Calico (company)


Calico LLC is an American research and development biotech company founded on September 18, 2013 by Bill Maris and backed by Google with the goal of combating aging and associated diseases. In Google's 2013 Founders Letter, Larry Page described Calico as a company focused on "health, well-being, and longevity". The company's name is an acronym for "California Life Company".
In 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet Inc., making Calico a subsidiary of the new company along with Google and others.

Partnerships and staff

In September 2014, it was announced that Calico, in partnership with AbbVie, would be opening up an R&D facility focused on aging and age-related diseases, such as neurodegeneration and cancer. Initially, each company will invest $350 million, with an option for each to add an extra $500 million later on. In the same month, Calico announced a partnership with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and 2M Companies regarding drug development for neurodegenerative disorders.
In 2015, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced a partnership with Calico to "advance research on age-related diseases and therapeutics", a further partnership also was announced with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Also in 2015, Calico announced a partnership with QB3 based on researching the biology of aging and identifying potential therapeutics for age-related diseases and one with AncestryDNA based on conducting research into the genetics of human lifespan.
At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, Calico lost two top scientists; in December 2017 Hal Barron, its head of R&D, left for GlaxoSmithKline, and in March 2018 Daphne Koller, who was leading their AI efforts, left to pursue a venture in applying machine learning techniques to drug design.