Calico (company) explained

Calico Life Sciences LLC
Type:Subsidiary
Hq Location:U.S
Area Served:Worldwide
Key People:Arthur D. Levinson (CEO)
Parent:Google (2013–2015)
Alphabet Inc. (2015–present)
Founder:Bill Maris
Location City:South San Francisco, California
Location Country:U.S.

Calico Life Sciences LLC is an American biotechnology company with a focus on the biology of aging, attempting to devise interventions that may enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

History

Calico, short for the California Life Company,[1] was announced on September 18, 2013, prior to Google's restructuring and was founded by former GV CEO Bill Maris.[2] [3] In Google's 2013 Founders Letter, Larry Page described Calico as a company focused on "health, well-being, and longevity."[4] It was incorporated into Alphabet with Google's other sister divisions in 2015.[5] [6]

The Calico team has included a number of pioneering researchers in the field of ageing research, including members of the National Academy of Sciences, Cynthia Kenyon and Daniel E. Gottschling.[7] Some of the company’s earliest employees included the geneticist David Botstein, and cancer drug developer Robert L. Cohen, MD.,[8] Eric Verdin, CEO of The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, served as a consultant to the Calico team.[9]

At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, Calico lost two top scientists; in December 2017 Hal Barron, MD, its head of R&D, left for GlaxoSmithKline, and in March 2018 chief computing officer Daphne Koller, who was leading their computational biology efforts, left to pursue a venture in applying machine learning techniques to drug design.[10] [11] [12]

Partnerships

In September 2014, Calico and AbbVie announced an R&D collaboration focused on aging and age-related diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer.[13] Working together with AbbVie, Calico pursues discovery-stage research and development utilizing state-of-the-art technology and advanced computing capabilities.[14] AbbVie provides scientific and clinical development support and lends its expertise to commercialization activities. To date, the companies have committed to invest more than $1 billion into the collaboration.[15]

In 2015, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced a partnership with Calico to "advance research on age-related diseases and therapeutics",[16] a further partnership also was announced with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.[17] Also in 2015, Calico announced a partnership with QB3 based on researching the biology of aging and identifying potential therapeutics for age-related diseases[18] and one with AncestryDNA based on conducting research into the genetics of human lifespan.[19]

In October 2023, Nature, a weekly British scientific journal, published preclinical research findings that showed ABBV-CLS-484, a PTPN2/N1 phosphatase inhibitor being co-developed by AbbVie and Calico, provokes a potent dual response in cancer and immune cells.[20] [21] [22]

Reception

When Calico was formed, Google did not disclose many details, such as whether the company would focus on biology or information technology.[23] The company issued press releases about research partnerships, but not details regarding the results of its research or the specifics of what it was working on.[24] [25] This led to frustration by researchers regarding Calico's secrecy and questions as to whether Calico had produced any useful scientific advancements.[26] Calico said the business' purpose was to focus on long-term science not expected to garner results for 10 or more years, leaving nothing to report on in its first five years.

