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Boston Globe
12-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Boston scientists join $81m quest to extend human healthspan
Americans are living longer than in generations past, yet those gains have not translated to longer, healthy lives, as But an unusual competition is aiming to change that with a goal of dramatically extending the number of our healthy years — known as our healthspan. An $81 million grand prize is up for grabs to the researchers who add two decades to our healthspan by restoring lost muscle mass, cognitive ability and immune function in people ages 50 to 80. Two Massachusetts teams have made it to the competition's semi-finals, a list that includes 40 teams worldwide, with 19 based in the United States. Now comes the hard part: semifinalists must, in the next year, demonstrate they're ready to test their intervention on people. Advertisement 'There's the divide from going from the lab to testing in real life, on living, breathing people. It's not just a small bridge that has to be overcome, it's like the Grand Canyon,' said Jamie Justice, a top executive at the The hurdles in this challenge are considerable. Americans, on average, spend Advertisement The growing gap between life and health spans around the world has fueled a That interest is reflected in the sheer number of teams that entered the competition — more than 600 across 58 countries — and the diverse array of proposed interventions to reverse the ravages of aging, from methods to bolster the immune system, tamp down inflammation, fire up the body's system of breaking down and reusing old cells, and more. Winners must come up with a drug, a device, a therapy, or a combination of approaches. A team from Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of the two semifinalists from Massachusetts, aims to use a GLP-1 medication similar to wildly popular weight loss drugs such as Ozempic. A growing number of studies suggest this class of drug can improve multiple age-related conditions linked to obesity such as diabetes and heart disease, and perhaps certain cancers. 'It's been linked now to a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease and dementia, all kinds of outcomes,' said Adds Dr. Shalender Bhasin, director of the Brigham's Boston Claude Pepper Aging Research Center and the co-lead researcher: GLP-1 drugs are 'an attractive candidate because they have been used in tens of thousands of people now. So we have a good safety record.' The medications, however, have never been tested for their effect on delaying the onset of a person's first age-related disorder. Federal regulators require medications to target a specific disease to be approved, yet Advertisement Part of the XPRIZE challenge requires teams to show by using a biomarker test, such as a blood sample, that their approach actually improves muscle mass, cognitive function, and immune function, in addition to other potential improvements that may be more readily apparent. The Brigham team plans to tap 300 to 400 participants who are overweight for their trial, which will deliver a low dose of the medication. The other Massachusetts semifinalist is Stealth is proposing to use an experimental drug called Elamipretide, a molecule that targets the mitochondria. David A. Brown, the company's senior vice president and team leader for the XPRIZE challenge, said a small trial the company conducted to test the molecule's effectiveness showed it preserved a layer of the retina that's rich with mitochondria in older adults with macular degeneration, an age-related disease that affects vision. 'The fact that the decline in vision is often accompanied by mitochondrial dysfunction, the fact that we saw such encouraging signs in older individuals, just provided further fuel to our fire that this really could be something here to improve the healthspan in older individuals,' Brown said. David A. Brown, Senior Vice President of Discovery at Stealth BioTherapeutics of Needham. He leads a team of scientists that made the semi-finals in the XPRIZE Stealth BioTherapeutics Another small study that involved one injection of Elamipretide in older adults appeared to strengthen the muscles in their hands, an area that often becomes weaker with age. Advertisement 'Lots of independent investigators have studied this molecule with probably over 150 peer-reviewed publications,' Brown said. The company Each semi-finalist team receives $250,000 to help defray costs for this next round, but XPRIZE administrators acknowledge many will need to secure additional funding, which could be a problem, particularly in the US, where numerous researchers have experienced significant Semi-finalists need to demonstrate their ability to secure necessary regulatory approvals to conduct a trial, which is often time-consuming. They must also prove their ability to recruit participants. By 2026, only 10 finalists will remain, each receiving $1 million to move into full-scale human trials. In that round, the trials must include at least 100 participants for one year. XPRIZE judges will be paying close attention to whether the proposed drug or other type of intervention would be easily accessible to most people. 'The solution might be great, but maybe it's only achievable for one person, either that or it's too risky or too expensive, or any other barriers,' said Justice, the XPRIZE executive vice president. 'The judges want to make sure that any of the therapeutics to get advanced actually have a chance of making public good.' The competition is slated to conclude in 2030. But what happens if no team meets that ultimate goal? That's happened a few times in the XPRIZE'S 30-year history of challenges, including last year for a competition that aimed to ease world hunger and the food industry's strain on climate by requiring researchers to recreate fish and meat alternatives. Judges determined the closest entries hit most of the requirements, including a reasonable taste, but missed recreating an acceptable texture. No prize was awarded. Advertisement 'Because of the relationships we're building with our sponsors, we don't foresee that,' Justice said. 'But at the same time, it's not going to be a gimme. Even to get to where the judges might say this has merit, the teams really do have to have something they can demonstrate that's an innovation beyond what we have available now.' Kay Lazar can be reached at
Mint
05-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
US yields rise modestly after solid services sector data
US ISM services sector data shows prices paid at two-year high US yield curve steepens post-ISM services data Treasury's three-year note sale comes in better than expected Bessent says 17 trading partners have very good proposals (Adds comment, Bessent remarks, results of three-year note auction, graphic; updates prices) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were marginally higher on Monday, after data showed that the services sector in the world's largest economy remained resilient last month, with prices paid, an inflation gauge, hitting a two-year high. Volume was lighter than usual, with financial markets closed in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and mainland China. The U.S. services sector report, meanwhile, reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will take its time in cutting interest rates amid signs of firmer inflation. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Monday its nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) increased to 51.6 last month from 50.8 in March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the services PMI dipping to 50.2. The survey's measure of prices paid for services inputs jumped to 65.1, the highest reading since January 2023 and followed 60.9 in March. Treasury yields, however, briefly pared gains after the U.S. three-year note auction came out well-received. The note was priced at a yield that was lower than expectations, suggesting there was enough demand to absorb the $58 billion issuance. In afternoon trading, the benchmark 10-year yield was last up 1.9 basis points (bps) at 4.339%. On the short end of the curve, the two-year yield was marginally higher at 3.843%. It was trading lower before the data. "Bond yields rose in reaction to the ISM Services print partially due to the stronger-than-expected headline index, but also because higher prices paid means the Fed is more likely to remain on the sidelines for longer," wrote Will Compernolle, macro strategist at FHN Financial, in emailed comments. The U.S. yield curve steepened following the ISM data, with the spread between two-year and 10-year yields at 49.9 bps , compared with 48.4 bps late on Friday. The current curve is described as a "bear steepener," in which long-term interest rates are rising more quickly than those on the short end. This often happens when inflation expectations pick up. "There is no direction in Treasuries for now until we see tariffs showing up on hard data, or some policy changes out of Washington," said Stan Shipley, fixed income strategist, at Evercore ISI. Treasuries, meanwhile, showed little reaction to upbeat comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday. He said President Donald Trump's tariff, tax-cut and deregulation agenda would work together to drive long-term investment to the U.S. economy. excluding China have presented "very good trade proposals," adding that the U.S. government is "very close" to some tariff deals. AUCTIONS UNDERWAY THIS WEEK Outside of the ISM data impact, the market overall struggled for direction as Treasury auctions got underway this week, once again testing demand for U.S. government debt. The Treasury on Monday sold U.S. three-year notes and the outcome was solid. The high yield was 3.824%, lower than the expected rate at the bid deadline, suggesting sufficient demand. There were $148.3 billion in bids for a 2.56 bid-to-cover ratio, another measure of investor appetite, slightly higher than last month's 2.47, but lower than the 2.60 average. Post-auction, the U.S. three-year yield was little changed at 3.816%. Treasury will next auction $42 billion in 10-year notes on Tuesday, and $25 billion in 30-year bonds on Thursday. Investors, however, were more focused on the U.S. 10-year note sale as they remain on the lookout for signs of diminishing demand for Treasuries. "Our expectations are that the (10-year) auction will be well sponsored by both domestic and overseas participants, is still too early in the trade war to expect a meaningful rotation away from Treasuries as a reserve asset," wrote Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital in a research note. Monday's generally lackluster trading also comes ahead of the Fed's two-day monetary policy meeting, when it is expected to hold interest rates steady in the 4.25%-4.50% range. A solid U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for April released last Friday also gave the Fed some breathing room to stay patient with interest rates. The benchmark federal funds futures market has priced in a more than 70% chance that the U.S. central bank will resume cutting rates at the July policy meeting, LSEG calculations showed. Overall, the market expects about 77 bps of easing this year. In other maturities, U.S. 30-year bond yields were up 3.6 bps at 4.831%. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Will Dunham and Andrea Ricci) First Published: 6 May 2025, 01:42 AM IST
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Futures dip as markets weigh trade risks, Nvidia down before results
(Adds dropped word "the' in paragraph 3) (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Tuesday, led by weakness across chip companies and megacaps, as investors digested fresh tariff comments from President Donald Trump and Nvidia dropped 1.5% a day ahead of its keenly awaited results. At 05:31 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 28 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 12.5 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 81.25 points, or 0.38%. Investors assessed a report that the U.S. was planning to further restrict the quantity and types of Nvidia chips that can be exported to China without a license. The report also said Washington was consulting with allies including Japan and the Netherlands regarding chip controls over China. Other semiconductor stocks in the red included Broadcom, down 0.8%, and Advanced Micro Devices, down 0.9%. Chip gear makers Lam Research and Applied Materials also declined 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively. Nvidia's results on Wednesday will be key for the sector, at a time when investors are questioning the industry's hefty spending on AI after news of low-cost competition from China's DeepSeek rattled markets in January. The S&P 500 technology sector is on track for its biggest monthly decline since April. Also tempering risk-taking, President Trump said late on Monday that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports were "on time and on schedule", ahead of a March 4 deadline. The U.S. and China are already in a trade war. Trump also signed an order over the weekend to restrict Chinese investments in strategic areas including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology and aerospace. Along with the potential global impact of these tariffs, investors are also wary about signs that the U.S. economy is stalling and Federal Reserve caution around cutting interest rates further. Wall Street's three main indexes are poised for declines in 2025. Interest rate futures currently point to a cut of 25 basis points in July and traders are pricing in another reduction before the end of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG. On the data front, the Conference Board's gauge for consumer confidence is due at 10 a.m. ET, days after the University of Michigan's index showed consumer sentiment deteriorating. Late on Monday, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the Fed needs more clarity on the total economic impact of the Trump administration's new policies before it can act. Markets will also hear perspectives from policymakers Lorie Logan, Thomas Barkin and Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr through the day. Crypto stocks also fell, with Coinbase down 6% and MicroStrategy down 6.9% tracking bitcoin prices that touched a more than three-month low. Chegg slumped 23% after the education company said it was considering a sale or take-private deal as Alphabet's Google internet search engine was eroding demand for original content. Zoom Communications lost 2.9% after forecasting annual revenue below estimates, while U.S.-listed shares of Li Auto jumped 15% after unveiling its first electric SUV i8. (This story has been refiled to add dropped word 'the' in paragraph 3) Sign in to access your portfolio
