In blow to anti-aging field, Unity Biotechnology fails first major study, cuts lead program
In the last decade, Unity Biotechnology $UBX raised over $200 million from investors who saw both the commercial and personal benefits in life-extending technology: Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel and Arch Venture Partners’ Bob Nelsen. The company promised to be one of the first to effectively test the theory that clearing out old “senescent” cells could reduce symptoms associated with aging.
But today, in the first major test for Unity’s technology, the company whiffed — and by a significant margin. In a 183-person Phase II study testing whether their lead drug UBX0101 could alleviate pain in people with osteoarthritis of the knee, patients on the treatment arms showed virtually no difference to patients on the placebo arm.
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