more energetic. "If you live to be 120 years old, but your body feels like a 120 year old person, it's meaningless. If you feel as young as 35 years old at the age of 70, still radiant after exercise, and have few wrinkles on your skin, that's a high-quality life."

In January of this year, the Saudi National Health Center released a paper stating that the country's key focus in the field of health medicine is not only on average life expectancy, but also on "life expectancy adjusted for health levels.". When examining the efficiency of scientific research fund utilization, the country will also focus on the QALY indicator and include health quality in the assessment.

American experts:

The research and development of anti-aging drugs have high returns and risks

Alex is an expert in the fields of AI and human biology in the United States. Recently, he published an article in the media reviewing the experience of the establishment of the Saudi Heevolution Fund.

Alex stated that in 2019, he and some colleagues were invited to participate in a consulting project on the feasibility of investing in the anti-aging industry for an anonymous Middle Eastern client. At that time, it was widely rumored in the industry that a mysterious figure in the United Arab Emirates was offering a large reward for the development of the "elixir of life", and they believed that the project was related to it. It wasn't until 2021 that he learned from the news that the funding behind this project was the Hevolition Fund established by the Saudi Crown Prince.

In the research, Alex believes that the development of anti-aging drugs is an investment with high returns and risks, and must have sufficient financial strength to enter the market. The development of a single drug requires at least $2 billion and 10 years of investment, with a failure rate of over 90%. However, once successfully developed, the health benefits it creates for human society will be three times that of nursing services provided by nurses worldwide.

Alex also stated that upon entering Saudi Arabia, he found that the country was far from what he had imagined to be a "closed" place. For example, in higher education institutions, many female PhDs participate in frontline scientific research, and their entertainment and cultural life are also very colorful. He believes that Mohammad has made significant progress in leading Saudi Arabia towards modernization.

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