Cochlear Ltd. heard good news from the U.S. FDA, as the agency approved its next-generation cochlear implant, the Nucleus Nexa System, the first smart cochlear implant system. Cochlear expects to launch the new products in the U.S. in the next few months, Brendan Murray, vice president for Cochlear Implant products portfolio and strategy told BioWorld.

Roche AG subsidiary Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Singapore’s Gero Pte. Ltd. plan to tackle age-related diseases by collaborating to identify drug targets through Gero’s AI-driven human data-first platform.

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), an extremely rare genetic disorder, arises when a silent point mutation in the gene encoding the nuclear envelope protein lamin A, LMNA, leads to abnormal splicing of LMNA mRNA.

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Gero Pte Ltd. have entered into a joint research and license agreement to develop novel therapies for age-related diseases. Chugai will create novel antibody-drug candidates for new drug targets discovered by Gero using its AI target discovery platform.

All kinds of substances circulate through the bloodstream. Some are beneficial, like oxygen or nutrients, and others less so, like waste products, toxins, pathogens and certain trafficking cells. Among these harmful substances are deleterious factors associated with aging, which can prematurely damage different tissues. The big question is what are those factors that mediate such effects, and what can be done to prevent them. The 11th Cardiac Regeneration and Vascular Biology Conference, held on the Island of San Servolo, Venice, from June 30 to July 2, 2025, included presentations, oral sessions and posters addressing the impact of aging on the cardiovascular system.

Researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging have developed an epigenetic clock that could predict an individual’s intrinsic capacity score, a composite score that is a measure of healthy aging. The clock, which has only limited overlap with other epigenetic clocks, could be “a surrogate for aging that can be used for clinical trials,” senior author David Furman told BioWorld. And even more basically, it could help address a basic conundrum: that aging is the major risk factor for most causes of death, but not itself a disease.

Corestemchemon Inc. is planning to file a BLA for Neuronata-R (lenzumestrocel) by the end of 2025 to gain accelerated approval from the U.S. FDA, company officials confirmed to BioWorld during a June 2 interview. Neuronata-R is an autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy that first gained approval in South Korea in 2014 to delay the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Aribio Co. Ltd. signed a $600 million license deal with Acino International AG, an Arcera Life Sciences subsidiary, granting the latter commercial rights to its oral Alzheimer’s disease therapy, AR-1001, in select countries including the Middle East.

Corestemchemon Inc. is planning to file a BLA for Neuronata-R (lenzumestrocel) by the end of 2025 to gain accelerated approval from the U.S. FDA, company officials confirmed to BioWorld during a June 2 interview. Neuronata-R is an autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy that first gained approval in South Korea in 2014 to delay the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

A publication based on longitudinal and cross sectional data and led by researchers at the U.S. NIH’s National Institute on Aging published on June 5, 2025, in Science has stated that the impact of taurine supplementation at delaying aging or treating aging-related conditions is context-dependent, and that the circulating levels of taurine are impacted by factors unique to each individual rather than declining with age. To qualify taurine as a true marker of aging, it should change with age across diverse populations over time and ideally supported by longitudinal data.