Pills that can help a person reverse the effects of aging could be on the market in the next five years, according to an expert.
ChatGPT boss Sam Altman has invested $180 million in anti-aging biotech firm, Jeff Bezos invested $3 billion in anti-aging start-up.
Sam Altman, 37, was revealed to have funded biotech startup Retro BioScience to the tune of $180million last month. He is the latest in a long line of Silicon Valley billionaires to throw their considerable wealth behind the science of aging.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos is reported to have invested $3billion in life-extension startup Altos Labs. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel invested in the Methuselah Foundation, which has the goal of making '90 the new 50'.
With all these resources being thrown at curing aging, Andrew Steele, the author of the 2020 book 'Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old', believes pills to prevent aging may be on pharmacy shelves within five years.
He points to existing medications — such as the diabetes tablet metformin - that could be retooled as anti-aging treatments in the 'very, very near term'.
Researchers might have found a way to teach someone's body to refresh their old blood
Around 100,000 people die from age-related diseases every day, according to the World Health Organization.
Mr Steele says: 'Aging is the greatest humanitarian challenge of all time.
There are '20 to 30' companies developing new drugs known as 'senolytics' which kill aging cells in the body, he explained.
In mice, these drugs cause elderly animals to become lively and healthy suddenly.
'Many of these drugs are drugs that we already understand and use for different purposes, so we don't have to develop new medications,' Mr Steele said.
An example of a senolytic treatment is the combination of datasinib, used for chemotherapy, and quercetin, a molecule found in fruits and vegetables.
Used together, they remove aged 'senescent' cells responsible for many of the problems associated with aging.
Another potential general anti-aging drug is metformin. First approved in 1994 for type 2 diabetes, the drug has shown promise extending lifespans by improving blood vessel health.
'Some of those companies are trying to develop new and more effective drugs that could do the same thing better,' the author said.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11844303/First-anti-aging-pills-hit-shelves-2028-exp
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