Towards the Widespread Use of Gerotherapeutic Drugs to Slow Aging

Many compounds, small molecules, plant extracts, and so forth, have been found to modestly slow aging in mice. Given accumulating evidence from animal studies and human clinical trials, and that a sizable fraction of these compounds are already approved by regulators for other uses, or otherwise readily available, it is inevitably the case that physicians and the population at large will begin make use of these treatments in increasing numbers. This will happen, sometimes ahead of the science, sometimes behind it, sometimes to little benefit to patients, sometimes with enough of a benefit to matter. Navigating the options will become a great deal harder than it was, as we transition from an era in which little to nothing could be done to change the pace of aging, to one in which there are many options, with widely varying degrees of reliability, quality, and proof of reliability and quality. The majority of people would like to live to the age of 120 years or more if their health remained good and nearly one half would like an unlimited lifespan. About one-third of people would be prepared to take life extension or anti-ageing therapies now. The possibility that a pill might prevent ageing and increase lifespan is tantalising for most people. As a result, anti-ageing and life extension therapies are often the focus for media hype despite the absence of definitive human data. In this review, the term 'gerotherapeutics' is used to refer to drugs that target agei...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs