BioViva

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BioViva is an American biotechnology gene therapy company, based in Bainbridge Island, Washington, researching treatments to interfere in the aging process in humans.

BioViva inc.

History

Elizabeth Parrish, founder and CEO of BioViva, giving speech at Longevity forum

BioViva was founded in 2015.[1] The CEO, Elizabeth Parrish, started the company by taking gene therapies associated with lengthening lifespans in model organism,[2] she appeared at WIRED Health 2017 in London to discuss BioViva's testing of gene therapies targeting hallmarks of the ageing process. She stated, "The company was built essentially to prove these therapies work or not. Remember, BioViva is not a research organisation. We are taking things like gene therapies and using them like technology."[3] Since then the company has gone into research and development and patented AAV based gene therapies[4] and launched a new gene therapy platform with CMV as the vector.[5] Parrish stated there was no other way to protect people's rights to new medicine in a recent talk in India at the Synapse Conference.[6]

Responses to Parrish using herself as first experimental subject

Parrish's decision to be 'patient zero' and test the company's technology on herself in a personalized N=1 study was a response to her son's diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. After finding no curative course Parrish looked into genetics. She claims that every gene BioViva targets will also treat a childhood disease.[7] Dr. Lawrence Altman, author of Who Goes First? The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine has said, "N's of 1 have had their value through history, and will. But you're not going to license a drug based on an N-of-1."[8] Her treatment, labelled as self-experimentation, was highly controversial. Though controversial, Dr Barry Marshall went on to win a Nobel prize for such an effort in the treatment of stomach ulcers.[9] As the requirements to progress to human trials had not started, the US Food and Drug Administration did not authorize Parrish's experiments. Parrish traveled to Colombia for the treatments.[10]

In 2016 some initially criticized BioViva's release of data claiming an extension of Parrish's leukocyte telomeres following her therapy, stating that the aforementioned extension is within the error change for telomere measurements. Dr. Bradley Johnson, Associate Professor of Pathology and Lab Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania said, "Telomere length measurements typically have low precision, with variation in measurements of around 10 percent, which is in the range of the reported telomere lengthening apparently experienced by Elizabeth Parrish."[11] Since BioViva released a peer reviewed paper that showed lengthening of telomeres over years and the press has change in their favor [12]

The Hallmarks of Aging papers seems to have created a platform in with to launch gene therapies that target these hallmarks.[13][14] Telomeres were once thought oncogenic or cancer causing, but both María Blasco and BioViva added to evidence that it does not increase cancer risk in model organisms.[15] The telomeres' function is to maintain chromosomal integrity and provide a substrate for DNA replication (thereby allowing for cellular multiplication), however, telomere shortening causes shortening of cellular lifetime which helps to avoid cancerous mutations in cells. Duncan Baird, a professor of Cancer and Genetics at Cardiff University's School of Medicine, states, "Meddling with a fundamentally important tumor-suppressive mechanism that has evolved in long-lived species like ours doesn't strike me as a particularly good idea."[10]

George M. Martin, Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington had agreed to be an adviser to the company but resigned upon hearing about Parrish's self-experiments.[10] Prof Martin has since died of aging associated illness.[citation needed] But other advisors for BioViva have stayed, including Prof George Church of Harvard who have continued to advocate for the company and has showed BioViva's most recent data in several virtual talks as of 2024 [16]

Bad press ensued the companies efforts to usher in new treatments as Antonio Regalado, a reporter for the MIT Technology Review states, "The experiment seems likely to be remembered as either a new low in medical quackery or, perhaps, the unlikely start of an era in which naive people receive genetic modifications not just to treat disease, but to reverse aging."[17] Since then many companies have started on the same pursuit including Jeff Bezos multi billion dollar endeavor called Altos and Google's anti aging company called Calico.

