 |
|
|
|||||
A canine health startup called Loyal has now raised more than $250 million to develop drugs that could help dogsand perhaps one day humanslive longer, healthier lives. The company on February 11 announced it had raised $100 million in Series C funding as it pursues FDA approval of LOY-002, a beef-flavored daily prescription pill designed to extend the healthy lifespan of senior dogs. The drug mimics some of the effects of a calorie-restricted diet in addressing age-related metabolic issues without requiring pet owners to cut their dogs food supply or curbing canine appetites. People do not want their dogs to not have food motivation, because that’s how you train dogs, says Loyal founder and CEO Celine Halioua. How we domesticated dogs was sharing meals with them; losing that can actually really impact the dog-human bond. But, of course, people do want to share that bond longer than the typical canine lifespan allows. Halioua started Loyal in late 2019 after a stint as chief of staff at The Longevity Fund, a lifespan-focused investment fund founded by Laura Deming and an early backer of Loyal. She says she realized that dog longevity drugs could one day lead to similar treatments for humans, since the species are similar in many ways, and are easier to test, since dogs short lives mean tests of lifespan extension can be run in a shorter amount of time. And as a dog lovera recent interview with Fast Company also included Haliouas freshly adopted Rottweiler, Wilmashe also saw the potential market among owners and pets. Celine Halioua [Photo: Loyal] It felt like a really tractable way to work on a problem that everyone cares about, which is having too little time with the dogs you love, she says. LOY-002 is one of three canine longevity medications under development by the company, and Halioua says shes hoping Loyal can submit the final requirement for the FDAs expanded conditional approval of the drug this year. That would likely start a roughly six-month review process of what would be the first FDA-approved lifespan extension drug for any species. And its progress comes as interest rises overall in the potential of developing medical treatments that can help humans as well experience longer and healthier lives. When I started pitching The Longevity Fund in 2013, it was a niche concept and people laughed me out of their offices, Deming tells Fast Company in an email. Now it’s a legitimate category of investment. Loyals Series C backers include Age1, a new longevity-focused VC firm cofounded by Deming and Alex Colville, as well as Baillie Gifford and other existing investors in the company, which had previously raised more than $150 million in investments. LOY-002 is Loyal’s lead drug program, developed to extend lifespan in senior dogs. It is currently in clinical trials and is advancing through the regulatory pathway towards FDA Expanded Conditional Approval (XCA) [Photo: Loyal] Aging is something that really affects everybodyevery human and every dog on the planet experiences aging, Colville says. And I think that’s something that’s really unique about it as an opportunity and a space to work in. Already, LOY-002 has met two of three milestones for FDA approval, known as the target animal safety and reasonable expectation of effectiveness sections of its conditional approval application. The final milestone involves demonstrating that the drug can be consistently manufactured at scale, Halioua says. The drug will likely be labeled for use by dogs at least 10 years old weighing at least 14 pounds, she says. Dosing, and thus costs, will depend on animal size, but Halioua says shes optimistic the average dog will be able to take the drug for less than $100 per month. The company announced last July that it had completed enrolling dogs in a study it calls STAY, designed to test the effectiveness of LOY-002, which Halioua says is the largest-ever animal health clinical trial. Loyal has enrolled roughly 1,300 dogs in the study through 72 veterinary clinics, and Halioua says shes hoping theyll find that the drug confers at least one healthy to participants. Loyal also has two other dog drugs, a vet-administered injection called LOY-001 and a daily pill called LOY-003, in the works. Though Halioua says the company hasnt publicized the exact biological mechanisms beyond the drugs, she says would look to extend lifespans of larger dogs by targeting a growth hormone thats correlated with a shorter life, with big dogs usually living a shorter time than their smaller counterparts. [Photo: Loyal] Once the dog is fully grown, you can then reduce the levels of growth hormone to hopefully extend their healthy lifespan and kind of compensate for the historical genetic issue that we gave them when we selectively bred for size, says Halioua. If all goes well, those drugs could launch a year or two after LOY-002, she says. And if Loyals drugs prove helpful to dogs, they could one day lead to similar treatments for humans. If we’re able to do something helpful for dogs, I think we’re going to learn a lot about how to do something helpful for humans, too, says Halioua.
