Novartis Bets On Ageing As Next Frontier In Drug Development

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Swiss pharma giant Novartis is re-entering the booming field of ageing research. It wants to develop a blockbuster drug in one of the most rapidly growing, and potentially lucrative, markets: keeping older adults healthy. This content was published on May 23, 2025 - 09:00 13 minutes

I report on the Swiss pharmaceutical industry and healthcare topics such as access to medicine, biomedical innovation, and the impact of diseases like cancer. I grew up just outside San Francisco and studied international affairs with a focus on development economics and healthcare policy. Prior to joining SWI swissinfo in 2018, I was a freelance journalist and a researcher on business and human rights.

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Helen James (illustration); Pauline Turuban (visuals)

Last December, Novartis announced an unusual partnership with a relatively unknown California-based biotech firm. The deal, which could cost the Swiss pharma giant as much as $550 million (CHF453.5 million), didn't involve access to a new drug candidate or a specific technology. Instead, the prize Novartis had its eyes on was BioAge Labs' vast trove of data – a crucial asset in an increasing number of industries, including pharmaceuticals, and so valuable it's often dubbed the new oilExternal link .

BioAge claims to have one of the world's largest and most comprehensive data sets on human longevity available for drug discovery. It obtained it by securing exclusive rights from biobanks to genomic profiles, medical histories, and other health data on thousands of people followed up to 50 years. Using AI and other advanced tools, the company aims to pinpoint the determinants of a healthy lifespan, facilitating the discovery and development of new therapies.

People have been searching for the secrets to longevity for centuries. Huge advances in the science of ageing and technology such as AI in the last decade have given scientists reason to believe we are on the cusp of a major breakthrough. This has fuelled a new longevity movement with clinics and companies popping up in many parts of the world such as Saudi Arabia, the US and Switzerland, offering sophisticated tests, novel therapies, and a world of promises.

Switzerland has been a key player in the pursuit of eternal youth dating back centuries when people came from across the globe to experience the healing powers of its thermal baths. Swiss wellness clinics, scientists, investors and pharmaceutical companies have all advanced the longevity field. But how much is the latest longevity trend just hype and good marketing? Can we really extend our lifespan and why do we want to?

This article is part of a series investigating the growing longevity trend and Switzerland's role in it. You can find all the articles and videos in the series at the bottom of this article.

That makes it a perfect fit for Novartis, which missed out on the obesity drug boom. The Basel-based firm doesn't have its own version of the blockbusters Wegovy or Ozempic in the pipeline and has been searching for new growth drivers. In 2023 it set up a research group called Diseases of Ageing and Regenerative MedicineExternal link (DARe) to build on its expertise in musculoskeletal diseases and understand what causes age-related diseases at the molecular level.

“Our goal is to understand the biological drivers of ageing to develop novel treatments for diseases related to ageing,” Michaela Kneissel, who joined Novartis in 1996 and is now the global head of DARe, told SWI swissinfo.“The hope is this opens the door to not only treat one illness but tackle entire classes of diseases.”

The hunt for drugs for diseases that appear or worsen as we get older has become more urgent, and potentially lucrative, for pharmaceutical companies, as the developed world faces an unprecedented demographic shift. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, the number of people aged 60 and over will double from 1 billion in 2020 to 2.1 billion, making up around 20% of the world's population, while those aged 80 and over is expected to tripleExternal link to nearly 430 million.

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The older we get, the greater our risk of developing illnesses such as coronary heart disease, dementia, and cancer. To meet these needs, the market for geriatric medicinesExternal link is expected to surge from $153 billion in 2023 to $222.5 billion by 2030 according to Ireland-based Research and Markets analytics firm.

Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, and Japan are among countries investing heavily to improve the health of their ageing populations and prevent chronic diseases. In 2024, Brazil established its first national-level policy on dementia care. The world's seventh-largest country in terms of population is forecastExternal link to see the number of dementia sufferers triple by 2050 from an estimated 1.8 million in 2019 to 5.6 million.

While pharma companies like Novartis have invested billions in drugs to treat age-related diseases and alleviate their symptoms, in the past they've spent very little investigating the biology of ageing – the biological processes and mechanisms that explain why cells, tissues, and organs gradually lose function, leading to age-related decline and disease.

But with huge advances in science and technology, and tech billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman pouring billions into start-ups working on therapies to extend lifespan, Novartis and other pharma heavyweights are jumping into the race.

“We have reached the age of the quantification of biology,” said Kneissel.“There is an enormous amount of data coming in on human biology. We now have the ability to address spaces that we couldn't before and use human data rather than relying a lot on data from animals.”

Artificial intelligence can measure and analyse millions of health records, genomic profiles, and lab results to find patterns that can predict disease. This has all made research on ageing much easier, faster, and cheaper.

“We can now get our genome sequenced for a few hundred bucks,” said Vittorio Sebastiano, a reproductive biologist at Stanford University and founder of Turn Biotechnologies, a preclinical-stage start-up focused on developing therapies to reverse age-related cellular decline.“In the past we weren't able to access this much information so cheaply. And we also have much better ways to manage it.”

Lessons from the past

Novartis has dabbled in ageing research before. In 2014, it conducted clinical trialsExternal link of its cancer drug everolimus for possible anti-ageing properties after research showed a closely related drug, rapamycin, extended the lifespan of several animal species. Both drugs target mTOR, a protein that regulates many cellular processes affected by age.

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This content was published on May 7, 2025 Basel-based scientist Michael Hall's discovery of the gene Target of Rapamycin has fuelled one of the fastest growing trends – longevity.

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