Biotechs in Próspera Pursue Combination Gene‑Therapies to Tackle Ageing

Próspera, a charter city on Honduras’s Roatán island, has become an unconventional hub for longevity startups testing experimental gene‑therapy combinations aimed at ageing. The city’s backers promote a deliberately permissive regulatory environment, and two companies—Minicircle and Unlimited Bio—have used that environment to establish clinical activity and corporate presence.

Minicircle opened a clinical site in Próspera in 2021 to test a circular RNA therapy for cognition and general health in a Phase I trial (NCT07216781), supplementing its headquarters in Austin, Texas. Unlimited Bio incorporated in Próspera in 2024 and plans to run an initial study of a combined plasmid gene‑therapy regimen targeting VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and follistatin, the latter acting to block pathways that limit muscle growth.

Planned trial and timeline

Unlimited says it will begin dosing healthy volunteers aged over 45 in a Phase I/II study of the VEGF + follistatin combination in January 2026, with a two‑month treatment course and an expected preliminary data readout by April 2026. The company intends to measure outcomes using age‑related biomarkers and functional endpoints aligned with the XPRIZE Healthspan competition — including VO2 max, six‑minute walk distance, leg push weight, and cognitive and immune function tests.

Why Próspera?

Próspera was established in 2017 as one of Honduras’s special zones for employment and economic development (ZEDEs). Promoters and some residents highlight low business taxes, secured property arrangements and a friendlier regulatory climate compared with major markets. Thibault Serlet, co‑founder of the Startup Societies Foundation and a former consultant on charter‑city projects, says such zones aim to push the business advantages of traditional special economic zones further—appealing to companies that view regulation elsewhere as overly restrictive.

Regulatory and ethical questions

That permissive environment raises immediate questions about whether data collected in Próspera will meet the evidentiary standards of major regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Unlimited’s CEO, Ivan Morgunov, concedes he doubts regulators would accept Próspera‑sourced human data for broad approvals, particularly for preventative therapies not aimed at well‑defined diseases.

Observers also warn about the ethics of testing gene therapies in healthy individuals and the scientific challenges of treating ageing—a complex, multifactorial process rather than a single diagnosable disease. Critics argue that combining multiple gene therapies compounds complexity and unknown risks, while some proponents point to improved modelling tools and evolving regulatory pathways for personalised and platform‑based biologics.

Industry reactions

Miguel Forte, CEO of Kiji Therapeutics and president of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy, frames regulation as a balance: regulators could be faster and more flexible, but overall are moving in constructive directions. Lubor Gaal, CFO of circular RNA developer Circio, notes recent regulatory accommodation for cell and gene therapies—particularly for rare diseases—but cautions that major relaxation for broad, non‑rare indications is unlikely in the near term.

Some industry voices also suggest charter cities such as Próspera may primarily serve as medical‑tourism destinations rather than reliable staging grounds for international approvals: high‑profile visitors have already sought treatments there, and companies report many patients arriving from outside Honduras.

What this means

The work in Próspera highlights both the ambition and controversy around treating ageing with advanced biologics. Proponents see an opportunity to accelerate novel interventions and learn from early human data; critics urge caution, stronger regulatory oversight and more basic research to understand mechanisms and safety before wide deployment. The coming trial results and regulatory responses will be closely watched by researchers, regulators and investors interested in the future of longevity therapeutics.