Could this be the start of a new way to fight ageing? A supplement designed to slow the ageing process aims to increase the number of healthy years we enjoy towards the end of our lives.
Launched for online sale in the聽US in July, the pill hasn鈥檛 been through clinical trials. Instead, it is being marketed direct to the public as a dietary supplement. Its makers claim it is the only scientifically validated anti-ageing supplement on the market.
The launch comes at a time of聽great excitement in longevity medicine. As previously revealed by 快猫短视频, numerous experimental drugs are in trials, and investors expect the field to become a huge聽industry.
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By choosing to sell its product as a supplement 鈥� named Rejuvant 鈥� rather than a drug, Florida-based firm Ponce De Leon Health (PDLH) has beaten many companies out of the gate, but only full clinical trials will be able to confirm whether the pill actually benefits people.
Rejuvant contains alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG), which some studies suggest can extend the lifespan of worms and mice. It has been developed in two formulations: one for men that contains vitamin A, and one for women that includes vitamin D3.
According to PDLH, these combinations are potent extenders of healthspan聽鈥� the years spent free of serious disease聽鈥� in mice, while also lengthening lifespan. The reported improvements are, in theory, the equivalent of about five human years of healthy life.
The supplement was developed by feeding mice combinations of compounds identified as longevity extenders in previous animal studies. Researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in California assessed the mice for hallmarks of ageing such as frailty, hair loss, tremors and difficulty walking. They found that combining AKG with vitamins had the strongest effect on healthspan, and was linked with a boost in lifespan of two to three months.
AKG and vitamins A and D3 are considered 鈥済enerally recognised as safe鈥� for human consumption by the US Food and Drug Administration, but they haven鈥檛 yet been assessed in combination.
鈥淚t should be safe, but it would be good to have data to show it鈥檚 doing something good in a human before selling it,鈥� says Joan Mannick, chief medical officer of聽a聽different anti-ageing biotech firm, resTORbio. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can assume that because it does something in a mouse it鈥檚 going to聽do something in a human.鈥�
PDLH says its experimental results are under review聽for publication in a journal. Details aren鈥檛 available for wider scrutiny yet, but the firm says its mouse experiments found significant epigenetic changes in聽the animals. This involves changes to methyl groups on聽DNA that help regulate the activity of certain genes. PDLH says it saw methylation patterns in older mice that resembled those usually seen in younger animals.
It also says it has evidence that AKG targets senescent cells: worn-out cells that have become a prime target in the renewed quest for anti-ageing treatments. Such cells pump out inflammatory proteins that contribute to ageing.
Rejuvant may also act through another key ageing process 鈥� the mTOR pathway that turns processes that protect against ageing on and off. Experiments in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans have previously shown that AKG influences this pathway, but PDLH has no direct evidence that its supplement does this in mice yet.
Safety trial planned
When PDLH CEO Tom Weldon announced his plan at a closed scientific meeting earlier this year,聽many researchers expressed concern about putting a pill on the聽market without human data on safety and efficacy.
Weldon is one of several PDLH executives taking the supplement. He says that, after a few months, he has seen a dramatic improvement in the levels of certain chemicals in his blood, including C-reactive protein, a sign of inflammation. But he warns that this is anecdotal evidence.
He says he decided to sell the pill as a supplement after realising that, at 63, he would be unlikely to see the product make it to market as a fully validated anti-ageing drug.
Janet Lord at the University of聽Birmingham, UK, says that, although there is good reason to believe that ageing can be slowed, 鈥渟ome of us are concerned about companies coming in and leaping ahead without actually getting the evidence in humans鈥�.
PDLH is preparing to begin an聽80-person trial, primarily to confirm Rejuvant鈥檚 safety. This will also look for epigenetic changes.
