Can medtech help us live forever?

Recent advancements in technology and medical research are bringing the idea of radically extended human lifespan into the realm of possibility.

Bryan Johnson has famously spent millions on longevity interventions, including plasma infusions from a teenage son. But, beyond the indulgences of tech billionaires, can the rest of us ever expect to live into our hundreds?

“We stand at the precipice of enormous gains that have been accelerating the last 10 or 15 years,” said Amol Sarva, managing partner at LifeX Ventures, a venture fund investing in longevity research. “It’s unbelievable the things we can do with cells.”

Amol predicted that, within the next decade, some form of “general purpose longevity intervention” will be widely available.

“Man, that’s gonna have a huge impact on the world,” added the VC expert.

Is prevention the key to longer life?

On the other hand, some believe that preventative measures, including improved healthcare access, will have the largest impact on an ageing population.

It’s all about managing age-related diseases, said Joel Jackson, co-founder and president of Lifeforce, a healthtech company trying to extend life spans.

“If I truly believe that there’s a way that I’m going to be able to live to 140 years old, and that’s going to happen in my lifespan, I cannot manage my cholesterol to the point that I’m going to have heart disease at 83 – it’s no longer an acceptable level.”

“It becomes really important to start to manage these diseases of ageing so much more aggressively in a world where these innovations are around the corner,” added Joel.

Longevity breakthroughs with personalised medicine

Joel and Amol predicted major advancements through AI and personalised medicine. As Amol pointed out, AI can “dramatically reduce the time and energy required to find that next thing” to extend a healthy lifespan.

Artificial intelligence is already being used for drug discovery in the cancer research field.

And while human immortality in the next 20 years seems far-fetched, Amol predicted a “very substantial breakthrough” in that timeframe. Joel forecasted that medtech will “absolutely be able to target” the fundamental ageing process to some degree by then.

Amol Sarva, managing partner at LifeX Ventures, and Joel Jackson, co-founder and president of Lifeforce, were in conversation with Yuliya Sotska, chief brand and communications officer for Viseven, on HealthConf at Collision 2023.

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