It’s not unusual for new startups to be stealthy for a period while they get going, but there’s usually some public statement with specific details about the technology or science being developed, strategies and targets. Calico only offers the public the vaguest details about what they’re doing
But these values have somehow eluded Calico.įor now, I think it’s safe to say Google has not solved aging. And we’re living in a time when the norms in science, particularly biomedical science, are centered around openness and data sharing. Google also prides itself for being a leader on transparency and for its open culture. One of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world has taken an interest in aging research, with about as much funding as NIH’s entire budget for aging research, yet it’s remarkably opaque.
We should pause for a moment to note how strange this is. People who work at Calico, Calico’s outside collaborators, and even folks who were no longer with the company, stonewalled me. The media contacts there didn’t so much as respond to multiple requests for interviews. Among the little more than a dozen press releases Calico has put out, there were only broad descriptions of collaborations with outside labs and pharmaceutical companies - most of them focused on that overwhelmingly vague mission of researching aging and associated diseases. I asked everyone I could about Calico - and quickly learned that it’s an impenetrable fortress. I recently started poking around in Silicon Valley and talking to researchers who study aging and mortality, and discovered that four years after its launch, we still don’t know what Calico is doing.
“We should shoot for the things that are really, really important, so 10 or 20 years from now we have those things done,” Google CEO Larry Page told Time.īut how exactly would Calico help humans live longer, healthier lives? How would it invest its vast $1.5 billion pool of money? Beyond sharing the company’s ambitious mission - to better understand the biology of aging and treat aging as a disease - Page was vague.
#CALICO COMPANY HOW TO#
Death about Calico, a then-new Google-run health venture focused on understanding aging - and how to beat it. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.In 2013, Time magazine ran a cover story titled Google vs. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple, said: “For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking.
We’re delighted he’ll stay on our board.” Larry’s focus on outsized improvements has inspired me, and I’m tremendously excited about what’s next.”Īrt Levinson will remain Chairman of Genentech and a director of Hoffmann-La Roche, as well as Chairman of Apple.Ĭommenting on Art’s new role, Franz Humer, Chairman of Hoffmann-La Roche, said: “Art’s track record at Genentech has been exemplary, and we see an interesting potential for our companies to work together going forward. It’s impossible to imagine anyone better than Art-one of the leading scientists, entrepreneurs and CEOs of our generation-to take this new venture forward.” Art said: “I’ve devoted much of my life to science and technology, with the goal of improving human health. With some longer term, moonshot thinking around healthcare and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives. Levinson, Chairman and former CEO of Genentech and Chairman of Apple, will be Chief Executive Officer and a founding investor.Īnnouncing this new investment, Larry Page, Google CEO said: “Illness and aging affect all our families. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Septem– Google today announced Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases.
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