Human Longevity Plans to Merge With Blank Check Company to Go Public

San Diego-based Human Longevity, a company dedicated to using individualized genetic sequencing technology to help treat age-related diseases, is planning to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Freedom Acquisition Corporation 1, in a deal that would provide Human Longevity $345 million. Freedom Acquisition is a publicly owned company, so the merger would bring Human Longevity to the public market without taking the traditional route. 

Human Longevity’s Quest to Lengthen Life Spans

Human Longevity started in 2013 and has since invested $500 million in developing AI-enabled technology to analyze individualized genetic sequences to amplify patients’ life spans. 

The ambitious biotech company is one of many grouped into the anti-aging trend taking the industry by storm. Using whole-genome sequences, blood-based biomarkers, whole-body imaging, and more, it hopes to provide personalized care options and disease risk prediction models to help fight diseases associated with aging.

Going public would set Human Longevity apart from most of the rest of the anti-aging industry. Only a few other companies like AgeX Therapeutics and Unity Biotechnology have made the step to go public. 

Related Article: Massive Human CRISPR-Based Genotype-Phenotype Map Is Now Complete

Getting Creative to Bring a Company Public

With so few biotechnology companies going public in 2022 compared to 2021, companies are looking in different directions to bring extra funding amidst an unfavorable economic landscape. 

Human Longevity is taking advantage of the SPAC route using Freedom Acquisition as the publicly-owned vessel. Freedom Acquisition was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in April last year. Since then, the financial corporation has been looking for a company to partner with specifically to take it public.

In this potential merger, the two companies’ funds would total approximately $1 billion, providing funds for Human Longevity to continue developing its personalized healthcare projects. 

The merger would change Freedom Acquisition’s NYSE ticker mark, currently listed as FACT, to something that would better represent Human Longevity. 

The press release emphasized that the document most recently signed in the deal was a Letter of Intent, meaning that it is a non-binding agreement right now. The two companies expect to sign a finalized transaction by the third quarter of 2022 and close by the first quarter of 2023. 

The potential merger between both companies could set a precedent for future companies looking to go public in a market that makes it exceptionally difficult. The acquisition, which could provide Human Longevity a total of $1 billion, will be a huge step forward in developing individualized genetic sequencing, AI-assisted personal healthcare, and age-related chronic disease treatment.

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Author

Reed Slater