Panel, Conference Presentation
Turning Back Time: The Science of Aging
Milken InstituteJoanne Kenen, Nir Barzilai, Howard Fillit, Christopher Hite, Joan Mannick, Joanne Cannon, Sami, Aditi Ramdurai, San, Sarah Locke
- Researchers aim to develop simple interventions that alter the biology of aging to delay, prevent, and reverse age-related conditions, potentially targeting multiple diseases simultaneously.
- The TAME clinical trial is designed for individuals aged 65 to 80 to establish a template for aging as an indication, using a composite endpoint where every delayed disease counts as a success.
- Current research focuses on metformin for Alzheimer's, with ongoing trials assessing cognitive benefits via PET scanning, and expectations that it may become a first-line, generic intervention for decades.
- RestorBio's immune-targeting drug is currently in phase three human trials, while a TORC1 inhibitor is anticipated to outperform existing drugs by mimicking time-restricted feeding effects.
- Experts predict senescent cell interventions will be critical around age 80, and that maximum potential lifespan is approximately 115 years, though healthspan extension requires managing cancer survivorship and disability.
- Pharmaceutical development may accelerate if FDA-recognized biomarkers allow for approval based on preclinical state changes within months, bypassing traditional five-year study timelines.
- Significant risks include regulatory hurdles where approval might be blocked if the TAME trial demonstrates significance in only one specific disease rather than aging itself.
- Long-term proof of lifestyle interventions like early metformin use is hindered by the difficulty of conducting 50-year clinical trials, while drug development faces historical precedents of delayed market entry due to safety concerns.
- Societal shifts are expected in the next three years to accommodate extended healthspans, including employing older workers and compressing morbidity to avoid decades of poor quality of life.
- Public health measures remain the most efficient method for increasing life expectancy in developing nations, contrasting with the high cost of pharmaceutical interventions in wealthier regions.