Issue #28 — Loyal

9:15 7:15 AM, everyone! Another good day to be had, another problem to be solved, and another issue of Left Field.

This week's problem is one that people — probably most — said was crazy. Too hard to solve. Impossible. But who likes being told what to do? Suggestions, pointers, words of advice? I'm all ears. But tell me something is straight up impossible, and now I'm not sleeping.

I'd like to think this week's founder is the same way.

Because this problem directly involves what arguably gives us the most joy in life. Man's best friend. Your loyal companion. Your ultimate sidekick.

Your dog.

And to name a few off the dome… Chief, Kitty (yes, a dog), Coco, Melo, Ronnie, Gizmo, Shianne, Gracie, Norman, Willie, Bentley, Gertie girl, Astro. We love Astro.

Dogs play an immense role in our lives. They make us laugh, bring us joy, and become our best friends. Unconditional love at its finest.

But their biggest fault? They don't Live Forever.

Well, Loyal is taking that fault head-on by developing a beef-flavored daily pill aimed at slowing down how fast your dog ages.

So load up your dog, grab a tennis ball, and let’s head out to Left Field.

Okay but how

You dig deep. You find the underlying problems that drive aging and slow them down. Simple enough, right? I might need something like that to watch the Bears this year. The Iceman (Caleb Williams) has taken years off my life.

In Loyal’s own words: “improve metabolic health by increasing insulin sensitivity and lowering insulin, both of which are associated with longer lifespans and better health in dogs.”

For those of us who are medically illiterate (myself included), Loyal is building drugs that target the stuff causing your dog to break down in the first place. Fix the source and you can delay the diseases they’ll face later in life.

Loyal has three primary drugs in progress:

Why do big dogs need a different drug? In simple terms, they’re just built different. The hormone that drives their growth doesn’t stop once they’re done growing, which Loyal thinks is a contributor to a shorter life.

But are all of these just lab experiments? A well-funded science project? Nope. Loyal is going through FDA approval for their drugs. Full safety data, full manufacturing data, and a reasonable expectation of effectiveness.

LOY-002 has checked two of the three boxes. Manufacturing is the one left.

The gal who started it

Celine Halioua. Which, if I can start by saying, having a personal website is badass. Always wanted to make Wikipedia pages for my friends. Would be a great bit. But a personal website? Now we're talkin'.

Celine grew up in Austin, Texas. Studied neuroscience and nanobiotechnology at UT Austin, then headed to Oxford to study the health economics of gene therapy. Quite the resume.

She left Oxford to work at The Longevity Fund, which, if you can’t tell by its name, is seriously interested in aging.

That’s where she met Greg Rosen, partner at BoxGroup, who at the time was interested in dog cloning. Celine didn’t know the first thing about cloning, but did know a thing or two about longevity. So how about a dog longevity business? Months later, Greg was the one who eventually convinced her she needed to start a company.

Then Loyal was born. Most investors she pitched to told her the idea wasn’t possible. But six years and $250M+ later, she’s running the largest clinical trial in the history of veterinary medicine.

The honest take

Extending life is hard. Brian Johnson has spent millions going to the extreme of extremes to turn his body into a public science project. Our dogs wouldn't be thrilled if we put them through some extreme diet, which meant they could never have their five-letter word ever again. TREAT.

And none of this is guaranteed. Loyal says so themselves under their FDA approval section: “2/3 major requirements completed. FDA approval not guaranteed.”

Then there’s the question… does it work?

That’s what their STAY trial is for. A double-blind, 1,300-dog trial across the country measuring whether LOY-002 actually works. Half get the drug, half get a placebo, and nobody knows which.

Now, Loyal doesn’t need their trial to finish to sell this. Once they clear the manufacturing section, vets can start prescribing while the study still runs. STAY just backs full approval down the road. So Melo could be on this for years before it’s proven to make him live longer.

But no lifespan extension drug has ever made it this far through the FDA process in history. That's nothing to scoff at for a six-year-old company.

And who wouldn't want to spend extra time with their dog? An easy-to-take beef-flavored pill? That’s 1000% something dog owners would be willing to pay for.

How do I know? Because the summer I tore my ACL.

I injured my knee during an early June summer basketball camp. I complained for months that my knee hurt — while I worked the most physically demanding job of my life, mind you. "Probably just sprained," my mom said. “Put some Topricin on it”. Anyway, later that summer I was playing basketball again and landed on someone's foot. My knee exploded… again.

Turns out I most likely tore it in June. Made it worse throughout the summer. Tore it again in August. There goes senior-year basketball.

Now compare that to the day our dog Norman went down with a heat stroke from playing ball. I’ve never seen my mom panic like that in my life.

Whether my dad knew it or not, a blank check was being written that day (Norman ended up being completely fine).

But the lesson I learned — people love their dogs and are willing to pony up some cash for them. Oh, and by the fourth child, all sense of worry from your parents goes right out the window.

If they pull this off

Your dog gets more healthy years. You get more time with your dog. A win-win.

And zoom out. At its core, Loyal is a longevity business. Specialized in dogs, but a longevity business nonetheless. And you know what happens to you and me? We age.

Running a multi-decade longevity trial on humans may be too expensive, too regulated, and too slow to ever be worth it. But running one on dogs may be a partial solution. They get many of the same age-related diseases we do (cancer, dementia, metabolic decline), but on a shorter clock. Which means those running the study can actually see the results.

And once the door is open for treating the aging of dogs, the obvious next question is why the same can't be true for us.

Want to work out there?

Loyal is hiring, and their roles tell you exactly where their head is. Manufacturing, regulatory, and FP&A roles.

Highlighted role of the week → Director of FP&A:

Open roles → https://loyal.com/careers

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