For Beijing-based METiS TechBio CEO Lai Tsai-ta, ageing is comparable to bugs building up in a complex software system – it happens once errors begin to accumulate in the genetic code of human cells, such as their DNA sequences.
“Those errors can be reprogrammed. It becomes possible to use AI to read, rewrite and reverse cells, or at least slow the ageing process,” Lai said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
The process could begin by fixing “immune cells, such as T cells, as their function declines after old age. That is why older people become more susceptible to cancer and all kinds of disease,” he added.
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Eyeing the growing longevity market, the six-year-old start-up uses AI algorithms to design nano-delivery platforms capable of delivering drug payloads into specific cells and organs. The company raised US$269.5 million from its initial public offering in Hong Kong on May 13. Cornerstone investors included BlackRock and UBS Asset Management Singapore, which subscribed a combined US$148 million.
Cellular reprogramming has become one of the most ambitious and hotly contested frontiers in longevity science as AI accelerates how biotech firms model human biology and discover life-extending therapies through pharmaceutical research and health and wellness programmes.
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Although the field is still in the early stages of development, advances have been made quickly. The United States is currently the global leader in cellular reprogramming for anti-ageing and longevity, driven by massive, multibillion-dollar private investments and research and development.
It also accounts for 57 per cent of all global longevity companies and 84 per cent of total deal volume, according to a report published by Longevity Technology in 2024. Global investment in the sector amounted to US$8.49 billion, it said.
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