$40M ‘longevity fund’ that’s looking to ‘make death optional’ | Latest Tech News
The craving to cheat death has infused popular culture for ages, from “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” to “Death Becomes Her” to “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
But in latest years, discovering the key to longer life has transitioned from legendary fiction to precise science with the help of over $5 billion in investments from the likes of Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman.
This ultra-wealthy cohort is laser-focused on stopping growing older at the molecular degree, while others are funneling money into battling more tangible age-related illnesses like Parkinson’s.
And while you might have heard of Bezos-backed Altos Labs or Thiel favourite Methuselah, the Singapore-based longevity fund Immortal Dragons is making its own progress on the not dying entrance — which one would definitely anticipate from a enterprise with the tagline “Make Death Optional.”
Billions of {dollars} are going into research to ward of disease and lengthen life. For one fund, Immortal Dragons, the mission is to “make death optional.” Jack Forbes / NY Post
Enter the dragon
Boyang Wang, the CEO of Immortal Dragons, is only 34, longevity has him for years.
Originally from China, he took an interest in preventative medication after a health scare in which he went into anaphylactic shock and fell unconscious for an hour. He later discovered that it was due to a buckwheat allergy, and the episode made him ponder a world in which one might forestall an allergy before it started.
In December 2023, with a number of profitable startups under his belt, he launched Immortal Dragons, funnelling about $4 million from household and associates and $36 million of his own money. The purpose is to invest in “moonshot initiatives,” he told The Post, with big dangers and big rewards.
For instance, one firm doing fairly nicely in the Immortal Dragons portfolio is Frontier Bio, which is developing 3D biofabrication techniques that would permit new organs to be printed instead of relying on donors.
Such an innovation would mediate the years-long ready lists for organs such as kidneys, livers and hearts in the United States.
Another company that acquired a $500,000 investment from Immortal Dragons is concentrated on creating mammals, like monkeys, without fully-developed nervous systems. The concept is that ultimately, these beings may very well be used as more moral medical research topics than sentient animals who can suppose and really feel.
Though many would argue that the initiative is weird, this query of sentience is why some vegans still eat oysters. When the choice is testing on animals or people, designing nonsentient beings sparks a curious ethical query — and doubtlessly solves a urgent need.
Boyang Wang, the 34-year-old CEO of Immortal Dragons longevity has him for years. Courtesy of Boyang Wang
The fund has also supported is Unlimited Bio, which is testing frontier therapies — including a new medical trial to consider if two gene therapies administered concurrently might help cut back charges of age-related muscle decline.
An advocacy arm within the group, meanwhile, plants seeds for future research. For instance, Immortal Dragons collaborated with a sponsor to advocate for the New Hampshire “Right to Try” law handed in August 2025, which assured sufferers with terminal diseases the appropriate to strive experimental therapies at their own discretion. The transfer opens the state up for more biomedical research to explore therapies and prevention for age-related illnesses.
Tackling disease
Several of the fund’s investments go to ardour initiatives.
Andy Tsai, who lives in Palo Alto, watched his grandfather endure after being identified with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. His grandpa was illiterate but very sharp, so seeing his mental degradation left a mark.
“It’s a helpless position to be in,” he said.
When the mud settled after Tsai’s grandfather handed away from neurodegenerative disease, Tsai discovered the big image perplexing.
His great-aunts, his grandfathers’ sisters, all lived to be healthy centenarians without the diseases that killed his grandfather. This prompted a query that Tsai’s been attempting to reply since: What goes on in the mind that creates huge variations in longevity, even between siblings?
Now, Tsai is a post-doctoral pupil at Stanford University learning neurology — and in December, Immortal Dragons announced that it had launched a four-year partnership to fund numerous research initiatives including Tsai’s neuroscience work at Stanford.
In December, Immortal Dragons announced that it had launched a partnership to fund numerous research initiatives including Andy Tsai’s neuroscience work at Stanford. Courtesy of Andy Tsai
What is longevity — and can we all have it?
As a subject of examine, longevity is considerably opaque because the definition of what that truly means relies upon on the particular person.
Though Immortal Dragons’ mission is chasing eternal life, Tsai characterizes longevity as making certain people are in the best health they are often for as long as doable, and decreasing the quantity of unhealthy years before death. Some specialists have called this “health span.”
For advocates, longevity research carries common appeal that can, ultimately, help everybody.
But for cynics, such research can moderately be seen as billionaire pet initiatives while 44% of Americans battle to afford health care, 13% can’t afford groceries and half of renters are priced out of housing.
In 2025, one out of 5 Americans was insured by Medicare, and in 2024, Medicaid was the first payer for three out of every 5 nursing home spots.
Across states, about half of all Medicaid spending goes in the direction of caring for the aged, and six months of poor health is way less intensive than a decade-long decline in phrases of the care workforce required, price and the emotional influence on households.
But the narrative about billionaires and longevity often misses the human factor, Tsai said: Wealth doesn’t shield anybody from having family members with neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Research into longevity, no matter who it’s funded by, has simple societal advantages when the rubber meets the street.
For instance, Tsai’s research is essentially centered on understanding longevity mutations, that are common genes discovered in centenarians’ our bodies, to study more about the genetic biology of people who live long, healthy lives. From there, his purpose is to mimic these genetic mutations in youthful adults to forestall longevity-related issues.
Whether one finds longevity research to be superfluous or not, it’s one thing Americans need to significantly contemplate for the health of growing older households and the control of future taxpayer {dollars}.
If people are more healthy into outdated age, the need for caregivers, nursing houses and other social infrastructure gained’t be as great. The more people that are sick, the higher the burden on all the system will probably be.
“I feel like everyone will benefit from this research, especially people between 40 and 60 years old,” Tsai said. “They’re still healthy, and our target right now is interventions with healthy people to make sure they don’t get sick.”
Karen Fischer is an impartial author and reporter. She produces The Gumbo Pot, a weekly Substack that includes impartial reportage on schooling, health, tradition, food, infrastructure and vitality.
Stay informed with the latest in tech! Our web site is your trusted source for breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, gadget launches, software program updates, cybersecurity, and digital innovation.
For contemporary insights, knowledgeable coverage, and trending tech updates, go to us usually by clicking right here.
