Su­per-se­cre­tive an­ti-ag­ing biotech Cal­i­co tees up the first vis­i­ble clin­i­cal tri­al of an ex­per­i­men­tal drug. And it’s for can­cer?

Over the past 7 years, Cal­i­co has been so much more than your av­er­age, run-of-the-mill se­cre­tive biotech play­ers. It’s a rid­dle, wrapped in a mys­tery, in­side an enig­ma, to re­pur­pose an old Win­ston Churchill line dat­ing from the time he con­front­ed the Iron Cur­tain sur­round­ing Stal­in’s thoughts.

Launched by in­dus­try leg­end Art Levin­son of Genen­tech fame, with the in­fi­nite­ly deep pock­ets of Google for sup­port, one of the few big head­lines the an­ti-ag­ing biotech has sparked fo­cused on a ma­jor al­liance with Ab­b­Vie — a gi­ant out­fit that con­verse­ly likes to show off its drug prospects when­ev­er it can. To­geth­er, they’ve been fo­cused on dis­eases that lim­it life span — quite an arc of ail­ments.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER