Translating Aging

Sergey Jakimov is the Managing Partner and co-founder of LongeVC, one of Europe's most active longevity-focused venture capital firms, currently raising its second fund targeting $250 million. In this episode, Chris and Sergey explore the investment landscape shaping longevity biotechnology today. They discuss LongeVC's pragmatic approach to longevity investing—focusing on disease-modifying therapies rather than targeting aging itself—and why this strategy has been successful across their portfolio. Sergey shares insights from major successes including Rubedo's partnership with Beiersdorf and Turn Bio's deal with HanAll, explaining what these deals signal about pharma's evolving interest in longevity approaches. The conversation covers critical topics for researchers and entrepreneurs: common pitfalls in academic spin-offs, the importance of clear regulatory pathways, and how the upcoming patent cliff is creating new opportunities for early-stage biotechs in the longevity space. Listeners will gain valuable insights into what makes a longevity company investable, how to navigate the transition from academic research to commercial venture, and why solving age-related diseases one by one may ultimately lead to a holistic understanding of aging itself. The Finer Details: Sergey's journey from aspiring neurosurgeon to deep tech entrepreneur to longevity investorLongeVC's pragmatic philosophy: targeting specific diseases rather than aging as a wholeThe convergence of biotech, regenerative medicine, and AI in the longevity spaceKey criteria for early-stage investment: disease indication, balanced teams, clean IP transferWhy "five scientists in a room" and "great mouse data" don't make an investable companyThe importance of platforms having their own pipelines, not just service modelsHow LongeVC's scientific advisory board (including Alex Zhavoronkov, Vadim Gladyshev, Thomas Rando) evaluates investmentsSuccess stories: Rubedo's senolytic partnership and Turn Bio's epigenetic reprogramming dealThe changing dynamics between pharma and biotech driven by patent cliffs and urgency to find the "next GLP-1"Regulatory strategies: focusing on specific endpoints rather than aging broadlyMaking longevity medicine accessible through disease-focused approaches and data-driven validationPersonal motivation: Sergey's experience as a rare disease patient and the urgency of advancing treatments Quotes: "Longevity as an industry is by far the industry with the biggest added value out there, because that is the issue that we all share. Without solving these things, none of the other stuff really matters—not FinTech, not blockchain, not sustainability." "Five scientists in a room generally don't make a company. Prolonging rodent lives does not make a company either." "The ultimate longevity drug version 1.0 would be a therapeutic which has an original disease indication, which also has somehow cracked the mechanism of action that would be translatable across several age-related disease domains." "It is extremely arrogant for the space to say that we're not interested in age-related diseases, like we're not interested in curing the diseases. That's traditional biotech. We're not that. We are the longevity space." "Pharma is still thinking in terms of assets rather than processes. It is almost impossible to sell a process to them... What pharma still wants is the result of that capacity actually coming to life." "At the point when something has happened to you and a rare disease has happened to you... you're only equipped with that standard of treatment that is currently available and that has made it to the clinic." "I think the presence of the FDA as this kind of gatekeeper-type agency saying, 'No, you cannot go after aging in a...