Someone just got the first shot of anti-aging meds
Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Push your mid-life crisis a few decades, you might be here awhile. Life Biosciences, a Boston-based longevity company, just started the first FDA-approved human clinical trial to turn back time on old cells. The trial is arguably the biggest tangible step yet for the longevity industry, which has historically failed to deliver on many of its life-extending promises. How it works: Scientists injected their ER-100 drug into the eye of a patient suffering from glaucoma, attempting to rejuvenate cells in the optic nerve and restore sight. Life Biosciences is hoping to use this technology, known as cellular reprogramming, on other organs like the liver (and maybe someday the brain). Don’t expect a pill to take you back to 21 any time soon. This trial is still in its beginning stages, and cellular reprogramming led to cancerous cells forming in some early research in mice. Plus, the company’s co-founder, Harvard geneticist David Sinclair, has a history of overhyping his longevity treatments. Big picture: The long road to anti-aging isn’t stopping billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman, or Big Pharma companies like Eli Lilly and Merck, from dumping cash into other longevity startups. |