Category:
E-Commerce
In the wake of a January Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from Saks Global, owner of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer has begun to close a number of stores across its portfolio of brands. Last month, for instance, the company announced the shuttering of many of its outlet stores. But now, the Saks Global has announced the closure of some of its high-end department stores, for which the company is famous. Heres what you need to know. Whats happened? According to a court document filed this week with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Saks Global has decided to close nine of its luxury department stores. These announced closures come just weeks after the company announced it was shuttering many of its outlet stores, including many Last Call and Saks Off 5th locations. The reason Saks Global has given for the shuttering of some of its flagship department stores is that the store closures will allow the companys global debtors to better serve their luxury customers, strengthen brand partner relationships and drive full-price selling to enable sustainable, profitable growth. When are the department stores closing? According to court documents, the department stores marked for closure will close their doors for good on approximately April 30, 2026, less than three months from now. The company expects the store closing sales at the affected locations to begin around February 20. The store closures are subject to approval from the judge presiding over the bankruptcy case. A ruling is expected to be made on Friday. After the closure of these locations, Saks Global will have 35 Neiman Marcus stores and 25 Saks Fifth Avenue stores in operation. Which Neiman Marcus stores are closing? According to the court documents, only one Neiman Marcus store is closing: Massachusetts: 5 Copley Place, Boston, MA Which Saks Fifth Avenue stores are closing? Unfortunately, Saks Global has decided to close significantly more Saks Fifth Avenue stores. The list includes eight locations in eight different states: Alabama: 129 Summit Blvd, Birmingham, AL Arizona: 2446 East Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ Louisiana: 301 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA New Jersey: Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, NJ Oklahoma: 1780 Utica Square, Tulsa, OK Ohio: 1350 Polaris Pkwy, Columbus, OH Pennsylvania: 2 Bala Plaza Bala, Cynwyd, PA Virginia: 9214 Stony Point Parkway, Richmond, VA Why is Saks Global filing for bankruptcy? As Fast Company previously reported, the luxury department store owner has faced extreme financial difficulty in recent years. Like many brick-and-mortar retailers, the companys stores have seen declining foot traffic, especially after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, inflationary costs, tariffs, and increased online competition have all cut into the companys bottom line. However, the major financial blow to Saks Global came when Hudsons Bay, Sakss previous parent company, acquired competitor Neiman Marcus in 2024 for around $2.7 billion. That move left the new company, Saks Global, saddled with debt. Announcing last month that its bankruptcy process was underway, Saks Global CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said the move presents a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the foundation of our business and position it for the future.
Category:
E-Commerce
Job insecurity is real: More than half of American workers (54%) say insecurity about their job is causing significant stress at work, while more than a third (39%) say they worry they about losing their job due to changes in government policies, according to the American Psychological Associations 2025 Work in America survey. Layoffs are reportedly at an all-time high since 2009, along with the lowest hiring on record in the U.S. since that time. And many of those layoffs have been in white collar professionslike technology, government, journalism, and high education. All of this could pave the way for the rise of a new kind of role: the “new-collar” job. Here’s what to know about the category that’s not quite white collar, or blue collar. What are ‘new-collar’ jobs? Falling somewhere between white and blue collar, “new-collar” jobs require more technical or specialized skills, but not a college degree. They can be learned on the job; at community college, vocational schools, or cybersecurity boot camps; and through a professional certification program, for roles in engineering, tech, or even healthcare. The term was coined by former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty in 2016 (offering yet another example of how 2026 is the new 2016). 10 high-income ‘new-collar’ jobs A new report from Resume Genius, a platform for job seekers, lists 10 roles that often dont require a four-year diploma, but still offer high pay and flexible work options. They are: Marketing manager ($159,660 median annual salary) Human resource manager ($140,000 median annual salary) Sales manager ($138,060 median annual salary) Computer network architect ($130,390 median annual salary) General and operations manager ($129,330 median annual salary) Information security analyst ($124,910 median annual salary) Sales engineer ($121,520 median annual salary) Health services manager ($117,960 median annual salary) Art director ($111,040 median annual salary) Construction manager ($106,980 median annual salary)
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||