Cambridge
Massachusetts

Immune Aging
Series

Thu 1 Apr Thu 15 Apr 2027 Third night TBD About 100 seats

Evening symposia on how the immune system changes with age, and what we can do about it.

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§ 01
The premise

ZEUS hit its target
and missed its endpoint.

In July 2026, ziltivekimab lowered IL‑6 and hsCRP in 6,376 patients as designed but did not reduce cardiovascular events.1 Novo Nordisk has since stopped its heart failure trial early, and the remaining trial, ARTEMIS, reports in the first half of 2027.2

NULL LoDoCo2 colchicine 0.69 · 0.57–0.83 CANTOS anti–IL-1β 0.85 · 0.74–0.98 CIRT methotrexate 0.96 · 0.79–1.16 ZEUS anti–IL-6 · 2026 0.99 · 0.88–1.11 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 LoDoCo2 colchicine 0.69 · 0.57–0.83 CANTOS anti–IL-1β 0.85 · 0.74–0.98 CIRT methotrexate 0.96 · 0.79–1.16 ZEUS anti–IL-6 · 2026 0.99 · 0.88–1.11 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Fig. 1. Hazard ratio for major adverse cardiovascular events Two trials reduced events and two did not.1,3,4,5 ZEUS is the most informative: it enrolled patients selected for inflammation and fully engaged its target, and still showed no effect.1

§ 02
The nights

One question
per night.

Each evening opens with a keynote on the night's question and ends with dinner, where every table takes up one of the five questions below.

I

Thu 1 April

Inflammaging

Which inflammatory pathways are causal, and in which patients?

  • Inflammasome and NLRP3
  • Clearance checkpoints
  • Organ crosstalk
  • Mitochondrial dysfunction

Confirmed

II

Thu 15 April

Rejuvenating the Immune System

Can we rebuild immune output and repertoire instead of only suppressing inflammation?

  • mRNA trophic factors
  • Thymic rejuvenation
  • Partial reprogramming
  • Clonal hematopoiesis

Confirmed

III

Date TBD

Tool Building

What evidence would convince a regulator or a skeptical trialist?

  • Biomarkers and CHIP
  • Single-cell and spatial
  • Patient selection
  • Trial design

Contingent on funding

§ 03
The spine

Five questions,
asked every night.

The same five questions structure every night. They are also the application questions, the table prompts at dinner and the outline of the written playbook we will publish afterward.

Question I · Inflammaging II · Rejuvenation III · Tools
01Modality Cytokine blockade, inflammasome, or clearance? What can be given safely and repeatedly to an 80-year-old? What does a tool need to measure to settle that choice?
02Stratification ZEUS selected patients on hsCRP and still failed.1 Was the marker wrong, or the target? Who has enough reserve left to rebuild? Which stratifiers are registrational today?
03Endpoints Outcome trials need about 6,000 patients.1 What would a regulator accept instead? Are TRECs, repertoire and vaccine response endpoints, or only measurements? When does a signal become a surrogate?
04Biomarkers Which markers are still decision-grade after ZEUS? Which markers track the intervention rather than the disease? What would it take to qualify a clock?
05Trial design Is a single agent enough, or are combinations needed? Which first indication best de-risks a platform? What is the smallest trial a partner would fund?

§ 04
The evening

How each
evening runs.

About 100 people in one room. Talks are recorded and published. Dinner and everything after it are under the Chatham House rule.

5:30 PM
Doors and mixerLight food and non-alcoholic drinks.
6:30 PM
Keynote25 minutes, plus 5 minutes of questions.
7:00 PM
Lightning talksThree talks of 8 minutes each.
7:35 PM
Panel50 minutes on the five questions.
8:25 PM
Closing synthesisWhere the room agreed, and what remains open.
8:35 PM
Seated dinnerEach table takes one question, with a note-taker.
9:35 PM
Open mixingThe evening ends at 9:45 PM.

§ 05
Attending

By application.

The application asks which of the five questions you most want answered, and for your own answer in two sentences.

Where
Cambridge, MAVenue being confirmed.
Who
About 100 a nightMostly scientists, with biotech, pharma and investors.
Cost
FreeDinner included, supported by our partners.
Record
Talks onlyDinner is under the Chatham House rule.
Applications open December 2026 Read the case

§ 06
Partners

Partners and
sponsorship.

Partners do not receive speaking slots. They are acknowledged on this site, in the printed program and from the podium.

Aoki Foundation TIME Initiative

Series Partner

Support the full series

Acknowledged at both nights, on this site, in the program and on the closing slide. Four guest seats per night and an early copy of the written playbook.

Night Partner

Support one night

Acknowledged as the partner for one night, on this site and in that night's program. Three guest seats that evening.

Supporting Partner

Contribute to the series

Listed on this site and in both programs, with two guest seats per night.

In kind

Catering, venue or AV

For an event of this size, food, space or AV support can matter as much as funding. In-kind partners are acknowledged in the same way as Night Partners.

Sources

  1. Novo Nordisk. Update on the ZEUS phase 3 trial in people with ASCVD, CKD and inflammation, July 31, 2026. Ridker PM, et al. Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of the ziltivekimab cardiovascular outcomes trial. JAMA Cardiol 2026;11:89–97. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2025.4491
  2. Fierce Biotech. Novo's blockbuster hopes for CKD program dwindle after more phase 3 trials scrapped, September 7, 2026. ARTEMIS: NCT06118281.
  3. Ridker PM, et al. Antiinflammatory therapy with canakinumab for atherosclerotic disease (CANTOS). N Engl J Med 2017;377:1119–31. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1707914
  4. Nidorf SM, et al. Colchicine in patients with chronic coronary disease (LoDoCo2). N Engl J Med 2020;383:1838–47. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2021372
  5. Ridker PM, et al. Low-dose methotrexate for the prevention of atherosclerotic events (CIRT). N Engl J Med 2019;380:752–62. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1809798

The full case, with references, is on the why-now page.