On today’s episode of Translating Aging, Chris welcomes Tyler Golato and Laurence Ion to talk about VitaDAO, a collective accelerating research in human longevity and decentralized drug development.  The pair start the conversation off by discussing their company’s roots -  a previous business venture that sought to change the incentive structures around drug development.  VitaDAO was created as a means to support biological longevity research through decentralized means.  

They go on to discuss VitaDAO’s future, how they can increase liquidity, and their goals to advance drug development.  Golato and Ion argue that the present is a perfect time to create VitaDAO, given the current intersection between biotech, block chain, and longevity research.  They conclude by recalling the early-life dreams that inspired them to enter this field. 

Episode Highlights:

• The essence of VitaDAO
• Changing the incentive structures around drug development
• The partners’ passion for longevity
• VitaDAO’s decentralized structure 
• Project sourcing and funding
• Increasing liquidity
• Goals to end drug development
• The intersection of biotech, block chain, and longevity
• Why Tyler and Laurence are interested in longevity

Quotes: 

“VitaDAO was born out of an early concept that we had been working on at a company called Molecule, which is a company that I co-founded about three years ago with a vision of doing decentralized drug development.”

“It's not completely open, completely decentralized to the point where it's paralyzing for the organization, but we try to look at the things that are most valuable to decentralize in order to make the organization as maximally efficient as possible.”

“We really try to make it as easy as possible for token holders to make informed decisions about whether or not something is ultimately worth funding. We like to do so once we're at the point where we ensure that we can actually progress with a deal.”

“We are distinctly different from a venture fund in terms of our endpoint is not really ROI impact, it's really impact in the space. And that comes in many different forms, in terms of taking a diversified approach to funding longevity research.”

“Even if we spin out a NewCo, these contributors can vote on what projects are funded, how they are spun out, and then they can co-invest and help these therapeutics eventually come to market.”

“In the long term, we really hope to be able to do a lot of things within the decentralized science ecosystem as the space broadens and has liquidity to do so through partnerships with organizations like Molecule and LabDAO.”

“Certain things like clinical trials don't yet have a business model. So we can create one by having either philanthropic groups, patient groups or even a government/life insurance company that has an economic incentive to improve health outcomes.”

“Crypto has long been dismissed by the incumbents.”

“People who are really looking at how technology and innovation can drive humanity forward and drive the way that we govern.”

“What problem is more interesting than human aging? I mean, for me, it's so philosophical; it's so poetic.”

Links:

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VitaDAO Homepage