Scientists have invented a new drug that raises the tantalising prospect of increasing human lifespan by up to 25%.
The breakthrough speaks to the quest for a longer life that is "woven through human history", said the BBC. But how close are we to finding a cure for ageing – and do we necessarily even want to?
What did the commentators say? Middle-aged lab mice gained an increased lifespan of nearly 25% after scientists found that switching off a protein called IL-11 prevented cancer, and improved metabolism, lung health and muscle function.Â
The finding "opens up" the possibility of taking the therapy to humans, Professor Stuart Cook, from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science at Imperial College, told The Telegraph. The hope is that "one day", anti-IL11 therapy will be "used as widely as possible, so that people the world over can lead healthier lives for longer".
"Eternal youth" is the "stuff of religion and mythology", wrote Helen Pilcher for BBC Science Focus, and it "sounds like snake oil", but there's a "growing body of research that's betting on making it a reality".
New technologies could play a part. Bio-tech firm Insilico Medicine "wants to cure diseases and slow ageing, with the help of AI", said Reed Albergotti on Semafor. The researchers believe that AI may "enable so much precision" that pills could "target the specific cells in our body that make us get older", and "human lifespans will increase drastically".
What next? Ageing has never looked so "treatable" but clinical trials "don't come cheap", said Pilcher, "so the question is, who pays?" Government funding agencies "seemingly aren't keen to invest in the anti-ageing area", regulators "don't tend to fund studies of drugs that are already on the market", and the pharmaceutical industry "won't cough up for trials of drugs that are generic, cheap or off-patent, with no profit margin".
Yet while miraculous anti-ageing pills are not imminent, anti-IL-11 treatments are currently in human clinical trials for other conditions, "potentially providing exciting opportunities to study its effects in ageing humans in the future", said Cook. |