Unity Biotechnology, Inc. is a publicly traded American biotechnology company that develops drugs that target senescent cells.[1][2][3][4][5]
History
Unity BioTechnologies, a company backed by Jeff Bezos and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel,[6] was co-founded in March 2009 by Nathaniel David, Jan Van Deursen, Judith Campisi, and Daohong Zhou.[7]
The company was founded under the name Forge, Inc., but changed its name to Unity BioTechnologies in January 2015.[8]
Anirvan Ghosh joined Unity in 2020 as the company’s CEO. That same year, Nathaniel stepped down as president but remained a member of the board.[9]
On May 3, 2018, the company went public on the Nasdaq exchange, raising $85 million at a market capitalization of $700 million.[10][11] Unity Biotechnology shares dropped 60% on August 17, 2020, after the company reported disappointing results from a clinical trial involving its then lead drug candidate, UBX0101, in patients with moderate-to-severe painful osteoarthritis.[12]
Products
The company's products in development include UBX1325, which targets Bcl-xL, a mechanism to eliminate senescent cells in age-related eye diseases (in Phase 2 clinical trials for diabetic macular edema as of October 2023).[13] In July 2022, the company reported positive results from its Phase 1 study.[14] In April 2023, the company then reported results from its Phase 2 study demonstrating that a single injection of UBX1325 resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in vision through 48 weeks.[15] They also include UBX 1967, a preclinical product targeting ophthalmologic diseases.[16][11][17] Both products are senolytic medicines.
