“Healthspan” refers to the years of life spent in good or great health and free from serious diseases or disabilities. An established body of evidence shows that nutrition, sleep, physical activity, appropriate stress levels, social connection, and a conducive environment allow people to live more years in good health and improve their overall longevity. Now, innovators are investigating complementary biomedical tools intended to help people remain healthy for longer. The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) has extensively examined the drivers that increase healthspan, with particular deep dives on the focus areas of brain health, metabolic health, and women’s health. This specific report will not look at behavioral or ecosystem drivers of health and instead focus entirely on biomedical innovation targeting biological aging processes—which could have implications for many angles of human health, including these areas.
Healthspan science,1 which focuses on biomedical innovations that target the biological aging process and contribute to healthy longevity, is a fast-growing field. The five-year average for investment quadrupled in the past decade, and clinical trial initiation has grown 27 percent over five years, leading to a pipeline of several hundred drug candidates.2 The field is expected to continue growing, but there is no consensus on when biomedical innovations that can meaningfully target fundamental aging processes are likely to emerge.
Improved healthspans could have enormous benefits on society. Age-related diseases—including cancers, neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, and musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis—account for more than 600 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)3 annually, or one-third of the total global burden of disease.4 Addressing half of this burden could lead to fewer early deaths and less time spent in poor health, and it could translate to as much as about $2 trillion5 in annual GDP uplift due to increased employment from an expanded adult workforce. The potential to enable people to live healthier for longer through new tools is more relevant now as societies look to address shifting demographics, lower birth rates, and smaller dependency ratios, which are putting social security and health systems at risk.6
To accelerate progress in healthspan science and realize the potential benefits these innovations could have on society, the field could advance efforts across seven dimensions:
- Field definition and perception. Stakeholders can align with one another to establish a narrative focused on healthspan that helps convey measured optimism and is fully backed by science.
- Fundamental understanding of aging biology. Stakeholders can orchestrate a global research agenda that focuses on areas with the most potential and determines how to accelerate them. This research can be supported by AI, machine learning (ML), and comprehensive data sets.
- Biomarker consensus. Stakeholders could build a consensus on which priority biomarkers could serve as surrogate endpoints for clinical trials to benchmark interventions.
- Translation and clinical development. Healthspan science needs more clinical-development expertise. Embedding AI and cutting-edge R&D approaches, such as AI-driven iterative testing systems, innovative trial design, and “reverse translating” by making biospecimens and data from trials available to basic scientists can enable discoveries of new clinical targets and the underlying causes of age-related diseases.
- Regulatory pathways. Healthspan-related therapies need a new or existing chartered approval path to enable populations to access safe and effective innovative solutions.
- Derisked investment. Research funders, pharmaceutical companies, and blue-chip life science investors could work alongside venture capitalists and high-net-worth-individuals or philanthropists to provide expertise, scale, and stability.
- Evidence-based practice and talent. Stakeholders can help develop practitioner talent globally, including healthspan-oriented clinicians and researchers as well as among academic leaders (e.g., university presidents, deans, health system CEO’s), to facilitate clinical development and public access to innovative healthspan interventions.
Of course, progress on biomedical tools should not reduce the focus on better addressing and refining potential lifestyle drivers of healthspan, such as sleep, exercise, stress, and nutrition. These should continue to be explored in conjunction with any emerging tools.
It’s worth asking whether now is the right time for a broader set of stakeholders to invest in healthspan science. On the one hand, the potential is large; on the other hand, there are uncertainties that are difficult for any individual player to manage. Concerted action and coalitions across sectors could be the most effective way to advance the field. Each stakeholder could contribute its unique capabilities—for example, the development expertise of pharmaceutical companies; the innovation capabilities and agility of biotech companies; the training and research capabilities of universities and hospitals; the scale and experience of traditional life sciences investors; the policy, regulatory, and funding roles of government; and the financial resources that philanthropists and foundations can access.
Moreover, technology companies can advance AI and data capabilities in the field, and payers can provide commercial models while stewarding the population health impact of interventions. The public can also have a voice in the field—consumers are becoming increasingly interested in markets related to healthy longevity, such as supplements and health-related wearables.
To get started, cross-stakeholder collaboration could address specific themes, potentially under the umbrella of an acceleration coalition. For example, blended finance can scale investment in healthspan science by improving risk profiles for investors. A global data collaboration could help develop and connect data sets to establish fit-for-purpose endpoints and signal-seeking trials on the interventions with the most potential.
Mainstream life sciences investors, governments (including regulators), research funders, media outlets, ethicists, and the public have an opportunity to better understand healthspan science, realize the concrete benefits of investing in the field, and prepare for a possible future in which biomedical interventions will have a meaningful impact on the aging process and the multiple disorders and diseases linked to fundamental aging mechanisms.
This report is intended to initiate a conversation on the potential choices ahead, bringing together stakeholders within the field and those currently outside. All have roles to play, and all stand to benefit from investing in healthy longevity.
Concerted action and coalitions across sectors are likely the most effective way to advance healthspan science. This entails bringing together mainstream life sciences investors, governments, research funders, media outlets, ethicists, and the public to better understand the field and realize the concrete benefits of investing in healthspan science. The McKinsey Health Institute is excited to engage in debates on the themes in this report. Moving forward, all stakeholders have roles to play, and in turn all stand to benefit from advances in healthspan science.
To read the full report, click here.
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