New Wonder Drug Could Keep Us Young | UK | News | EUROtoday

FROM the Fountain of Youth to the Holy Grail, the battle to beat ageing is sort of as outdated as time itself.

But now British scientists say they’re a step nearer after analysis has discovered a strategy to block necrosis – uncontrolled cell demise that underlies many age-related ailments. If profitable, it may sign a brand new period in medication, the place medical doctors don’t simply deal with the signs of ageing, however goal the organic processes that trigger it.

Scientists hope by halting uncontrolled cell demise, they are going to forestall or delay many ailments of outdated age, together with coronary heart failure, liver illness, kidney illness, Parkinson’s, strokes and dementia.

British biotech firm LinkGevity is getting ready to trial what may develop into the world’s first drug designed to gradual the ageing course of after patenting its experimental drug and finishing lab work. The crew is now awaiting regulatory approval for human trials involving kidney-disease sufferers. It is hoped these will start within the UK, US and Europe inside months – the primary real-world check of what the founders name “anti-necrotic therapy.”

The firm is supported by Innovate UK, the UK authorities’s innovation company, which funds cutting-edge analysis and growth. It additionally receives backing from Horizon Europe, the EU’s major funding programme for analysis and innovation, and the Francis Crick Institute, a world-leading biomedical analysis centre primarily based in London.

LinkGevity’s work has additionally attracted curiosity from NASA and the European and UK Space Agencies, that are learning how microgravity impacts human biology.

The firm was based by sisters Dr Carina Kern, CEO of LinkGevity and Serena Kern-Libera, who left established careers to pursue longevity science.

Dr Kern describes the sphere as restorative medication: “The body is an interconnected network. We’re not just targeting a symptom – we’re targeting the process that drives ageing itself.”

Dr Kern, a former analysis fellow in ageing-associated illness at University College London, leads LinkGevity’s scientific programme. Ms Kern-Libera, a lawyer who beforehand labored on the Bank of England, manages enterprise technique and partnerships.

Together, they’ve positioned their agency on the forefront of efforts to know how our our bodies break down with age – and methods to cease it.

“We’ve never before been able to intervene in this type of cell death,” says Dr Kern. “If we can stop necrosis, we can preserve tissue for longer – and that could mean healthier, longer lives.”

Each day, billions of cells within the human physique die and are changed. Most comply with a secure, orderly course of known as ‘programmed cell death, which aids removal of cancerous cells, and helps with healing and development’.

Necrosis, against this, is uncontrolled – cells swell, rupture, and spill poisonous contents that inflame and injury surrounding tissue.

Over time, this “undesirable” and “messy” type of cell demise contributes to organ failure, coronary heart illness, dementia, and the final tissue decline related to ageing.

“Necrosis underlies tissue degeneration,” mentioned Serena Kern-Libera. “It’s not limited to one disease. It’s something that happens across the biological system.”

LinkGevity’s analysis focuses on the calcium pathways that set off necrosis. Its patented compound is designed to dam the calcium overload that causes cell membranes to burst and die.

The agency’s first human trial will concentrate on sufferers with kidney illness – one of many organs most susceptible to necrosis and age-related decline. If profitable they then hope to make use of the drug as a broader anti-ageing remedy.

Professor Justin Stebbing, a number one most cancers and cell demise professional at Imperial and Anglia Ruskin University who’s an adviser to the corporate, mentioned: “Necrosis sounds like a biology term, but what it really means is tissue rot,

“If you can prevent that, you don’t just look younger – your organs actually stay younger.”

He added: “No regulator has approved a drug for ageing because it’s difficult to be clear about what end points you’re going to use in studies and how to measure it.

“We’re using the kidney as a model, and we think we have a good chance of being the first anti-ageing drug approved, because we understand the mechanism that we’re dealing with here, and we understand how to stop it.”

Nasa believes LinkGevity’s work may additionally assist enhance the lives of astronauts.

In house, astronauts lose muscle mass, bone density, and calcium steadiness – adjustments that mirror facets of accelerated ageing. These circumstances make astronauts a super mannequin for learning tissue degeneration.

Professor Damien Bailey, chair of the Life Science Working Group on the European Space Agency mentioned: ‘When astronauts return to earth they are treated much like patients. If a drug can make our cells more resilient, it could be a gamechanger for both space travel and human health on earth.”
The Cambridge start-up is part of a global race to develop therapies that slow ageing.
In the United States, billionaire-backed ventures such as Altos Labs (funded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), Retro Biosciences (backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman) and Calico Life Sciences (created by Google’s mother or father firm, Alphabet) are all pursuing methods to rejuvenate human cells.
British corporations are investigating cell-reprogramming applied sciences. LinkGevity, nevertheless, takes a less complicated strategy – focusing not on altering genes however on stopping the damaging cell demise that results in organ decline – letting the physique’s regular operate restore itself.
Analysts estimate the worldwide longevity market at round £25 billion.