Every dog owner inevitably faces the heartbreaking fate of watching their best friend die. With a short average lifespan of roughly a decade, owners cherish every moment with their pup. As dogs get older, they are more prone to diseases, and their general health declines.
Diseases such as liver and kidney disease, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer are common, with cancer being the leading cause of death in older dogs. Owners often have to watch their aging companion suffer and be tormented by these health issues before their death. But what if there was a way for your beloved dog to be healthier and live longer for even just a year or two more? Ask Celine Halioua, CEO of the company Loyal and a biotechnologist.
Halioua is challenging the limits of biology by developing a pill designed to extend the longevity of dogs. Her biotech company is working on vaccines that will improve the health and lifespan of dogs of different weights.
LOY-002 is a vaccine that has been scientifically tested to increase the longevity of senior dogs over the weight of 14 pounds. Things are looking good; they are currently awaiting the approval of the FDA, and have already received the Reasonable Expectations of Effectiveness milestone from the FDA. If things continue to go well, the pill is projected to have its first release in 2026.
How the vaccine works, is that it improves a senior dog’s metabolic health, which decreases their risk for various diseases and promotes a healthier life. It also interacts with a hormone called IGF-1 that causes both the growth and the aging of dogs. This pill serves a similar purpose to calorie restrictions, which, according to research, have shown dogs living up to two years longer than dogs who were fed normally. The pills also modify cellular energy use, where the cells of the dog are shifted into an energy-saving mode, in turn improving the cellular health and efficiency.
Some may wonder if something this great certainly can’t come without any drawbacks. The Loy treatment hasn’t shown any negative effects on the dogs being studied, according to an article in the New York Post. On top of that, Halioua notes that she aims to make this treatment as available as possible, with her goal being for all eligible dogs to be on this treatment so that they live longer and healthier.
According to an article in The Washington Post, Halioua claims that the vaccine should ideally be accessible to as many dogs as possible, costing less than $100 a month. For reference, that’s approximately the monthly price of dog insurance, and dog owners on average spend roughly $120-$435 a month on their dog’s care. Although not the cheapest, it is designed to make the treatment as accessible to eligible dogs rather than to make the most profit.
Through her goals and start-up, she has raised nearly $150 million from investors. Halioua’s company is a promising start-up. An increasing amount of money spent on pets annually is observed, with a 6% increase in spending from 2023-2024. Due to this, many investors see this as an opportunity, and they aren’t necessarily wrong. Loyal made Forbes’ annual showcase of 25 companies they think will most likely reach a $1 billion valuation.
Celine Halioua grew up in Austin, Texas, where she had many pets. Her early life was defined by empathy for animals. Her family owned dogs, cats, birds, and hamsters, many of which were rescued. This built her love for animals, but also inspired her mission to prevent age related suffering.
In an interview with Mehana Ondreyka at The Daily Texan, Halioua noted that adopting and then losing dogs every few years left her with “a scar for each of them.” Having to watch her dogs age, lose their liveliness, and ultimately pass away had a profound impact on her. This became her motivator, and inspired her to question the biological mechanisms of aging and how to intervene.
Just the summer before attending The University of Texas at Austin, she interned at a neuro-oncology clinic, which turned out to be a perspective changing experience that fundamentally changed her career from art to science. At the clinic, she saw patients with terminal brain cancer, and how limited modern medicine is.
She realized that doctors couldn’t do anything about age-related diseases, no matter how much effort, money and time is put in. She questioned the modern approach to these diseases, and became convinced that the right way was to attack it from the root, by addressing the matter of age itself.
Driven by her experience at the clinic, she changed majors from art to neuroscience at the The University of Texas at Austin, despite her scholarship for art. She was drawn to neuroscience because it was open to questions and unsolved problems.
During her sophomore year, she had another internship where she conducted research on age related diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
This completely solidified her commitment to longevity study. Her goal wasn’t immortality, or extending life, but lengthening healthspan, the period of life spent in good health. This finally led to her combining her love of animals and her passion for solving problems related to aging and founding the company Loyal.
Ultimately, if Loy-002 is passed by the FDA, the drug will take the form of a beef-flavored chewable pill. It is to be taken daily by the dog through the owner’s administration. Not only pet owners, but vets also have to adjust to this.
I asked a New York City veterinarian from Northside Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Daniel Leiman, about this issue. Leiman said, “We would need to become experts on the pros and cons, and discuss this honestly with our clients.” Dog parents will have to go through the process of seeing vets with the drug available. They would discuss with them the eligibility of the dogs for the vaccine. And for that, the vets would need to be well informed about this vaccine if they want to offer this treatment.
Factors such as age, size, and breed all play a role in determining how suitable the dog is for the drug. If all of that is cleared, the owner gets a prescription from the vet to manage the medication for the dog to lead an overall healthier and longer life.
Just as humans want their pets to live longer and have a healthier life, humans also long shared that desire for themselves. While Loyal’s initial goals are to prolong the longevity and healthspan of dogs, in the future they can aim to open this market to a wider range. Although the concept is similar, applying this to humans is a completely different story.
To put into perspective, Amy Feldman at Forbes said that getting a longevity vaccine for dogs might cost $25 million and take five years, but for humans it can cost up to billions and take many decades. But of course this is just the tip of the iceberg. Implementing this technology on humans will face issues such as clinical trials, ethical dilemmas, different scientific complexities and safety concerns.
Something as simple as clinical trials can become an issue when dealing with humans as it can span decades, and can be extremely expensive and difficult to manage, with a high possibility of participants dropping out before any real results are observed. On top of this, all drugs carry risks of side effects, which may outweigh the uncertain possibility of the drug being effective in the first place.
“We would need to become experts on the pros and cons, and discuss this honestly with our clients,” said Dr. Daniel Leiman, a New York City veterinarian from Northside Veterinary Clinic.