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Pollack. Andrew. Miller. Claire Cain. Tech Titans Form Biotechnology Company. 18 January 2015. The New York Times. 18 September 2013.
  2. Web site: The brains behind Calico? Bill Maris of Google Ventures . 9 October 2013 . VentureBeat . 16 February 2018.
  3. Web site: 2013-09-18 . News announcements: Google announces Calico, a new company focused on health and well-being . 2022-07-11 . News announcements.
  4. Web site: Page. Larry . 2013 Founders' Letter. https://web.archive.org/web/20140707043331/https://investor.google.com/corporate/2013/founders-letter.html . 2014-07-07 . dead.
  5. News: 2015-08-10 . Google Rises After Creating Holding Company Called Alphabet . en . Bloomberg.com . 2022-07-11.
  6. News: Dougherty . Conor . 10 August 2015 . Google to Reorganize as Alphabet to Keep Its Lead as an Innovator . The New York Times.
  7. Web site: National Academy of Sciences Member Directory.
  8. Web site: Art Levinson's Calico taps former Genentech execs, other top scientists as first 4 hires. Leuty. Ron. San Francisco Business Times. 2013-11-19.
  9. Web site: Dr. Eric Verdin—The Effect of Food on Longevity . 2023-11-21 . blog.insidetracker.com . en-us.
  10. News: Al Idrus. Amirah. Calico loses its second executive in 4 months as Daphne Koller quits. FierceBiotech. March 2, 2018. en.
  11. News: Bergen . Mark . 1 March 2018 . Alphabet Loses Top AI Researcher at Anti-Aging Unit Calico . Bloomberg News.
  12. Web site: insitro: Rethinking drug discovery using machine learning. Daphne. Koller. 1 May 2018.
  13. Web site: Huet. Ellen. Google's Calico Joins AbbVie In 'Pivotal' Partnership To Develop Anti-Aging Drugs. 2020-09-10. Forbes. en.
  14. Web site: AbbVie and Calico extend partnership on drugs for age-related diseases. Pharmaceutical Technology. 28 July 2021 . 2021-07-28.
  15. Web site: AbbVie hits go on $1B re-upped Calico deal as the Google life science spinout continues I-O, neuro push. Adams. Ben. FierceBiotech. 2021-07-27.
  16. Web site: Broad Institute and Calico announce an extensive collaboration focused on the biology of aging and therapeutic approaches to diseases of aging. 2015-03-17 . Broad Institute . https://web.archive.org/web/20170825102800/https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/broad-institute-and-calico-announce-extensive-collaboration-focused-biology-aging-and . 2017-08-25 . live.
  17. Web site: Google's Calico continues its partnering romp on aging R&D with Buck collaboration. 2015-04-28 . John . Carroll . FierceBiotechResearch.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20150501191747/https://www.fiercebiotechresearch.com/story/googles-calico-continues-its-partnering-romp-aging-rd-buck-collaboration/2015-04-28 . 2015-05-01 . live.
  18. News: Calico and QB3 announce partnership to conduct research into the biology of aging and to identify potential therapeutics for age-related diseases. 6 June 2015. 24 March 2015. 9 May 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170509014927/http://www.calicolabs.com/news/2015/03/24/. dead.
  19. Web site: A collaboration between Google's secretive life-extension spinoff and popular genetics company Ancestry has quietly ended. Brodwin. Erin. Business Insider. 2020-04-22.
  20. The PTPN2/PTPN1 inhibitor ABBV-CLS-484 unleashes potent anti-tumour immunity. Nature. 2023 . 10.1038/s41586-023-06575-7 . Baumgartner . Christina K. . Ebrahimi-Nik . Hakimeh . Iracheta-Vellve . Arvin . Hamel . Keith M. . Olander . Kira E. . Davis . Thomas G. R. . McGuire . Kathleen A. . Halvorsen . Geoff T. . Avila . Omar I. . Patel . Chirag H. . Kim . Sarah Y. . Kammula . Ashwin V. . Muscato . Audrey J. . Halliwill . Kyle . Geda . Prasanthi . Klinge . Kelly L. . Xiong . Zhaoming . Duggan . Ryan . Mu . Liang . Yeary . Mitchell D. . Patti . James C. . Balon . Tyler M. . Mathew . Rebecca . Backus . Carey . Kennedy . Domenick E. . Chen . Angeline . Longenecker . Kenton . Klahn . Joseph T. . Hrusch . Cara L. . Krishnan . Navasona . 622 . 7984 . 850–862 . 37794185 . 10599993 . 2023Natur.622..850B . 1 .
  21. Web site: AbbVie and Calico immunotherapy boosts PD-1 response and tackles T cell exhaustion in mice. Floersh. Helen. FierceBiotech. 2023-10-05.
  22. Web site: Cancer immunotherapy candidate provokes powerful dual response in cancer and immune cells. DiCorato. Allessandra. Broad Institute. 4 October 2023 . 2023-10-05.
  23. Web site: Regalado . Antonio . Google to Try to Solve Death, LOL . MIT Technology Review . September 18, 2013 . January 18, 2024.
  24. Molteni . Megan . The Key to a Long Life Has Little to Do With 'Good Genes' . Wired . November 6, 2018 . January 18, 2024.
  25. Web site: Belluz . Julia . Google is super secretive about its anti-aging research. No one knows why. . Vox . April 27, 2017 . January 18, 2024.
  26. Web site: Langley . Hugh . Dodge . Blake . Alphabet's age-fighting bet Calico has been quiet for years, but it's hiring. Here are all the jobs open at the secretive biotech firm. . Business Insider . January 22, 2021 . January 18, 2024.

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