Unity Biotechnology wants to create drugs that either slow, halt or even in some cases reverse specific diseases of aging, CEO Keith Leonard told CNBC on Thursday.
In fact, he believes the company can “absolutely” do it.
“The evidence is mounting, both in our company and outside, that you can intervene and you can change the course of these specific diseases,” Leonard said on “Power Lunch.”
The company targeting a “powerful biology” called cellular senescence, which is the aging of an individual cell and how it affects disease.
There is already a phase one trial underway for osteoarthritis, which Leonard hopes to have the results for during the first quarter of next year.
Other diseases that could be eventually treated include the loss of cardiac and pulmonary function, as well as congitive and vision function — “things we have come to accept as part of the normal course of aging,” he said.
Leonard’s comments caused the stock to soar almost 18 percent before trading was halted for volatility. After trading resumed a short time later, Unity Biotech shed some of those gains. It was up about 8 percent in mid-afternoon trading.
