There may not be a magic potion to make you immortal; however, there may be some drugs that can keep you alive for up to 150 years. According to research conducted by Prof. David Sinclair of Univ. of New South Wales Medicine, a single anti-aging enzyme in the body can be targeted to possibly prevent age-related disease.

From his research, Sinclair discovered a whole new class of anti-aging drugs which could ultimately prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s disease ,and type 2 diabetes.“Ultimately, these drugs would treat one disease, but unlike drugs of today, they would prevent 20 others,” says Sinclair. “In effect, they would slow aging.” A synthetic version of naturally-occurring enzyme activator resveratrol, was given to overweight mice which enabled them to run twice as far as the slim mice and they lived 15 percent longer.

“Now we are looking at whether there are benefits for those who are already healthy. Things there are also looking promising,” Sinclair said in a statement. “We’re finding that aging isn’t the irreversible affliction that we thought it was. Some of us could live to 150, but we won’t get there without more research. In the history of pharmaceuticals, there has never been a drug that tweaks an enzyme to make it run faster.” 

The technology was sold to pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in 2008. Four thousand synthetic activators, which are 100 times as potent as a single glass of red wine, have been developed – the best three are in human trials, according to Deccan Herald. “Our drugs can mimic the benefits of diet and exercise, but there is no impact on weight,” said Sinclair, who suggests the first therapeutic to be marketed will be for diabetes.

– Techyville