An experimental drug, rentosertib, developed to treat a serious lung disease may also offer a surprising benefit by slowing the biological aging process, according to a recent clinical study. The findings, published in Nature Biotechnology, showed that patients treated with rentosertib exhibited changes in blood proteins that suggested they were biologically younger than their chronological age.
In the small study, which involved 42 patients, several validated aging tests indicated that participants appeared approximately three to four years younger biologically after treatment. In one instance, a patient appeared up to six years younger. The strongest effects were observed in patients taking 30 mg of the drug twice daily for four weeks. Researchers noted that these changes in blood proteins occurred in the opposite direction of what is typically seen with aging, when compared to data from over 55,000 individuals in the UK Biobank.
Rentosertib was discovered with the assistance of artificial intelligence and is being developed by Insilico Medicine. It targets idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a condition causing lung scarring. The drug's potential anti-aging effect was an unexpected outcome.
However, researchers caution that these results are preliminary and do not yet prove that rentosertib can reverse aging or extend lifespan. "It's early days," stated Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and co-CEO of Insilico Medicine. "The drug is still investigational." The study's limitations include its small sample size and the fact that all participants had IPF, a disease that can alter the same blood proteins used to measure biological aging. This raises the possibility that observed protein changes could be linked to improvements in the lung disease itself, rather than a direct anti-aging effect.
Potential side effects associated with rentosertib were described as manageable. The most common adverse effects included mild diarrhea, temporary slight decreases in blood potassium levels, and transient increases in liver enzymes, which typically returned to normal after discontinuing the drug. Insilico Medicine plans to adjust drug dosages in future trials to allow patients to remain on the medication for longer periods.
Rentosertib has advanced to a Phase 3 study involving over 300 patients in China. Larger and longer-term trials, including those with healthy older adults and populations without IPF, are necessary to definitively determine if the drug possesses true anti-aging effects and if these effects translate to improved health outcomes. Zhavoronkov expressed increased confidence in pursuing drugs that target both age-related diseases and aging itself, stating that living longer should be a fundamental human right.