In a world where global life expectancy is forecasted to increase from 73.6 years in 2022 to 78.1 years by 2050, the focus is shifting from merely extending lifespan to enhancing healthspan – the number of years lived in good health. At the forefront of this paradigm shift is Hevolution Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – with an unprecedented commitment of up to $1 billion annually to revolutionize the field of aging research.
A New Approach to an Age-Old Problem
Dr. Mehmood Khan, CEO of Hevolution Foundation, brings a unique perspective to the challenge of aging. With a career spanning academic medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, and even a stint as Chief Scientific Officer at PepsiCo, Khan’s unconventional path has prepared him to tackle what he calls “the ultimate challenge” – improving how we age.
“Just like working on obesity back in the 1980s, working on aging today is to some an unusual choice,” Khan explains. “However, what other challenge affects every person on this planet? If you want to deliver a scalable impact, work on aging.”
This philosophy underpins Hevolution’s approach, which diverges significantly from traditional medical research. Rather than focusing on individual diseases, the foundation targets the biology of aging itself – a strategy that could potentially address multiple age-related conditions simultaneously.
From Clinic to Boardroom: Dr. Khan’s Journey to Healthspan Science
Dr. Mehmood Khan’s path to leading the charge in longevity research is as unconventional as it is illuminating. An academic physician by training, Khan’s career has been driven by a persistent question: how can we improve population health on a global scale?
His journey began in the clinics of the UK and US, where he witnessed firsthand the limitations of treating one patient at a time. Recognizing the rising tide of obesity, Khan made the bold decision to step outside traditional medical practice to examine food systems and their impact on public health. This move led him to identify crucial links between appetite suppressants and cardiovascular disease, garnering attention in scientific publications and public discourse.
Khan’s expertise in nutrition and medicine propelled him into leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry, where he directed global R&D for Takeda Pharmaceuticals. His next move raised eyebrows: joining PepsiCo as Chief Scientific Officer. “When I joined PepsiCo, it was controversial,” Khan admits. “Some didn’t believe the food industry could change.” During his tenure, however, the company developed healthier product portfolios and integrated new science into food production.
Each career pivot was guided by Khan’s commitment to upstream interventions for population health. Now, at Hevolution Foundation, he sees the culmination of this lifelong mission. “Improving how we age is the ultimate challenge,” Khan asserts. “It could create a healthier future for everyone.”
This diverse background has uniquely positioned Khan to lead Hevolution’s ambitious efforts. By applying lessons learned from medicine, nutrition, and industry, he aims to catalyze a shift from treating symptoms to addressing the root causes of aging. It’s a vision that promises not just longer lives, but healthier, more vibrant ones for people around the globe.
The Economics of Aging: A Global Challenge
The urgency of Hevolution’s mission becomes clear when considering the demographic shifts on the horizon. By 2050, the global population over 60 years is set to double to 2 billion, with one-fifth of the world’s population exceeding this age threshold. More strikingly, 80% of this older population will reside in low and middle-income countries, presenting unique challenges for healthcare systems and economies worldwide.
The financial implications are staggering. In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates annual costs of $305 billion for Alzheimer’s disease, $237 billion for diabetes, $216 billion for heart disease and stroke, and $140 billion for arthritis – figures that exclude broader economic impacts and lost productivity. Rather than spending billions on treating disease, we could be saving trillions by investing in tackling the root cause of these diseases: unhealthy aging.
“Countries spend trillions treating aging symptoms, but barely invest in understanding its root causes,” Khan notes. This disparity highlights the potential for targeted investment in aging research to yield significant economic benefits alongside health improvements.
From Underfunded to Overachieving: Hevolution’s Impact
In just two years, Hevolution has committed approximately $400 million toward the geroscience field, becoming the largest philanthropic funder in this space globally. This influx of capital is addressing a critical gap in the research ecosystem.
“The traditional problem in this field is that it was incredibly underfunded, which hindered research and prevented us from seeing the full potential of this area,” Khan explains. “With our injection of critically needed funding, we are starting to get a glimpse at the great opportunity it presents.”
Hevolution’s investments span a wide range, from supporting individual researchers to funding major institutions:
- $27 million for nine innovative projects deemed meritorious and praiseworthy by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, exploring areas such as mitochondrial dysfunction and epigenetics.
- $20 million to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for research on senescence and aging.
- $32.4 million to Northwestern University for studies on proteostasis in aging.
- $21 million for a multi-year partnership with The Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
Beyond direct research funding, Hevolution is also working to expand the field’s talent pool. Initiatives like the $5.2 million grant program to create the first cohort of aging researchers in Saudi Arabia and the $5 million Postdoctoral Training in Geroscience program aim to nurture the next generation of geroscience experts.
Bridging Academia and Industry
Hevolution’s strategy extends beyond pure research, aiming to accelerate the development of practical interventions. The foundation has made strategic investments in biotech companies like Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, contributing $20 million to advance therapies targeting the mTORC1 biological pathway.
This approach reflects a broader goal of catalyzing private sector involvement in longevity research. “We want to bring even more attention to healthy aging by laying the groundwork for other investors to identify and foster promising investment opportunities,” Khan states.
To further incentivize innovation, Hevolution has partnered with XPRIZE to launch the $101 million Healthspan global competition – one of the largest in XPRIZE history – challenging teams to develop therapeutics that target biological aging.
The Ethical Dimension: Ensuring Equitable Access
As exciting as these scientific advancements are, they raise important ethical questions about access and affordability. Khan is acutely aware of this challenge: “By 2050, we expect 80% of the older population to live in low and middle-income countries with limited access to care. The divide between the haves and have-nots, purely based on GDP productivity, will widen unless we can figure out how to scale the solutions and get them into the hands of populations where the impact is needed.”
Hevolution’s commitment to accessibility is baked into its investment strategy. “Every investment we make includes a condition around scalability,” Khan emphasizes. This focus on democratizing healthspan technologies is crucial for realizing the foundation’s vision of benefiting all of humanity, not just those in wealthy nations.
The Road Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities
Despite the progress made, significant hurdles remain. The regulatory landscape for aging-related treatments is still evolving, with no clear pathway for approval of interventions that target aging itself rather than specific diseases.
Hevolution is actively engaging with policymakers to address these challenges. Khan recently spoke at the World Health Assembly about the future of aging and continues to advocate for a more supportive regulatory environment that recognizes the clinical validity of ‘pre-disease’ states and new biomarkers.
Looking to the future, Khan envisions a dramatic shift in the field of aging research. “Over the next decade, we expect the field to become more diverse,” he predicts. “The focus on aging science is expanding beyond the traditional hubs of Boston and San Francisco. Saudi Arabia has an emerging center of expertise, and others around the world are following suit.”
A Call to Action
As Hevolution Foundation continues its ambitious mission, the broader implications of its work are becoming clear. The quest to extend healthspan is not just a scientific endeavor but a societal imperative with far-reaching economic, ethical, and social consequences.
For investors, policymakers, and the general public, the message is clear: aging is no longer an immutable fact of life but a frontier of scientific innovation with enormous potential for impact. As Dr. Khan puts it, “Aging science is trending upwards. It’s a promising, essential part of healthcare investment with high untapped potential to extend healthy human life in the 21st century.”
The trillion-dollar question now is not whether we can change how we age, but how quickly we can translate scientific breakthroughs into real-world benefits for billions of people worldwide. With organizations like Hevolution Foundation leading the charge, and with hundreds of visionaries gathering soon to drive impact and collaboration in healthspan science at the Hevolution’s Global Healthspan Summit 2025, the future of aging looks brighter – and healthier – than ever before.
