x
Further, if Sirtris licenses rights to its drugs,
it might hand over compounds to a pharma partner before their full value has been assessed and factored into the deal - the possibility that the drugs could treat many diseases of aging is still too tentative to put a pricetag on. Despite the controversy over how resveratrol works, there's no telling how many diseases it can treat. And resveratrol's ability to boost mitochondria, those cellular power plants, indicates Sirtris's medicines will be highly versatile. In fact, the list of disorders thought to involve malfunctioning mitochondria includes adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases-all diseases of aging.
"If I had $500 million today," says Westphal, "I'd be tempted to take our drugs into the clinic against two or three devastating neurological conditions and other metabolic diseases besides diabetes. That would be incredibly risky. But sometimes I think, 'This is the kind of company that could gather enormous resources' " based on its extraordinary promise. "It would be a real shame if we didn't go for it and try to address these huge medical problems."
At some point Sirtris will probably go public, raising the money Westphal would need to pursue this vision. In fact, the excitement about resveratrol may well allow Sirtris to make an initial public offering at an earlier stage of development than is feasible for most biotechs. Westphal declines to comment on that. When asked about it, though, he suddenly reverts to vortex-avoidance mode: "part of my job is to calm people down," he says. "You have to remember, most things in biotech don't work."
Sobering words - especially for us hopeful resveratrol watchers of a certain age. But here's an antidote: pour a glass of pinot noir, and while imbibing, step back and regard the big picture. Humanity has dreamed for millennia of medicines that extend life span. Sirtris may not fulfill the dream. But the company's very existence shows that the quest for compounds that slow aging has been transformed from sorcery into the fairly routine process of pharmaceutical development. Thus, the dream is likely to be realized within, at most, a few decades. The question now is when, not if.
Article Produced By
David Stipp, Fortune
https://money.cnn.com/2007/01/18/magazines/fortune/Live_forever.fortune/index2.htm
Posted by
Chuck Reynolds
