Google Announces Calico, A New Company That Plans to Combat Aging

Google has announced Calico, a newly formed company founded to “focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases.” Art Levinson, Apple board chairman and former CEO of Genentech, will be CEO of Calico. In a statement, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.”

In a post on Google+ Google’s Larry Page said:

Art and I are excited about tackling aging and illness. These issues affect us all—from the decreased mobility and mental agility that comes with age, to life-threatening diseases that exact a terrible physical and emotional toll on individuals and families. And while this is clearly a longer-term bet, we believe we can make good progress within reasonable timescales with the right goals and the right people.

Our press release has a few more details though it’s still very early days so there’s not much more to share yet. Of course when Art has something more substantial to communicate (and that will likely take time), he’ll provide an update.

Time also interviewed Page about the new company and its moonshot goals.

image via Sharada Prasad