Cellular Decline and the Need for Regenerative Therapies

As individuals grow older, their cells become less efficient at performing their regular functions and repairing any damage. This gradual decline at the cellular level can then result in severe, life-threatening issues at the whole-body level, such as organ failure and disease. Conventional medicine typically aims to address the symptoms of this cellular deterioration, like cognitive impairment or high cholesterol. However, the ambitious biotech company BioViva is instead focusing its efforts on addressing the fundamental cause of aging: the aging process itself at the cellular level.[18]

BioViva's Personalized Gene Therapies

BioViva.jpg

As a means of slowing down and even to reverse the biological aging process BioViva is implementing personalized, regenerative gene therapies. The company has patented a gene delivery method called adeno-associated virus (AAV), which leverages the natural ability of viruses to introduce genetic material into cells, allowing it to serve as a vehicle for carrying therapeutic genes into human cells.[18]

In addition, BioViva also has a pending patent on a gene delivery technique called CMV. CMV has the capacity to accommodate larger genetic payloads due to its larger genome size and unique ability to incorporate multiple genes simultaneously. This allows CMV to minimize the number of treatments required, as more genetic information can be delivered at once. Early animal studies have shown CMV treatments to extend lifespan by over 41%. CMV has proven to be a highly potent delivery vector, and is being utilized as part of various immunotherapies, including for cancer, AIDS, and malaria.[18]

Extending Health Span vs. Lifespan

Through its innovative gene therapy approach, BioViva is aiming to extend people's health spans - the amount of time they spend in good health - rather than solely focusing on increasing overall lifespans. This is an increasingly critical issue as the global elderly population continues to grow, given their heightened vulnerability to COVID-19 and other age-related diseases. While life expectancy has been steadily increasing in recent decades, data shows that men in the UK can expect to spend around 16 years in poor health at the end of their lives, and women around 19 years. Empowered by its new gene therapy technologies, BioViva is striving to narrow the gap between people's health spans and their overall.[18]

The Cellular Senescence and Telomere Damage

Telomers.jpg

The heightened vulnerability of the aging population is largely due to their immune system being in a state of cellular senescence. In this condition, cells can no longer effectively divide and repair themselves. This is a consequence of the shortening of telomeres - structures at the ends of DNA strands that can be thought of as protective caps, like those on shoelaces. This telomere shortening is an inherent part of the biological aging process. This underlying cellular damage is linked to the development of various age-related diseases, including osteoporosis, heart disease, dementia, Alzheimer's, and different types of cancer.

BioViva's Inspiration and Conviction

"We are living longer lifespans than ever before, which is positive," says Liz Parrish, the CEO of BioViva. "However, the tradeoff is that we are also spending more years in poor health." Parrish explains that biological aging is the leading cause of death globally. Aging-related diseases not only impact the individual, but also take a toll on their family members who have to witness their loved ones struggle with these illnesses - illnesses that Parrish believes will one day be preventable. This understanding continues to motivate the entire BioVива team to develop solutions that can address age-related decline and reduce the detrimental impacts of disease. Parrish herself has undergone gene therapy treatments twice, which has reinforced her conviction in the effectiveness of these innovative therapies.

Research

BioViva's research interests are based on preclinical research of both the enzyme telomerase and inhibition of myostatin, Klotho, FGF21, and PGC-1a, all of which Parrish claims to have taken.[19] BioViva since has expanded its interest to platform technology to deliver any of the multitude of gene that extend lifespans in model organism

BioViva's research showed Using CMV showed an increase in life extension of 42% for a telomerase inducing gene therapy and 32% for a follistatin inducing gene therapy.[20] Telomerase gene therapy utilizing an adeno-associated virus at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has demonstrated several beneficial effects and an increase in median lifespan of up to 24% in mice.[21][22][23][24] Discussing her team's research, María Blasco stated in discussion with The Scientist, "We demonstrated that AAV9-Tert gene therapy was sufficient to delay age-related pathologies and extend both median and maximum longevity in mice. Many pathologies were delayed, including cancer. Translating these results to human diseases (telomere syndromes or certain age-related diseases without effective treatments) may be of interest in the context of clinical trials approved by the corresponding regulatory agencies. [25] However, some experts draw attention that the results of studies in mice cannot always be directly transferred to humans.[26]

In 2021. BioViva again came under media interest in there involvement of assessing data of a human investigator lead study for dementia.[27] This nonprofit funded trial was the first in human use for gene therapy for dementia with suspected Alzheimer's Disease.Defending the decision, Parrish claimed that it is essential for data to be collected on offshore trials for the betterment of patients, but BioViva was given the patent for assessing this data. Parrish says the patent is pending.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "Company Overview of BioViva USA Inc.". Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=302346686. Retrieved November 14, 2016. 
  2. ↑ Mohammadi, Dara; Davis, Nicola (24 July 2016). "Can this woman cure ageing with gene therapy?". The Observer. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/24/elizabeth-parrish-gene-therapy-ageing. 
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Methods of treating or preventing age related disorders - Patent US-11266721-B1 - PubChem". https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/patent/US-11266721-B1. 
  5. ↑ Jaijyan, Dabbu Kumar; Selariu, Anca; Cruz-Cosme, Ruth; Tong, Mingming; Yang, Shaomin; Stefa, Alketa; Kekich, David; Sadoshima, Junichi et al. (17 May 2022). "New intranasal and injectable gene therapy for healthy life extension". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (20): e2121499119. Bibcode 2022PNAS..11921499J. doi:10.1073/pnas.2121499119. PMC 9171804. PMID 35537048. 
  6. ↑ "Synapse - Home". https://www.synapseconclave.com/session_details/4. 
  7. ↑ "Gene Therapy to Engineer Healthy Longevity | Liz Parrish | TEDxOxford". 4 April 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8K7ModDUhg. 
  8. ↑ "Biotech executives using themselves as human guinea pigs". 7 July 2016. https://www.statnews.com/2016/07/07/guinea-pig-biotech-ceo/. 
  9. ↑ Watts, Geoff (8 October 2005). "Nobel prize is awarded to doctors who discovered H pylori". BMJ 331 (7520): 795.1. doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7520.795. PMC 1246068. PMID 16210262. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Nicola Davis; Dara Mohammadi (24 July 2016). "Can this woman cure ageing with gene therapy?". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/24/elizabeth-parrish-gene-therapy-ageing. Retrieved 1 August 2016. 
  11. ↑ "Liz Parrish Is Patient Zero in Her Own Anti-Aging Experiment - The Crux" (in en-US). The Crux. 2016-04-29. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2016/04/29/liz-parrish-is-an-ceo-and-patient-zero/#.WNEvwSbyjDc. 
  12. ↑ "Home". https://maplespub.com/article/systemic-human-htert-aav-gene-transfer-therapy-and-the-effect-on-telomere-length-and-biological-age-a-case-report. 
  13. ↑ López-Otín, Carlos; Blasco, Maria A.; Partridge, Linda; Serrano, Manuel; Kroemer, Guido (June 2013). "The Hallmarks of Aging". Cell 153 (6): 1194–1217. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039. PMC 3836174. PMID 23746838. 
  14. ↑ López-Otín, Carlos; Blasco, Maria A.; Partridge, Linda; Serrano, Manuel; Kroemer, Guido (January 2023). "Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universe". Cell 186 (2): 243–278. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.001. PMID 36599349. 
  15. ↑ Bernardes de Jesus, Bruno; Vera, Elsa; Schneeberger, Kerstin; Tejera, Agueda M.; Ayuso, Eduard; Bosch, Fatima; Blasco, Maria A. (August 2012). "Telomerase gene therapy in adult and old mice delays aging and increases longevity without increasing cancer". EMBO Molecular Medicine 4 (8): 691–704. doi:10.1002/emmm.201200245. PMC 3494070. PMID 22585399. 
  16. ↑ "Genome Engineering for Healthy Longevity – George Church at Longevity Summit Dublin 2023". 26 September 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rUgLw0ZhGQ. 
