Biotech breakthrough: Placenta said to make 100 the new 60

Celularity, a leading U.S. biotechnology company, is seizing on an opportunity to use cells to target diseases.  The CEO, Dr. Robert Hariri, says placenta can be used to augment longevity and immunity.

“The vision here is how do we have a healthier longer life and how do we use these stem cells and immunological cells to help fight cancers,” Celularity Vice Chairman Dr. Peter Diamandis said to FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.”

Hariri, previously the CEO of Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), which develops and commercializes medicines for cancer and inflammatory disorders, said mapping the genome was a key educator for where we are with diseases today.

“We have greater insights into the greater things which are the molecular basis for disease and we’ll be able to decipher and decode that before and be able to intervene before a disease occurs,” he told Bartiromo.

Research found placenta is the richest source of stem cells and can be used as a way to turn living cells into medicines aimed to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases, and degenerative disease and eventually regrow organs.

“At the heart of the aging process is a loss, and exhaustion, of the engine that drives the natural repair processes — it keeps us young,” Hariri said.

The effort has raised $250 million in capital funding, including contributions from former Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO John Sculley, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Ventures founder Bill Maris and former FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach.