What Calico does

Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is a clinical-stage biotechnology research and development company founded in 2013 by Alphabet Inc. and Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., and headquartered in South San Francisco, California. As a wholly-owned Alphabet subsidiary, Calico's mission is to understand the fundamental biology of aging and translate those insights into therapeutics for age-related diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative conditions (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Vanishing White Matter Disease), and rare genetic disorders such as autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The company operates five clinical-stage assets and more than twenty early-stage programs, with lead candidates including Fosigotifator (an Integrated Stress Response inhibitor granted FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Vanishing White Matter Disease) and ABBV-CLS-484/osunprotafib (a first-in-class PTPN2/N1 phosphatase inhibitor in Phase 1 for advanced solid tumors).

Calico's technology stack integrates basic laboratory research, advanced computational biology and machine learning, and drug discovery. Notable proprietary platforms include Enformer (a deep learning model for gene-expression prediction co-developed with DeepMind), Nellie (an automated organelle segmentation tool for live-cell microscopy, published in Nature Methods), PERISCOPE (a genome-wide CRISPR/Cell Painting atlas covering 20,000+ genes across 30M+ cells), a custom high-numerical-aperture single-objective light-sheet microscope, and proprietary small-molecule discovery platforms. The company leverages longitudinal human datasets through its UK Biobank partnership, including an £30m co-funded Repeat Imaging Project with the MRC and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that will image 60,000 participants.

The business model is pre-revenue: Calico has no commercial products, generates no product revenue, and is funded entirely through Alphabet patient capital. Future revenue is expected to flow from licensing/royalties on co-developed therapeutics with AbbVie (the original 2014 co-development partner), standalone commercialization of rare-disease assets such as Fosigotifator, and potential standalone launches across additional clinical-stage programs. Go-to-market centers on a hybrid of academic collaborations (Broad Institute, UK Biobank, Wellcome Sanger Institute, MIT, UCSF), commercial co-development with pharmaceutical partners (AbbVie), and integration with Alphabet ecosystem resources including DeepMind AI and Google Cloud infrastructure. Headcount is estimated at 200-500 employees, with senior R&D leadership drawn heavily from Genentech, AbbVie, Merck, Pfizer, and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Name

Calico

Legal name

Calico Life Sciences LLC

Website

https://calicolabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is an Alphabet-founded biotechnology R&D company developing therapies for age-related diseases by integrating aging biology research, computational/ML methods, and drug discovery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Aging Biology Therapeutics R&D

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833)

akta.pro primary industry

Genomic & Multi-Omic Biomarkers (NGS panels, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) (HLAAAMAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Clinical Trial Informatics (EDC/CTMS/eCOA/eTMF) (HLAGAJAM), Knowledge Management & Scientific Collaboration / Literature Intelligence (HLAGAJAN)

Keywords

• Aging biology research
• Drug development pipeline
• Biotechnology therapeutics
• Computational biology research
• Longevity research

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Pre-revenue R&D Stage: Calico is a pre-revenue research and development company. As an Alphabet-founded subsidiary, it is funded through Alphabet's investment for long-term research initiatives. The company does not currently generate product revenue. Future revenue would come from successful drug development through partnerships or standalone commercialization of therapeutics for aging and age-related diseases.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Calico is a research and development company that integrates basic research, advanced computational biology and machine learning, and drug development to understand the biology of aging and translate those insights into potential therapeutics for age-related diseases. The company operates a portfolio of five clinical-stage assets and 20+ early-stage programs targeting neurodegeneration, oncology, and kidney disease, while also producing publicly available research tools (Nellie, PERISCOPE) and interactive aging atlases.

Product overview

Calico is an Alphabet-founded biotechnology research and development company focused on understanding the biology of aging and advancing interventions for age-related diseases. The company operates an integrated research organization combining basic research, advanced computational biology, and machine learning with drug development capabilities. Calico's offerings span therapeutic candidates in clinical development (including ABBV-CLS-484 for oncology and Fosigotifator for Vanishing White Matter Disease), publicly available research tools (Nellie for cell image analysis, PERISCOPE for genome-wide gene function mapping), and interactive aging atlases for C. elegans and murine models. The company maintains strategic collaborations with the Broad Institute for aging biology and drug discovery, and partners with UK Biobank for large-scale human imaging and genetic data analysis.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Calico Drug Development Pipeline Portfolio of early- and clinical-stage compounds targeting diseases linked to aging, including neurological conditions, oncology, and kidney diseases, advancing from discovery toward clinical impact.
• ABBV-CLS-484 (osunprotafib) PTPN2/N1 phosphatase inhibitor in Phase 1 clinical trials for advanced solid tumors, targeting both tumor cells and immune cells as a unique immunotherapy approach.
• Fosigotifator (ABBV-CLS-7262) Integrated Stress Response inhibitor granted FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Vanishing White Matter Disease, being tested in clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases.
• Nellie Automated Organelle Analysis Tool Automated image analysis tool for organelle segmentation, tracking, and feature extraction in 2D/3D live-cell microscopy, freely available via GitHub.
• PERISCOPE Genome-Wide Atlas Genome-wide atlas tool combining Cell Painting, CRISPR gene editing, optical pooled screening, and analysis pipeline for studying gene function at scale.
• C. elegans Aging Atlas Interactive public atlas mapping gene activity in every cell throughout C. elegans development, revealing organized aging processes and cell-protective responses.
• Murine Aging Cell Atlas Interactive atlas revealing cell-identity and tissue-specific trajectories of aging in mice, demonstrating evolutionary conservation of aging mechanisms.

