Biotech CEO Says No Side Effects Is ‘Curse’ Because That’s Boring
KEY POINTS
- •Retro Biosciences, funded by Sam Altman, is testing the Alzheimer’s drug RTR-242 to help clear aging brain junk.
- •The Phase 1 trial recently expanded enrollment by 42% from 76 to 108 healthy volunteers in Australia.
- •CEO Joe Betts-LaCroix, motivated by his father’s recent death, says no major side effects challenge their dosing plans yet.
Retro Biosciences, fresh out of shipping containers in Redwood City, is running what might be the most polite brain junk removal trial ever with their Alzheimer’s hope pill, RTR-242. Backed by Sam Altman (yes, the AI billionaire who probably wants to live forever), they’ve enrolled 108 healthy folks, no one older than 65, to test an autophagy-triggering drug that’s so safe even a headache hasn’t RSVP’d. CEO Joe Betts-LaCroix, who got an unwanted personal Dementia souvenir this year when his dad passed, says finding the right dose is tricky because the pill is too well-behaved, offering nothing but 100% boring no side effects. They expect future cohorts might finally give them a nosebleed or some hope. Meanwhile, competitors like Bezos-backed Altos Labs remain stage-zero. The plot thickens with plans for bigger trials and a plan to boost lysosome acidity—the cell’s landfill—like it’s a recycling crusade for your brain’s dumpster fire.
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(1 of 3)Testing a brain-cleaning pill so safe it might be invisible to your brain—because nothing says longevity like desperately waiting for headaches to prove it works.
Retro’s Alzheimer’s pill is so gentle even a mild uncomfortable sensation hasn’t shown up to the trial party yet. We all want a useless side effect, apparently.
They’re expanding clinical trials from 76 to 108 since laughter and headaches are apparently potent brain boosters for aging neurons. Science, probably.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 8/26/2026 | Author: Hilary Brueck
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