A Spanish biotech bets on young blood

It's one step toward legitimizing the haute trend of young blood: Spanish biotech Grifols, which processes blood plasma en masse, has agreed to buy Alkahest — the Silicon Valley startup founded by Genentech alums that’s probing plasma to see whether it might help fight diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Grifols already owned 48% in Alkahest, and will pay an additional $146 million for the remaining shares.

Alkahest has relied on Grifols’ blood plasma collection network in the U.S. and Europe, which comes mostly from young donors, STAT’s Rebecca Robbins writes. It’s stripped the plasma down to a cocktail of about 400 different proteins that might have an anti-aging effect — and has tested it in Phase 2 trials, measuring cognition and function in volunteers after six months.