back

Why We Started AgelessRx

Why We Started AgelessRx

My Search for Meaning

By all conventional measures, I have had a successful fifteen-year career working at some of the most prominent investment funds. A few years ago, I came to the realization that doing something just to make money is not fulfilling if that activity is lacking purpose and meaning. I felt an urge to make an impact and change the world for the better, so I set out on my “search for meaning.”

Today, after countless hours of self-assessments, meditations, self-help books, articles, TED talks, personal coach conversations, psychology sessions, and vulnerable moments of being stuck and then lost and then unstuck, I have a much better understanding of myself, and a clear idea of how to have (or at least pursue) a meaningful and fulfilling life (1).

I have re-discovered something that has both interested and puzzled me ever since I was a teenager.  Why is it that while nobody wants to get old and die, very few people do anything to help slow down aging?

Many people are very generous and charitable and donate to a lot of causes from cancer, to homelessness, to the environment—but why not aging? At the end of the day, curing cancer may only add 2–3 years to the average lifespan and, if a person survives cancer, he/she will still succumb to some other disease. Would it not be better if instead of treating cancer we could meaningfully reduce our odds of getting cancer as well as multiple other age-related diseases?

The idea here is to increase quality adjusted years (QALY’s) (2) so that a person can remain vibrant for the last 20–30–40 years of life instead of being a victim of multiple ailments. With this thought process in mind, I set out to do whatever I can to help slow down (and hopefully ultimately reverse) aging. As they say: “cure aging or die trying.”

Hopefully, I can convince some people to join the movement.

Why We Should All Contribute to Longevity

Everyone wants to stay vibrant, energized, and healthy. Nobody wakes up in the morning saying “I cannot wait to get old and sick. I wish this came sooner.”

However, regardless of our traditional efforts—like exercise and diet—we all age. As we age, we become frail and weak and our chances of getting one of many age-related diseases (cancer, dementia, cardiovascular, etc) go up 1000-fold (3).

As a result, today hundreds of thousands of people die each day from age-related diseases. This is a universal “tragedy” that touches everybody.

deaths per year

So, the question that needs to be addressed is: Can something be done about this?

The answer, based on my years of researching the longevity space, attending conferences, establishing relationships with scientists, CEOs, and investors in the longevity community, is an overwhelming YES.

Aging is no longer this inevitable process that happens to everyone. In fact, scientists have shown that aging is malleable, and there are certain levers that can be manipulated to slow it down (and even reverse it) (3).

Beginning of AgelessRx

I learned that there are products available today that are safe and have potential longevity benefits, for example, Metformin.

I convinced my mother to try Metformin and realized how difficult it is to get a prescription for something that might make you live longer if you don’t have a specific condition that needs to be treated. She went to the doctor and he said: “You don’t have diabetes, why would I prescribe it to you?” That was the moment I realized there needs to be a platform that makes products with longevity benefits widely accessible.

I was fortunate to partner with Dr. Z, a talented physician who was not only extremely experienced in telehealth, but is also passionate about helping healthy people live longer—and not just treat a particular symptom or a condition. Dr. Z once told me one of the reasons he decided to go to med-school, and what helped him persevere during the hardest times of his studies, was reading Ray Kurzweil’s books (4).

Together, Dr. Z and I (later joined by our third partner, Jonn Behrman) set out on a mission to make products that have potential longevity benefits supported by science, accessible to anyone, in an affordable and convenient manner. AgelessRx was born.

I hope you will join us in future posts as we continue to share our journeys, helpful tips and resources, and much more.

Anar

Resources

(1) I’ll share the ideas and resources I found most helpful in one of the next posts

(2) AgelessRx predecessor was QALYTUDE. QALY stands for QUALITY Adjusted Life Year—it is a term that defines a year in perfect health—One QALY equals One Year in Perfect Health. Dr. Z suggested we use this term and since we wanted to give people more QALY’s it fit our mission really well. Unfortunately, the spelling was not intuitive and required an explanation each time we mentioned it to someone.

(3) You can see a more detailed discussion of this on AgelessRx Longevity 101

(4) We highly recommend Transcend by Ray Kurzweil