The Coinbase Guy Wants to Make Your Liver 20 Years Younger

The catalyst? CEO Jacob Kimmel (a computational biologist who co-founded the company alongside Armstrong and former Google Ventures partner Blake Byers) reportedly said a compound "jumped out" of their data sooner than anyone expected, accelerating the timeline toward human trials.

Livers First, Immortality Later

NewLimit isn't trying to cure "aging" as its first act. That would be a regulatory nightmare, since the FDA doesn't recognize aging itself as a treatable condition. Instead, the company is going after alcohol-related liver disease, framing it as a case of accelerated aging in a specific organ.

The preclinical data is intriguing. In animal models, NewLimit's transcription factor cocktails helped old liver cells regain their ability to process fat and alcohol. Old mice given the treatment handled booze more like their younger counterparts. (College students everywhere just perked up.)

The plan is to start a phase 1 clinical trial (a first-in-human safety test) next year, initially in patients with alcohol-related liver disease. The delivery method: monthly IV infusions, with a long-term goal of less frequent dosing.

Beyond the liver, NewLimit has two more programs in early preclinical work. One targets T cells (key players in your immune system that weaken with age), and another focuses on endothelial cells (the lining of your blood vessels). Chronic kidney disease is on the radar as a potential vascular application.

Where NewLimit Fits in the Longevity Gold Rush

The anti-aging biotech space has attracted enormous capital in recent years, but it's been concentrated in a few headline-grabbing bets. Altos Labs launched with a staggering $3 billion back in 2022. Retro Biosciences, backed heavily by Sam Altman, raised $1 billion in a single Series A in early 2025.

NewLimit's $435 million doesn't match those numbers, but it lands in rarefied air. For context, BioAge Labs' $170 million Series D was the largest longevity-focused venture round of 2024. NewLimit's raise is more than double that.

The investor composition also tells a story about where longevity is headed. This isn't just tech billionaires playing with house money anymore. The presence of Eli Lilly Ventures alongside pure tech investors like Thrive Capital suggests the longevity space is inching toward pharmaceutical legitimacy.

The Elephant in the (Very Expensive) Room

For all the excitement, the risk here is real and worth staring at directly. NewLimit is valued at $3.1 billion with zero approved products and zero completed human trials. The entire field of epigenetic reprogramming, while scientifically compelling, has never produced a single therapy that's been tested and proven in people.

The core challenge is precision. Reprogramming factors are powerful tools; they can literally turn an adult cell back into an embryonic-like stem cell. That's what the famous Yamanaka factors (a set of four proteins discovered in 2006) do. But go too far with reprogramming and cells lose their identity entirely. Worse, they can become cancerous. NewLimit's whole bet is that it can find the sweet spot: enough reprogramming to rejuvenate, not so much that things go sideways.

Mouse data has been encouraging. One study using a related approach (three of the four Yamanaka factors delivered via gene therapy) showed a 109% increase in median remaining lifespan in very old mice. Epigenetic clocks confirmed their heart and liver tissue looked younger. But mice are not people. The history of drug development is littered with therapies that worked beautifully in rodents and face-planted in human trials.

So What Should You Actually Think?

NewLimit is one of the most interesting bets in biotech right now, precisely because the upside is so enormous and the risk is so high. If epigenetic reprogramming works in humans the way it works in mice, the implications go far beyond liver disease.

The next 18 to 24 months will be defining. Phase 1 data from the liver program will either validate the thesis or send investors scrambling. There's very little middle ground when you're trying to reverse aging in a human organ for the first time.

NewLimit has the money, the team, and the scientific foundation to take a credible shot. Whether biology cooperates is the $3.1 billion question.

One Shot to Silence a Gene Forever

Intellia just delivered the first successful Phase 3 trial for an in vivo CRISPR therapy, cutting hereditary angioedema attacks by 87% with a single infusion. The results could reshape how we think about treating genetic diseases forever.