Calico (company)

Last updated
Calico Life Sciences LLC
Company type Subsidiary
Industry
FoundedSeptember 18, 2013;10 years ago (2013-09-18)
Founders Bill Maris, [1] [2] [3] [4] Arthur D. Levinson [5]
HeadquartersU.S,
South San Francisco, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
 Arthur D. Levinson ( CEO )
Parent Google (2013–2015)
Alphabet Inc. (2015–present)
Website calicolabs.com

Calico Life Sciences LLC is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and with a focus on biotechnology their goal is to increase the understanding of the biology that controls human aging, attempting to devise interventions that may enable people to lead longer and healthier lives.

Contents

History

Calico, short for the California Life Company, [6] [7] was announced on September 18, 2013, prior to Google's restructuring and was co-founded by former Genentech chairman and CEO Arthur D. Levinson. [8] In Google's 2013 Founders Letter, Larry Page described Calico as a company focused on "health, well-being, and longevity." [9] It was incorporated into Alphabet with Google's other sister divisions in 2015. [10] [11]

The Calico team has included a number of pioneering researchers in the field of ageing research, including members of the National Academy of Sciences, Cynthia Kenyon and Daniel E. Gottschling. [12] Some of the company’s earliest employees included the geneticist David Botstein, and cancer drug developer Robert L. Cohen, MD., [13] Eric Verdin, CEO of The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, served as a consultant to the Calico team. [14]

At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, Calico lost two top scientists; in December 2017 Hal Barron, MD, its head of R&D, left for GlaxoSmithKline, and in March 2018 chief computing officer Daphne Koller, who was leading their computational biology efforts, left to pursue a venture in applying machine learning techniques to drug design. [15] [16] [17]

Partnerships

In September 2014, Calico and AbbVie announced an R&D collaboration focused on aging and age-related diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer. [18] Working together with AbbVie, Calico pursues discovery-stage research and development utilizing state-of-the-art technology and advanced computing capabilities. [19] AbbVie provides scientific and clinical development support and lends its expertise to commercialization activities. [20] To date, the companies have committed to invest more than $1 billion into the collaboration. [21]

In 2015, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced a partnership with Calico to "advance research on age-related diseases and therapeutics", [22] a further partnership also was announced with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. [23] Also in 2015, Calico announced a partnership with QB3 based on researching the biology of aging and identifying potential therapeutics for age-related diseases [24] and one with AncestryDNA based on conducting research into the genetics of human lifespan. [25]

In October 2023, Nature , a weekly British scientific journal, published preclinical research findings that showed ABBV-CLS-484, a PTPN2/N1 phosphatase inhibitor being co-developed by AbbVie and Calico, provokes a potent dual response in cancer and immune cells. [26] [27] [28]

Reception

When Calico was formed, Google did not disclose many details, such as whether the company would focus on biology or information technology. [29] The company issued press releases about research partnerships, but not details regarding the results of its research or the specifics of what it was working on. [7] [30] This led to frustration by researchers regarding Calico's secrecy [30] and questions as to whether Calico had produced any useful scientific advancements. [31] Calico said the business' purpose was to focus on long-term science not expected to garner results for 10 or more years, leaving nothing to report on in its first five years. [31]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The brains behind Calico? Bill Maris of Google Ventures". VentureBeat. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Regalado, Antonio. "Can naked mole rats teach us the secrets to living longer?" . Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Naughton, John (9 April 2017). "Why Silicon Valley wants to thwart the grim reaper". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Fortuna, W. Harry. "Seeking eternal life, Silicon Valley is solving for death". Quartz . Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "Our People". Calico Labs. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  6. ↑ Pollack, Andrew; Miller, Claire Cain (18 September 2013). "Tech Titans Form Biotechnology Company". The New York Times . Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 Molteni, Megan (November 6, 2018). "The Key to a Long Life Has Little to Do With 'Good Genes'". Wired. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  8. ↑ "News announcements: Google announces Calico, a new company focused on health and well-being". News announcements. 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  9. ↑ Page, Larry. "2013 Founders' Letter". Archived from the original on 2014-07-07.
  10. ↑ "Google Rises After Creating Holding Company Called Alphabet". Bloomberg.com. 2015-08-10. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  11. ↑ Dougherty, Conor (10 August 2015). "Google to Reorganize as Alphabet to Keep Its Lead as an Innovator". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ "National Academy of Sciences Member Directory".
  13. ↑ Leuty, Ron. "Art Levinson's Calico taps former Genentech execs, other top scientists as first 4 hires". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  14. ↑ "Dr. Eric Verdin—The Effect of Food on Longevity". blog.insidetracker.com. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  15. ↑ Al Idrus, Amirah (March 2, 2018). "Calico loses its second executive in 4 months as Daphne Koller quits". FierceBiotech.
  16. ↑ Bergen, Mark (1 March 2018). "Alphabet Loses Top AI Researcher at Anti-Aging Unit Calico". Bloomberg News.
  17. ↑ Koller, Daphne (1 May 2018). "insitro: Rethinking drug discovery using machine learning".
  18. ↑ Huet, Ellen. "Google's Calico Joins AbbVie In 'Pivotal' Partnership To Develop Anti-Aging Drugs". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  19. ↑ "AbbVie and Calico extend partnership on drugs for age-related diseases". Pharmaceutical Technology. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  20. ↑ "AbbVie and Calico extend partnership on drugs for age-related diseases". Pharmaceutical Technology. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  21. ↑ Adams, Ben. "AbbVie hits go on $1B re-upped Calico deal as the Google life science spinout continues I-O, neuro push". FierceBiotech. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  22. ↑ "Broad Institute and Calico announce an extensive collaboration focused on the biology of aging and therapeutic approaches to diseases of aging". Broad Institute. 2015-03-17. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25.
  23. ↑ Carroll, John (2015-04-28). "Google's Calico continues its partnering romp on aging R&D with Buck collaboration". FierceBiotechResearch.com. Archived from the original on 2015-05-01.
  24. ↑ "Calico and QB3 announce partnership to conduct research into the biology of aging and to identify potential therapeutics for age-related diseases". 24 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  25. ↑ Brodwin, Erin. "A collaboration between Google's secretive life-extension spinoff and popular genetics company Ancestry has quietly ended". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  26. ↑ Baumgartner, Christina K.; et al. (2023). "The PTPN2/PTPN1 inhibitor ABBV-CLS-484 unleashes potent anti-tumour immunity". Nature. 622 (7984): 850–862. Bibcode:2023Natur.622..850B. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06575-7. PMC   10599993 . PMID   37794185.
  27. ↑ Floersh, Helen. "AbbVie and Calico immunotherapy boosts PD-1 response and tackles T cell exhaustion in mice". FierceBiotech. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
  28. ↑ DiCorato, Allessandra (4 October 2023). "Cancer immunotherapy candidate provokes powerful dual response in cancer and immune cells". Broad Institute. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
  29. ↑ Regalado, Antonio (September 18, 2013). "Google to Try to Solve Death, LOL". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  30. 1 2 Belluz, Julia (April 27, 2017). "Google is super secretive about its anti-aging research. No one knows why". Vox. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  31. 1 2 Langley, Hugh; Dodge, Blake (January 22, 2021). "Alphabet's age-fighting bet Calico has been quiet for years, but it's hiring. Here are all the jobs open at the secretive biotech firm". Business Insider. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
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