Extending Dog Lifespan: The Ambitious Mission of Loyal

The Vision: Extending Dog Lifespan

Loyal is a biotech startup with an ambitious mission - to develop drugs that can extend the healthy lifespan of dogs. Founded by Celine Halioua in 2019, the company has raised $150 million to pursue this goal, despite having no revenue so far.

Halioua's vision goes beyond just helping our canine companions live longer. She sees Loyal as a stepping stone towards eventually developing drugs that could extend human lifespan as well. But why start with dogs?

"If I gave you a longevity drug, I have to follow you for decades to figure out if your lifespan was extended or not," Halioua explains. "And I have to follow thousands of other humans to be able to calculate the lifespan extension it does or doesn't have."

This makes human longevity drug trials logistically and financially infeasible. Dogs, on the other hand, age much faster than humans and have shorter lifespans, especially large breeds. This allows Loyal to potentially demonstrate lifespan extension in about 5 years - a timeline that's much more feasible for a startup to fund and execute on.

The Science Behind Loyal's Approach

Loyal's scientific approach has evolved since the company's founding. Initially, Halioua pitched developing a gene therapy to reduce levels of growth hormone and IGF-1 in large dogs, with the hypothesis that this could slow their accelerated aging.

However, after hiring a scientific team, the approach shifted. "I was very clear I wasn't emotionally attached to the other stuff," Halioua says. The team developed what became LOY-001, Loyal's first drug candidate for extending lifespan in large dogs.

The company is now pursuing two main programs:

1. LOY-001 for extending lifespan in large dog breeds
2. LOY-002 for addressing metabolic decline in aging dogs of all sizes

Both programs have received a key regulatory milestone from the FDA - the Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness for Use (RxE). This indicates the FDA believes there is reasonable scientific evidence that the drugs may be effective for their intended use.

The Challenges of Building a "Two Miracle" Startup

Loyal faces immense challenges as what some VCs call a "two miracle" startup. Not only does the company need to successfully develop novel drugs and gain regulatory approval, it then needs to prove there's a viable commercial market for dog longevity drugs.

This creates unique difficulties:

Long Timelines with Few Intermediate Milestones

"I felt like I was often like the black sheep in people's portfolio," Halioua says. While other startups show constant progress, biotech companies like Loyal can go years between major milestones.

This impacts team morale, as there's little positive reinforcement. "My experience is that basically everyone involved with the company at some point will have a freak out," Halioua notes. "Just one day they'll wake up and it'll just be like oh my God, the existential angst of it will hit them."

Educating Investors

Many investors, especially those not from biotech backgrounds, struggle to evaluate Loyal's progress. Scientific achievements that seem monumental to the team often get little recognition from investors.

"We basically finished the data package for our Big Dog short lifespan drug...and I was like it [expletive] works, it works, right? And I'm like hell yeah, why are we not worth a billion dollars?" Halioua recalls. "And we got like zero credit for that, very little credit for that."

She learned that investors were waiting for more concrete regulatory milestones, like the RxE approvals, rather than trying to evaluate complex scientific data themselves.

Fundraising Challenges

Loyal's unconventional approach made fundraising difficult, especially during the market downturn in 2022. "I tried to go do a Series B in Q4 2022, didn't get a single term sheet, didn't get a single offer, didn't get a single anything," Halioua says.

She spent 9 months raising just $7 million, a stark contrast to earlier fundraising successes. The experience was "emotionally brutal" and required immense persistence.

The Advantages of an Audacious Mission

Despite these challenges, Halioua believes Loyal's ambitious goal provides unique advantages:

Easier Recruiting

"Recruiting at Loyal has always been relatively easy," Halioua says. "People want to work on things that matter and people want to work on things where you know their grandkid cares or their Grandma cares."

Public Interest and Support

The company's mission resonates with many people, leading to opportunities like media coverage. "John Stewart a year ago, they literally DM'd me," Halioua notes. "That's ridiculous, right? Like normally you'd pay a PR firm tens of thousands of dollars to like maybe architect that moment."

Investor Alignment

While fundraising can be challenging, the investors who do back Loyal tend to be deeply aligned with the company's long-term vision. This allows Halioua to maintain more control and focus on the mission rather than short-term financial pressures.

Building the "Aging Pharma"

Halioua's ultimate goal goes beyond just helping dogs - she wants to "build the Aging Pharma" and make aging drugs as common and accepted as statins are today for managing cholesterol.

"What is an aging drug in my vision? It's a cheap daily pill that millions of Americans take to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease and maybe also dementia or maybe also osteoarthritis," she explains.

Rather than pursuing flashy claims about reversing aging, Halioua believes the first generation of effective aging drugs will be "boring" preventative medicines that reduce the risk of multiple age-related diseases.

The Path Forward

Loyal is now on track to potentially have its first product on the market within the next year, pending FDA approval. This would allow veterinarians to prescribe a drug aimed at extending the healthy lifespan of qualifying dogs.

While many hurdles remain, Halioua remains confident in the company's mission: "I always knew we were right. I always knew our thesis was correct. I didn't know if we would execute on it, there was a chance we picked the wrong drug...but I've always known we are right."

As Loyal continues to progress, it may not only improve the lives of our canine companions, but also pave the way for breakthroughs in human longevity. For Halioua and her team, that audacious goal makes all the challenges worthwhile.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xof0Ic0lDFY