  17. ↑ Regalado, Antonio (14 October 2015). "A Tale of Do-It-Yourself Gene Therapy". MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/542371/a-tale-of-do-it-yourself-gene-therapy/. Retrieved 25 July 2016. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "Why BIOVIVA? For the love of LIFE!". https://bioviva-science.com/about-us. 
  19. ↑ Yokoyama, Jennifer S.; Sturm, Virginia E.; Bonham, Luke W.; Klein, Eric; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; Yu, Lei; Coppola, Giovanni; Kramer, Joel H. et al. (March 2015). "Variation in longevity gene KLOTHO is associated with greater cortical volumes". Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 2 (3): 215–230. doi:10.1002/acn3.161. PMC 4369272. PMID 25815349. 
  20. ↑ Jaijyan, Dabbu Kumar; Selariu, Anca; Cruz-Cosme, Ruth; Tong, Mingming; Yang, Shaomin; Stefa, Alketa; Kekich, David; Sadoshima, Junichi et al. (17 May 2022). "New intranasal and injectable gene therapy for healthy life extension". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (20): e2121499119. Bibcode 2022PNAS..11921499J. doi:10.1073/pnas.2121499119. PMC 9171804. PMID 35537048. 
  21. ↑ "Telomeres and Telomerase Group". Spanish National Cancer Research Centre. 19 May 2008. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081203123545/https://www.cnio.es/ing/grupos/plantillas/curriculum.asp?pag=39. Retrieved 24 August 2019. 
  22. ↑ Bernardes de Jesus, Bruno; Vera, Elsa; Schneeberger, Kerstin; Tejera, Agueda M.; Ayuso, Eduard; Bosch, Fatima; Blasco, Maria A. (15 May 2012). "Telomerase gene therapy in adult and old mice delays aging and increases longevity without increasing cancer". EMBO Molecular Medicine 4 (8): 691–704. doi:10.1002/emmm.201200245. PMC 3494070. PMID 22585399. 
  23. ↑ Muñoz-Lorente, Miguel A.; Cano-Martin, Alba C.; Blasco, Maria A. (2019-10-17). "Mice with hyper-long telomeres show less metabolic aging and longer lifespans". Nature Communications 10 (1): 4723. Bibcode 2019NatCo..10.4723M. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12664-x. PMC 6797762. PMID 31624261. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336632604. 
  24. ↑ "Hyper-Long Telomeres Give Non-Genetically Modified Mice Longer, Healthier Lives". Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. 2019-10-18. https://www.genengnews.com/news/hyper-long-telomeres-give-non-genetically-modified-mice-longer-healthier-lives/. 
  25. ↑ Kerry Grens (25 April 2016). "First Data from Anti-Aging Gene Therapy". The Scientist. http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45947/title/First-Data-from-Anti-Aging-Gene-Therapy/. 
  26. ↑ "Telomere Dynamics with Age are Very Different Between Mammalian Species". 2019-07-11. https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2019/07/telomere-dynamics-with-age-are-very-different-between-mammalian-species. "It is well known that mouse telomere dynamics and telomerase expression are quite different from that of humans. This might make us suspect that positive results from telomerase gene therapies in mice, where life span is extended and health improved, without raising the risk of cancer, may not hold up in humans. There is no particular reason why increased cancer risk through putting damaged cells back to work will be balanced in the same way by improved tissue function and improved immune function, from species to species. The research and development community will find out in the years ahead by trying telomerase gene therapies in primates and then humans." 
  27. ↑ "Home". https://maplespub.com/article/safety-study-of-aav-htert-and-klotho-gene-transfer-therapy-for-dementia. 
  28. ↑ https://healthnews.com/news/bioviva-advance-gene-therapies-human-longevity/

External links

  • [http:// Official website]

Template:Life extension

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