Halioua is the
founder and CEO of Loyal, a biotech startup developing drugs to extend dog lifespan.
That’s right, woman’s best friend, whose life has always been too short for our liking, could finally be living more years with their humans. When you think about it more, it makes sense. Biotech firms aren’t going to be experimenting on humans until therapies have been proven to work on other large mammals. At the time this article was written, Cellular Longevity’s clinical-stage veterinary medicine company, Loyal, had raised $27M. As you can imagine, there is plenty of excitement around extending the lives of Fido or Bailey. But the fact that Loyal’s work is backed by decades of research on the biology of aging has investors even more thrilled. So what does Halioua expect to accomplish? First, it’s much easier and cheaper to perform clinical trials on animals than on humans, where 90% of new drugs don’t make it through. And most importantly, canine lives are much shorter than human lives, greatly shortening the time it takes to receive results. Halioua’s interest in the field of biology began at the University of Texas in the state where she was born and raised. Even though she majored in neuroscience, her interest in aging began during her sophomore year internship at the SENS Research Foundation, a leading lab in La Jolla, California, working on age-related diseases.
I don’t know about you, but for 34 years of my existence, I was always promised a much longer lifespan than previous generations. After all, technology is rapidly advancing, and by the time I reach old age, the new 90 should be the old 50, right? As you’re well aware, that hasn’t happened yet. Sure there are advancements in technology each and every day, but none of us are expecting to live as long as those characters in futuristic science fiction flicks. But there are people working on it, and one of them is Celine Halioua, Founder and CEO of Cellular Longevity, Inc. Except this biotechnology company isn’t attempting to extend the life of humans. Halioua is working on developing therapies to treat aging in dogs. Celine Halioua
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