Google to Break Ground on Life-Prolonging Research Facility

Roughly one year after tendering a founding investment in biotech company Calico, Google is breaking ground on a brand new Bay Area research facility with a lofty life-prolonging aim.

To this end, Calico has also forged a partnership with a Chicago-based biopharmaceutical company called AbbVie, in order to develop drugs that will tackle aging and age-related diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer. A forthcoming state-of-the-art research and development center will house this secretive and vastly experimental work.

Each company will contribute between $250 million and $1.5 billion in funding, according to a press release. The affiliation will call for Google-backed Calico’s far-out findings, spearheaded over the next five years, to be eventually tested for commercial viability by AbbVie. “Both parties will share costs and profits equally,” the companies said.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Related: If You Could, Would You Want to Live Forever? Google Thinks You Might

“Last fall, [Google co-founder] Larry Page and I announced Calico, a new company designed to take the long-term view on aging and illness,” wrote Calico chief executive Arthur Levinson in a Google+ post announcing the collaboration yesterday. “Our goal is to make progress on a very basic challenge: how to help people stay healthier for longer.”

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Levinson, who also serves as Apple's chairman of the board, created Calico alongside Google’s Page, who notably suffers from a rare nerve condition that affects his ability to speak.

Calico is by no means Google’s only stab into the health-care sector. Despite expressing reservations in regards to entering the heavily regulated space, the company has begun collecting anonymous genetic information from 175 volunteers in order to build a perfect model of human health. The Baseline Study, as the project is called, is part of the company’s “moonshot” division, Google X.

Related: Google Wants to Build a Model of Perfect Human Health