Quantifiable outcome

• 17 additional genes identified that trigger clonal hematopoiesis, expanding understanding of blood cell aging mechanism linked to cancer risk
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability14 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• UK BiobankcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Calico's partnership with UK Biobank focuses on progression of major chronic diseases of mid-to-later life. Through joint project with UK Biobank and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Calico is analyzing tens of thousands of MRI scans and genetic data to create world's largest longitudinal imaging dataset for assessing disease progression. All findings are publicly available.
• Broad Institute of MIT and HarvardcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2015Since 2015, Calico and the Broad Institute have partnered to investigate biology and genetics of aging and pursue early-stage drug discovery. The collaboration has produced co-development of PTPN2/N1 inhibitor now in clinical trials. Extended in 2019 and again in 2024 with added focus on age-related neurodegeneration including Parkinson's disease, continuing through September 2029.
• AbbViecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2014Since 2014, the collaboration between Calico and AbbVie has produced multiple drug development programs with assets advanced into clinical trials, including potential treatments for neurological conditions. The partnership includes joint development of PTPN2/N1 phosphatase inhibitors (ABBV-CLS-484) and ISR inhibitors (ABBV-CLS-7262/Fosigotifator). Calico is now independently moving clinical programs forward following the collaboration structure.
• The Jackson LaboratorysupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with The Jackson Laboratory studying a population of hundreds of female mice with diverse genetic backgrounds over seven years to understand how long-term effects of age, diet, and genetics interact to determine variation in body weight and health outcomes.
• DeepMind (Alphabet subsidiary)supportingTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration with Alphabet's DeepMind combining cryo-EM and AlphaFold AI to build more complete structural models of proteins like PAPP-A (pregnancy-associated plasma protein A), advancing understanding of IGF-1 signaling and age-related diseases.
• Brad Pentelute Lab at MITsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with MIT's Brad Pentelute lab for developing methods to modulate protein properties and functions, creating new tools including peptide inhibitors targeting HPV oncoproteins for cancer therapeutics development.
• Wellcome Sanger InstitutesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Wellcome Sanger Institute scientists who sequenced blood samples from UK Biobank, enabling Calico scientists to perform deep data analysis identifying 17 additional genes that trigger clonal hematopoiesis, published in Nature Genetics.
• University of CambridgesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration with University of Cambridge alongside Wellcome Sanger Institute for clonal hematopoiesis research expanding prior understanding of blood cell aging mechanism linked to cancer risk.
• University of WestminstersupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with University of Westminster (and University of Lincoln) to discover genetic variants linked to liver fat accumulation and assess their impact on health risks using UK Biobank data.
• University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaborations with UCSF including research on T cell development (Wen Lu's postdoc training), psychiatric genetics (Jeremy Willsey's prior work), and historical foundation of aging research (Cynthia Kenyon's 1993 daf-2 discovery).

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Altos Labs: Altos Labs is the closest direct peer to Calico — a well-capitalized (>$3B raised) longevity/aging biotech pursuing cellular rejuvenation and aging-biology-driven therapeutics with a similar long-horizon research model. Both compete for scientific talent and aim to translate fundamental aging science into medicines.
• Insilico Medicine: Insilico Medicine is a direct peer in AI-driven drug discovery for age-related diseases, combining generative AI, multi-omics, and aging-biology expertise. Like Calico, it pursues novel targets with AI-augmented discovery, and has clinical-stage assets for indications such as IPF and cancer.
• BioAge Labs: BioAge Labs is a direct peer developing therapeutics that target the molecular mechanisms of aging, with clinical programs in obesity and muscle aging informed by human cohort data. It shares Calico's focus on aging biology as a drug-discovery axis.
• Unity Biotechnology: Unity Biotechnology is a direct peer focused on developing senolytic and senomorphic therapeutics for age-related diseases. It targets cellular senescence — a core aging-biology pathway also investigated by Calico — and has clinical-stage ophthalmology and neurology programs.
• Retro Biosciences: Retro Biosciences is a Sam Altman-backed longevity biotech pursuing cellular reprogramming, autophagy, and plasma-fraction approaches to extend healthy human lifespan. It competes with Calico for talent and targets overlapping aging-biology mechanisms.
• NewLimit: NewLimit is a direct peer using epigenetic reprogramming to develop therapeutics for age-related disease, with substantial crypto/tech-founder backing. It pursues similar cellular-rejuvenation strategies to Calico's aging-biology research.
• Life Biosciences: Life Biosciences is a direct peer developing therapeutics across multiple aging-biology pathways (mitochondria, DNA damage, senescence) with a multi-program approach analogous to Calico's portfolio strategy.

Emerging players

• Turn Biotechnologies: Turn Biotechnologies is an emerging player in cellular-reprogramming and mRNA-based rejuvenation therapeutics. While smaller and earlier stage than Calico, it pursues adjacent aging-biology approaches and overlaps in target indications.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Recursion is an emerging AI-driven drug-discovery peer using high-throughput biology, imaging, and machine learning — overlapping with Calico's PERISCOPE and Nellie platforms. Both companies use industrial-scale image-based phenotyping to identify drug targets, though Recursion is more broad-based and public.
• Elysium Health: Elysium Health is an emerging player developing consumer and clinical longevity products based on aging-biology research (e.g., NAD+ precursors). It pursues a complementary rather than fully overlapping strategy to Calico, with more consumer/supplement exposure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/calico
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@calicolifesciences1984/featured
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/calico-life-sciences-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Calico