Aging is one of the greatest mysteries of life. Every living thing, be it a tree, a human being or bacteria, ages. And we age at different rates, some faster or slower, and sometimes in synch with our biological clocks.
Saudi Arabia has established a research institute “Hevolution Foundation” to find and invest in innovative ways in an effort to decelerate the aging process. It wants to give people more years to live in good health.
Saudi Princess Dr Haya Bint Khaled bin Bandar al-Saud, the Vice President of Organizational Strategy & Development, says the Foundation will see tangible results in years. Hevolution Foundation wants to be the first non-profit to pursue age-related therapeutic breakthroughs. It strives to become a catalyst in the field and bridge the gap in the funding.
Targeting Root Causes of Aging
Dr al-Saud believes therapeutics that extends a healthy human lifespan will redefine healthcare in the 21st century. Hevolution Foundation focuses on early-stage companies developing therapies and technologies that target the root causes of aging. It is looking to invest in platforms and technologies that aim to compress drug development timelines or increase accessibility to therapeutics to extend the healthy human lifespan.
Dr Mehmood Khan, CEO of Hevolution Foundation, said the genesis of the institute was to take on a global health challenge which affects every person on the planet – everybody’s aging. “An increased life expectancy is accompanied by increasing disability and diseases that are associated with aging. And nobody knows that better than the UK NHS, which essentially is crumbling as a result of the disease burden from age-related diseases.”
Khan says it’s a global challenge. He highlighted that the average lifespan has grown dramatically since the mid-1800s. “However, the average healthy lifespan had hardly increased.” The expert said the additional years are accompanied by poor health. And its attributed to age-related, non-communicable diseases.
Aging Population Will Be a Challenge
A number of countries around the world, like the UK, Japan, China, South Korea and the US among others, have a high number of aged people. Birth rates are falling. Hevolution Foundation says older people will outnumber the working-age population. And this presents an unprecedented economic challenge.
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Khan said this is where anti-aging research comes in. It is one of the most under-invested fields relative to the need. “We want to balance that out and get all the players up the table, including the private sector.”
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