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This Gene Therapy Startup Wants to Change the Way We Age

In Entrepreneur
April 30, 2025

The opinions expressed by business taxpayers are their own.

What would happen if I could slow down and improve its biological function with a single 30 -second taking? That is the promise behind Minicircle, a gene therapy startup with high ambitions. As the founder and CEO Mac Davis recently expressed it in one day with Jon Beer Podcast: “We want to extend the length and quality of human life.”

How treatment works

The mini -cully is well known for its therapy focused on folistatin hormone, a natural protein that can increase muscle mass, improve recovery and reduce inflammation. An injection, delivered in body fat, takes about 30 seconds and can last up to one year.

Treatments are not yet approved for use in the United States. Therefore, patients should travel to countries such as Mexico and Honduras, where the company currently manages its gene therapy under medical supervision.

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New approaches to aging

Folistatin is not only being studied to improve performance, but also because of its potential to impact aging. Some animal studies have suggested that it could extend the useful life in approximately 30%. While much of the research is still in its early stages, there are signs that lean muscle mass could increase, decrease body fat and improve the quality of general life.

“I noticed a change in how I felt, more aware, more present,” says Davis. “It was only physical; it was a sense of clarity, or the most connected bee with my body and the world around me.”

Davis believes that therapies such as the thesis represent a broader change in the way we address health: move from the management of symptoms to improve the function proactively. “Gene therapy, in essence, sacrifices the possibility of addressing problems before they become problems, focusing on improving the function instead of simply treating dysfunction,” he explains.

Great partners

Minicircle is not like as most biotechnology companies. Davis did not go to the Business School or raised money through traditional channels. For a long time, no one would finance it.

“He did not come from a family of entrepreneurs,” he explains. “I had no financial support. We tried to make a Crowdfund. We raised $ 400. The guy requested it later.”

Then Sam Altman found out in a hotel bar and wrote a check. Peter Thiel was the following. “I get there and I thought, hey, these are the roads. This is the idea. What do you think we should do with this?” Davis says. Thiel ended up speaking during most of the meeting. He also invested.

Minicircle used that support to build a small and highly specialized team. One of his main scientists is a former NFL athlete who later obtained a doctorate in molecular medicine and disease mechanisms. “Hello, he joined our clinical trial because he thought he would give access to a next -generation gene therapy,” says Davis. “Then he liked it a lot and joined the team.”

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The business of building the future

Minicircle’s work is at the intersection of science, ethics and entrepreneurship. Davis is learning as he progresses.

Since then, bets have only grown. He has also appreciated him for what he should do.

“The cost of a bad relationship is larger than I never knew,” he says. “And the advantage of a great is equally bigger.”

With patients who already see results and more therapies in the pipe, the mission remains simple: extend the human, ethical, safe and accessible potential.

“Longevity is not about living forever,” says Davis. “It’s about having the freedom to live as you want, as long as possible.”

What follows?

The next minicircle therapy goes to a different hormone: Klotho. It helps prevent calcification in arteries, kidneys and brain. “Reduce the accumulation of inadequate calcium,” says Davis. “And that is huge for the health of the heart and longevity.”

The therapy is currently being tested abroad, since gene therapy remains closely regulated in the US, but the company plans to request the FDA Clinical US at the end of this year.

“We are requesting the approval of the FDA to administer this clinically in the United States by the end of the year,” he says.