BioAge Raises $90M and Prepares for Clinical Trials of Small Molecules to Slow Effects of Aging

The first wave of longevity industry companies to reach clinical trials and large funding rounds are those that focus on the well established methodology of small molecule development. Many are also platform companies that have developed approaches to speed up the expensive and time-consuming tasks of screening and designing small molecules. With the exception of the small molecule senolytics companies, these treatments presently tend to epitomize what the SENS Research Foundation folk would call "messing with metabolism," a poor alternative to actually targeting and fixing underlying causes of aging. This messing with metabolism usually means finding a molecule that can provoke cells into undertaking some of the same repair and maintenance mechanisms that occur in response to exercise, calorie restriction, heat, cold, toxins, and other stresses. The outcomes in mice are usually no better than the benefits resulting from exercise or calorie restriction. We live in a world conditioned to expect very little from medicine to treat diseases of aging - no great surprise given that, historically, no-one tried to target the causes of aging. There is only so much you can do to keep a damaged machine running if you persist in not repairing the damage. We have a regulatory system that is geared up to the task of picking out marginally successful therapies from those that do nothing. In this world, turning up with a therapy that is 25% or 50% as good as the results of structured ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs