1/ Not David Sinclair's first. In 2008, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquired Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for $720 million , betting heavily on small-molecule activators of SIRT1 (such as resveratrol, SRT1720, and SRT1460) as groundbreaking mimetics for calorie restriction and longevity. However, competing teams from Amgen and Pfizer quickly threw down a biochemical gauntlet, proving that the original screening data was an illusion
2/ The initial screens utilized a commercial fluorescent peptide substrate (Fluor de Lys). Independent labs demonstrated that the compounds did not actually interact with native SIRT1. Instead, they bound specifically to the artificial hydrophobic fluorophore tag on the peptide substrate, falsely amplifying deacetylase activity in vitro. When tested against native, untagged physiological substrates (like p53 or PGC-alpha), the therapeutic activation completely vanished.
@demishassabis Promise clinical trials → miss the date → redefine what "clinical" meant → raise $2.1 billion announcing the "turbocharging" of the mission.
@demishassabis@IsomorphicLabs@IsomorphicLabs built / is building extraordinarily hypotheses generators . But it is announcing it as medicine. And $2.1 B attached to it makes it a dangerous one.