In 1923, average life expectancy was 54 years.
In 2023, it is 74.
By 2033, 120 years or more of healthy life span may be possible with Maxwell’s Claromer® technology.
Extending Health Span
Reversing aging
has already been done.
There is something our bodies make when we are young that is depleted as we age.
Mouse experiments prove that replacing these vital blood factors reliably reverses many of the symptoms of the aging process (wrinkles, gray hair, immune function, memory, energy).
Read on to follow our years of studies and experiments to determine what those key factors are, and how we are developing affordable new technologies to create health for the world.
Something in Blood Creates Health
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A Strange Experiment
It all began with a seemingly miraculous study published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, in which an old mouse and a young mouse are connected together to that their skin shares blood through the tiniest capillaries.
This allows the mice to exchange only the smallest of blood molecules - called peptides - with each other.
Guess what happens?
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The Old Mouse Gets Younger
The old mouse starts off with the typical signs of aging:
- High inflammation
- Weak antimicrobial immune function
- Weak apoptosis
- Slow stem cell recruitment
- Weak angiogenesis
- Weak skin (wrinkles).Then, over a period of days, all the signs of aging reverse and the weak systems all become strong.
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How?
The most compelling mystery of all. This question became our obsession. If aging - the creeping process of death - is in the blood as the study seems to imply, then it’s possible to solve this problem. This means we could restore health to not just in our elders but to the chronically ill at any age. Solving this mystery is literally the Holy Grail of the health sciences. We believe it a realistic possibility that we have solved it, or at least a portion of it.
Artificial Intelligence Analysis of Blood
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Blood Peptides Data Collection
We gathered all the data we could find comparing old blood versus young blood (mouse and human) and added it into a computational database to try to identify factors in the blood that might be the solution - a safe and affordable drug candidate.
This was a ton of work over two years (2016 - 2018), and took a small army of interns just to enter the data, while database engineers worked to optimize the computational processing.
Could we potentially discover a universal medicine, or the mythical fountain of youth?
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LL-37 as a Candidate Blood Factor
The analysis turned up dozens of interesting blood plasma peptides, but the one that really stood out was LL-37. This delicate peptide dissapears very quickly in human blood. So, it was difficult to track.
We saw signs of it everywhere though. It helps young people form their bodies, regulates inflammation, strengthens key tissues, is expressed everywhere, is perhaps the most important antimicrobial peptide, and decreases with age. In fact, when it drops below a key level in sick people, it means nearly certain death.
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Gene Expression Analysis
Separately, we heard about a nutritional therapy that was helping with Alzheimer’s dementia, called MEND or the “Bredesen Protocol.” We cataloged the gene expression associated with the nutritional supplements used in that successful therapy.
Confirming our earlier work, we saw LL-37 expression is up regulated by healthy nutrition, exercise and a strong gut microbiome: the well known health span drivers of healthy aging.
It seemed we had found our optimal candidate therapeutic to begin developing as a potential drug.
A Synthetic Immune System
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LL-37 Coordinates Healing
Healing is a complex process and LL-37 is like the conductor for the healing orchestra. It coordinates almost every aspect of healing, including killing viruses, bacteria and fungi - all while directing new blood vessel growth, controlling inflammation and inviting new stem cells to the region. Without enough LL-37 to heal, aging happens.
Signs of LL-37 were also highly correlated to the mouse studies we observed in the literature, and were confirmed in the studies we read about systemic and localized tissue healing in hospital patients. In fact, studies of sepsis patients show that if LL-37 in the blood drops too far, that patient is likely to die.
What if we could find a way to beef up something like LL-37 in those patients to save their lives?
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A Possible Super Drug, But...
LL-37 could be the perfect super drug able to help with healing all kinds of diseases, especially chronic disease and life threatening infections. However, LL-37 dissapears quickly - cut apart or “cleaved” by protease enzymes produced by microbes, viruses, and your own body. Our co-founder invented a way to stabilize it, and make it even safer using a smaller, stable molecule structure.
So, we are developing a new technology platform we named The Claromer® Drug Discovery Platform that mimics LL-37, as a stable and predictable small molecule, and it is even better than LL-37 at fighting every infection we know of. A potential replacement for almost all antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals - and it may help with healthy aging as well.
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The Claromer® Drug Platform
We benefitted from a DARPA-funded project called “A Synthetic Immune System” and Claromers are something like that. They are stable, small molecule mimics of LL-37 because they have a nitrogen-centric structure which is highly biostable and makes highly predictable drug candidates (as the horizontal blue line on at the top of the image shows).
This futuristic technology gives us the stability and reduced risk profile characteristic of a typical small molecule with many of the broad spectrum, anti-inflammatory healing properties of the natural LL-37 immune system peptides - something like a synthetic immune system. Truly next generation anti-infectives potentially capable of saving millions of lives - not just in the next pandemic - but right now.
Human Trials Coming Soon
Our lead drug candidate, MXB-22,510 accurately mimics LL-37 and is incredibly broad spectrum vs many pathogens and also has no adverse effect on the human gut microbiome. We look forward to moving into human trials in 2024.
“Our vision is to create health for the world, safely and affordably.”
J. Scotch McClure, CEO and Founder
As we step into leading humanity's battle against infectious diseases, it's hard not to feel inspired by human resilience and inventiveness.
Once, humans lived at the mercy of invisible killers. Microbes like bacteria, fungi, and even smaller viruses—they claimed lives, shaped societies, and marred our perception of what it meant to lead a healthy life. However, as we developed technology to see and act in the microscopic world, we unlocked longer life spans that made the modern era possible.
Washing hands - defined modern life span
The humble act of scrubbing with soap and water is a fundamental revolution in longevity. The ripple effects are profound, ranging from reduced effects of common pandemics like the flu to the prevention of life-threatening diseases like cholera. It’s an everyday act of defiance, a daily reaffirmation of our commitment to safeguard our health, our lives, and the lives of our loved ones.
Antibiotics - A New Day Coming to An End
And then, a new era dawned with the discovery of antibiotics. This miracle of medicine promised—and delivered—a way to fight back against bacterial infections that once were death sentences. Pneumonia, tuberculosis, septicemia—these killers were disarmed, their power curtailed by these powerful drugs. The once formidable enemy was held at bay, life expectancy surged, and a new age of human health dawned. Unfortunately, the sun is setting on antibiotics’ usefulness as antibiotic drug resistance is accelerating all over the globe.
Mimicry of the Immune System - A Giant Leap Forward
We have come far in our journey, mastering tools and technologies to safeguard our health, lengthening our lives, and lifting our living standards. But the journey doesn't end here. We continue to build visionary technologies. It is a continuous struggle, a testament to our resilience, our ability to adapt, to learn, and to overcome. And as we stand on the shoulders of these great innovations, this past pandemic and accelerating antimicrobial resistance show us that we need to be better equipped than ever to face the challenges of the future, forever pushing forward in our quest for longer, healthier lives. One day soon, perhaps mimicry of the immune system will be counted as one of humanity’s greatest advancements in healthy lifespan.