Wish your dog lived longer? There’s a drug for that — and it may help you too

Of course, all dogs go to heaven. But if Celine Halioua is right, it may soon be possible to delay their departure.

Five years ago, when she was 24, the Oxford University dropout founded a start-up called Loyal in the Bay Area of San Francisco. The goal was to develop drugs that could prolong dogs’ lives, pushing back the heartbreak of losing a loved pet.

It was, she says, the kind of “ridiculous idea” that wouldn’t stand a chance of attracting funding outside Silicon Valley. She’d never run a business before, and never managed a workforce.

Yet having raised $120 million, Loyal is now close to gaining approval for the first treatment, for any species, that would be given to lengthen lifespan without targeting a