Tech startup hopes to make your dog live longer

It’s the thing that all pet owners dream about. To have your dog be able to spend a few more years with you. Well all those dreams might just come true sooner than you think. Especially if Cellular Longevity Inc has anything to do with it. Within the next 3 years, the Silicon Valley startup hopes to create a new drug that could extend the lives of dogs. While it’s hard to predict how much longer your dog could live for without doing any trials, they hope to increase lifespan from anywhere between six months to three years. Not only that, they hope to improve the condition of your dog’s life as they get older too, keeping them healthier and allowing them to be more active into old age.

Just last month, the company which operates under the brand name ‘Loyal’, raised a whopping $27 million in funding. In the past year, the company has grown from a team of just three people to a total of 30. They are currently working on two main products. The first aims to expand the lifespan of large breed animals and the second is looking to improve cognitive function. Trials for the drugs are set to begin in early 2022 and the company will need to recruit hundreds of dog owners to take part in the study. The dogs will be able to continue living at home and the clinical studies will take 3-5 years.

And they’re not just thinking about dogs either. This project has drawn a lot of enthusiam and attention from investors. That’s because they hope to one day apply this science to humans in the future too. Celine Halioua, founder and CEO of Loyal, told Bloomberg:

“Dogs are unquestionably considered the best model of human ageing. We have co-evolved with them, and they have a shared environment with us. They also develop age-related diseases over time. If we can do this for dogs, people will want it too.”

Fri Oct 22 2021