Clinical trials of the first anti-aging therapy

We are pleased to announce that UNITY Biotechnology has begun human trials of the first true anti-aging therapy, which is directly aimed at one of the causes of aging: senescent cells.

Peaceful Revolution

In our collective imagination, revolutions start with an explosion; however, most often, real technological revolutions begin quietly and without the knowledge of most people. This is largely what happens with therapy, the purpose of which is to prevent or reverse age-related diseases by directly targeting the causes of aging.

The very first human trial of senolithic drugs was announced back in June, and most of the world paid little attention to him, and what his success might be for the future of medicine. We are talking about the statement of UNITY Biotechnology about the beginning of testing of its senolithic drug UBX0101 in patients suffering from osteoarthritis.
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Senolitic educational program

Senolitiki - a class of drugs that can potentially affect the senescent cells, which are one of the causes of aging . Simply put, a cell becomes senescent when it loses its ability to divide. This occurs as a response to DNA damage, and therefore it is a kind of protection in order to prevent the proliferation of cells containing mutations, such as cancer cells, for example. This response may be caused by telomere depletion, since the cell performs the maximum number of divisions it is capable of or other external stresses, such as oxidative stress.

Cell aging helps prevent cancer and is important in wound healing; however, accumulation of senescent cells over time is detrimental. Senescent cells secrete a chemical cocktail called aging - related secretory phenotype (SASP), which is associated with a number of age-related diseases; SASP promotes tissue inflammation and causes aging in adjacent healthy cells, initiating a kind of chain reaction.

While senescent cells are usually destroyed by the immune system, an increasing number of avoid destruction due to immune aging — an age-related decline in the ability of the immune system to do its job. This, in turn, leads to an accumulation of senescent cells and an increase in chronic inflammation.

For several years, it has been suggested that the selective elimination of senescent cells may reduce, potentially stop and reverse some age-related pathologies; several bioengineering companies have developed different types of senolithic, targeting sensational cells, leaving healthy cells intact. The results on mice of different ages were very good, but the only way to find out whether a senolithic will be useful to a person is to run a clinical trial on a person.

UNITY Biotechnology and UBX0101 Testing

UNITY Biotechnology was founded in 2011 by Jan van Dürsen, Judith Kampizi, Nathaniel David and Daohun Zhou. UNITY focuses on the destruction of senescent cells, but the company is also working on mitochondrial dysfunction and loss of circulating adolescent factors. Her plans include several drugs that are currently in an optimization phase, and UBX0101 has just entered phase 1 of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, FDA-approved clinical trial .

UBX0101 is currently being tested for safety in patients suffering from mild and severe osteoarthritis, age-related pathology affecting the joints and causing destruction of cartilage and bone. This pathology can cause swelling of the joints, reduced mobility, pain in the joints and their stiffness, affecting everyday life. Cellular aging is associated with osteoarthritis, and affects different joints, but the current UNITY study focuses on knee osteoarthritis. Although this test is intended primarily to assess the safety and tolerability of a single injection, the effectiveness will also be monitored.

What's next?

It is too early to say how well the Senolitics will work in public, but regardless of this, the process can be considered an important milestone on the road to a world free from aging. Although this study focuses on a specific pathology, the UNITY approach focuses on the primary cause of aging, reversing the disease, or at least slowing it down; Currently, osteoarthritis is treated - like most age-related pathologies - only symptomatically.

If the test is successful, it will attract more resources for such research in order to further improve the approach and, possibly, expand it for the treatment of other pathologies; other companies may follow the lead of UNITY and join the race to improve technology that has already proven its effectiveness; more generally, a successful senolitic test will provide proof of the concept that a person’s aging can be medically intervened not only in theory but also in practice. This can be a fatal blow to pro-aging trance, forcing many people to believe that it is not necessary to interfere with aging.

UNITY also has a second candidate for senolithics, UBX1967, an inhibitor of specific members of the BCL-2 apoptosis regulatory protein family, which is scheduled for phase 1 clinical trials in the treatment of eye diseases in the second half of 2019.

Conclusion

This is the first real anti-aging therapy in human clinical trials, based on a repair approach to aging, as far back as 2004 developed by Aubrey de Gray from SENS. The removal of these problem cells has long been proposed as a way of dealing with age-related pathologies and, we have reached the point at which more than ten years of research are finally ready for testing.

If the test fails, it will still provide us with invaluable information, deepen our understanding of aging and allow us to try again. In any case, it will be a win-win. We are pleased to update our Rejuvenation Card , to include UNITY in it, and we wish them success!