谷歌的逆天計劃 阻止人類衰老

Yesterday's big tech story (beyond Apple's iOS7 release) was actually a biotech story, but only because Google (GOOG) was involved. The search giant announced that it has launched Calico, a "new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases."

昨天的重磅科技新聞【甚至超過了蘋果（Apple）發佈iOS7系統】實際上是一則生物技術新聞，只不過因爲它牽涉到了谷歌（Google）。這則消息是，谷歌這家搜索巨頭宣佈成立Calico，一家“關注健康和幸福，尤其向人類衰老和疾病有關的研發領域提出挑戰的全新公司”。

Or, as Time magazine put it: Google vs. Death.

或者，就如《時代》（Time ）週刊所言：谷歌對抗死亡。

Calico's CEO is ex-Genentech CEO Art Levinson, who will remain chairman of Genentech (plus a director of parent company Hoffmann-La Roche) and chairman of Apple (AAPL) . You may recall that Levinson also used to be on the Google board, before being leaving due to perceived conflicts of interest with his Apple role.

Calico首席執行官阿特•萊文森曾擔任Genentech的首席執行官，他也將留下繼續擔任Genentech和蘋果兩家公司的主席（和Genentech母公司Hoffmann-La Roche的主管）。大家也許還能想起，萊文森之前曾是谷歌董事會的成員，之後意識到這與他在蘋果所扮演的角色發生了利益衝突，於是辭職。

Beyond the above information, neither Google nor Levinsohn is actually saying anything about Calico. And there aren't even additional details in the Time story. So here are a few tiny nuggets to begin moving things along:

除了上面這些信息之外，谷歌和萊文森並沒有任何其他有關Calico的內容。甚至在《時代》的文章中也沒有更多的細節。不過下面這些線索或許可以幫助大家撥開迷霧。

1. This is an independent company, not a subsidiary or affiliate of Google.

1. 這是一家獨立公司，不是谷歌的子公司，也不是它的分支機構。

2. Google corporate is making the initial investment, not Google Ventures (even though Google Ventures partner Bill Maris Maris was instrumental in the original brainstorming). There are not yet any SEC filings, but expect that the initial investment is in the tens of millions of dollars.

2. 爲這家公司進行初期投資的是谷歌而不是谷歌風投（Google Ventures）（儘管谷歌風投的合夥人比爾•馬里斯爲構思這個概念的雛形立下了汗馬功勞）。目前尚沒有任何美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文檔，不過預計初期投資的費用以千萬美元計。

3. Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins is not an investor in Calico, despite being the first money into both Google and Genentech.

3. 儘管風投公司凱鵬華盈（Kleiner Perkins）曾經對谷歌和Genetech進行了初期投資，但這次卻沒有參與投資Calico。

4. I've also reached out to several other top life sciences VCs, none of whom had heard about Calico before yesterday's announcement. Same goes for some healthcare industry headhunters. In other words, this has legitimately taken folks by surprise.

4. 我也接觸了其他幾家頂級的生命科學風投公司，沒有一家在昨天的聲明之前聽說過Calico。醫療業的獵頭公司也一樣。換句話說，他們一直在隱瞞消息，憋着股勁要讓人大吃一驚呢。

5. I also contacted a handful of pharma folks, each of whom offered what they admitted to be uninformed speculation. Here was the response I found most interesting (again – smart pharma guy who doesn't know Calico):

5. 我還聯繫了一些製藥行業的從業人員，他們都談了自己的猜測。下面是我發現的最有趣的的回答（當然，這個聰明的製藥公司員工也沒聽說過Calico）。

"I'd say that Art's background in biotech and gene-driven cancer therapies would mean he'd be likely focusing on identifying the molecular aspects/drivers/signals of cellular aging and looking at interventional therapies targeting those targets. If true, this would be similar to how the oncology field was in the 1980s (wide open, no strategy, no leader, shunned by "real" scientists and most investors)."

“我要說，阿特在生物技術和基因癌症治療上的背景意味着他可能會專注於研究確定細胞在分子層面/驅動/信號上的老化，尋求針對這些方面的介入療法。如果真的是這樣，與20世紀80年代腫瘤學領域類似的情形（完全開放、不講策略、沒有領袖，“真正”的科學家和大多數投資者都繞着走）將會重現。”

6. "Calico" is apparently shorthand for California Life Company, but so far there are no publicly-available incorporation documents in either California or Delaware.

6. “Calico”顯然是加利福尼亞生命公司（California Life Company）的簡稱，不過迄今爲止在加利福尼亞州和特拉華州都還沒有已經公佈的公司文件。