Hevolution Foundation leads global efforts to extend human healthspan and longevity

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Hevolution Foundation has announced ambitious policies and projects to ensure healthy living for humans for a longer period of time and to increase longevity amid growing concerns about the total number of humans above the age of 60 exceeding two billion by the year 2050. The foundation also aims to foster new discoveries and contribute to the ongoing research in the rapidly advancing science of aging to advance global human healthspan.

This was revealed by Dr. Mahood Khan, chief executive officer of Hevolution Foundation, at a luncheon press meeting in Il Baretto Restaurant, Riyadh, recently. Hevolution Foundation is a premier non-profit organization established by a Saudi royal order with a mandate to foster local talent and drive global innovation in healthspan science. A large number of local journalists and top executives of Hevolution Foundation attended the press conference.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Khan gave an overview of the operation of the foundation and said that “the foundation is the first-of-its-kind global non-profit organization that provides grants and early-stage funds to incentivize independent research and entrepreneurship in the field of longevity and healthspan science.” He pointed out that the foundation’s healthspan research grants and early-stage biotech investments now total more than $400 million.

Hevolution Foundation has disbursed grants among several local and international companies and institutions as the world’s largest philanthropic geroscience funder and investor. Some grant recipients include King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, as well as leading global institutions like Buck Institute, Northwestern, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Harvard, and MIT.

Spelling out the mandate and objectives of Hevolution Foundation, Dr. Khan said that “the organization is funding pioneering research and early-stage investments to catalyze advancements in extending healthy human lifespan and understanding the processes of aging.” “Hevolution aims to increase the number of safe and effective treatments entering the market, compress the timeline of drug development using the latest tools and technologies, and most importantly, increase accessibility to healthspan therapeutics for all humanity,” he added.

“Leveraging its annual budget of up to SR4 billion, Hevolution is committed to increasing the number of geroscience researchers globally, expanding the number of companies working in the field and attracting funding to this vital area of science,” said Dr. Khan, while referring to the grant of SR10.1 million to create the first cohort of aging researchers. He said that the foundation has also allocated a fund of SR18 million to support up to 15 postdoctoral fellowships to advance the careers of early-stage scientists in Saudi Arabia and the GCC region.

The Hevolution chief further said that an SR 75.7 million grant had been made available to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, while SR121 million has been allocated to Northwestern University in Illinois for research focused on defining healthy proteostasis and maintaining proteostasis in a robust, resilient state. To this end, Dr Khan noted that geroscience and healthspan science are critically underfunded, which is why Hevolution is stepping up efforts to bridge this gap.

Referring to the mandate of the Hevolution Foundation, Dr. Khan said that the foundation is exerting all efforts to bring together the best experts from around the world to solve humanity’s most pressing challenge of unhealthy aging. “Hevolution is proud to be the world’s largest philanthropic funder of geroscience and, following the success of our first Global Health Summit in 2023 and the next summit planned for February 2025, we look forward to continuing the shift from lifespan to healthspan,” said Foundation Chief Executive Officer Dr. Khan.

“While the average lifespan in Saudi Arabia is about 74 years, the average health span is 64 years–a decade-long gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy–and many are living the final years of their lives in poor health,” observed Dr Khan. He said that the foundation is working to address the underlying causes of aging to help prevent the onset of age-related diseases and extend a healthy human lifespan. “With the Kingdom’s National Biotechnology Strategy – which Hevolution made vital inputs into–Saudi Arabia is innovating in health,” said Hevolution Foundation Vice President of Research Dr. Haya Bint Khaled Bin Bandar Al Saud.

Dr. Haya said, “Saudi Arabia is at a perfect moment in time to outpace future demographic challenges by investing in healthy longevity now, and to lead world in addressing age-related diseases for the benefit of all humanity.” As humans live longer, many will continue to work well past the traditional retirement age for various reasons like money, enjoyment at work, and social connection that work provides. In this context, older workers add significant value to the economy by increasing productivity and contributing to innovation.

Launched in 2021, Hevolution Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides grants and early-stage investments to incentivize independent research and entrepreneurship in the emerging field of healthspan science. With a focus on aging as a treatable process, Hevolution aims to increase the number of aging-related treatments on the market, compress the timeline of drug development, and increase accessibility to therapeutics that extend healthy lifespan. Hevolution is headquartered in Riyadh, with a North American hub in Boston, and plans to expand to other global locations. – INDIA NEWS STREAM