Category Archives: Life Extension

Fort Lauderdale, FL Life Extension has partnered with Insilico Medicine to introduce Ageless Cell, the first supplement in its GEROPROTECT line to promote healthy aging by inhibiting cellular senescence.

Cellular senescence is a natural part of the aging process where cells no longer function optimally, affecting organ function, cellular metabolism, and the inflammation response. The accumulation of these senescent cells contributes to the process of aging. The Ageless Cell supplements inhibit the effects of cellular senescence by acting as geroprotectors, or interventions aimed to increase longevity and impede the onset of age-related diseases by targeting and inhibiting senescence-inducing pathways and inhibiting the development of senescent cells.

The partnership with Insilico Medicine allowed researchers to use deep learning algorithms to comb through hundreds of studies and thousands of data points a process that could have taken decades to identify four key anti-aging nutrients: N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), myricetin, gamma-tocotrienol, and EGCG. These compounds target pathways that are known to contribute to or protect against the development of senescent cells.

Specifically, NAC upregulates signaling pathways that protect cells against oxidative stress, which promotes cellular senescence. It also reduces pathways that promote inflammation. Myricetin regulates a family of stress-responsive signaling molecules known to regulate aging in many tissues. It also promotes cell differentiation and self-repair. Gamma tocotrienol modulates the mevalonate pathway that controls cholesterol production, cancer promotion, and bone formation. And EGCG regulates the Wnt pathway that determines the fate of developing cells and also prevents sugar-induced damage to tissues, helping to suppress their pro-aging effects.

Clinical aging studies are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to perform at this time. Our collaboration with Insilico Medicine has allowed us to develop geroprotective formulations by using artificial intelligence to study very large data sets, said Andrew G. Swick, Ph.D., senior vice president of product development and scientific affairs for Life Extension.

Scientists found these four nutrients have various complementary and reinforcing properties to influence key anti-aging pathways and combat aging factors by modulating specific biological pathways. By rejuvenating near-senescent cells and encouraging the bodys healthy process for dealing with senescent cells, Ageless Cell turns back the clock at the cellular level, said Michael A. Smith, M.D., senior health scientist for Life Extension.

Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., CEO of Insilico Medicine said, Together, these four natural compounds represent the beginning of the future anti-aging cocktails identified using artificial intelligence under expert human supervision.

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Life Extension and Insilico Medicine Use Artificial Intelligence to Develop Ageless - WholeFoods Magazine

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas - Texas A&M Agri-Llife Extension is inviting residents to take advantage of the different programs they offer.

For more than 100 years, the Texas A&M extension has been working to educate south Texans on a variety of topics. The agency's educational process is based on research focused on local issues and needs. Whether it's diabetes management or learning different ways to eat healthy on a budget, they say there is a program for everyone.

Andrea Valdez, Agri-Life Extension Agent said, "Our job is to educate the community to live happier and healthier lives. We've been in this county for 100 years. So, we are a mainstay and we welcome everyone to join out program. Most of them are free. Some of them do have a charge but that's very rare.

For more information about Texas A&Ms educational programs, contact them at 956-383-1026.

You can also find them online at hidalgo.agrilife.org.

Continue reading here:

Texas A&M Agri-Life Extension Invites Resident to Partake in Health Programs - RGVProud

28 Mar 2017, 8 p.m.

Editorial for the March 29 edition of the Illawarra Mercury.

It seems as though much of the first part of 2017 for the NSW Government has been spentunpicking what former Premier Mike Baird attempted to introduce in 2016.

First it was the scrapping of council mergers in regional areas.

Now the Berejiklian government has progressed the reforms of the greyhound industry, which was initially going to be banned outright by former Premier Mike Baird.

The Baird backdown on the ban sparked a review by an expert panel which revealed a series of recommendations to reform the industry instead of the more dramatic option.

On Tuesday Racing Minister Paul Toole announced the NSW Government would accept all but one of the recommendations by the expert panel.

The reforms are expected to cost $41million which will be ultimately paid by the taxpayer purse.

The bulk of the money will be focussed on reforms which the NSW Government hopes will provide better animal welfare.

The other $11 million will go towards the establishment of an agency aimed at policing the industry over the next five years, after which the industry will be required to fund the body.

These reforms will impact on all our local greyhound tracks in the region, Bulli, Dapto and further south in Nowra.

While the industry is welcoming the news it will continue as an industry, the critics are questioning whether the funding and the measures provide enough support to the industry and in the end the result for the industry will be what Mr Baird initially intended.

Bulli Greyhound Club operations manager Darren Hull certainly shared that view with the Illawarra Mercury.

I think it is a good thing that people know where they stand because come the 1st of July, the industry was still going to be banned, Mr Hullsaid.

However, there is probably still a little bit of a cloud, not hanging over the industrys head, but at some point in timeit will have to restructure to remain financial viable.

I dont know if that decision is going to involve scaling back the tracks, cutting back race meetings. But at some stage someone will have to make a call.

In the end this may well prove a life extension than a lifeline, but that remains in the hand of the industry.

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Editorial March 29 2017 - Illawarra Mercury

Based on the Danish governments sanction of the Tyra life extension plans and a continued request from customers for local presence, SH Group has decided to establish a footprint in Esbjerg. The foundation is strong competences within mechanical, hydraulic and electrical work, and the goal is to be the first choice one-stop-shop for owners, operators and wind-companies, especially those companies who are now going to redevelop the Tyra field.

SH Group has employed Bjoern Joensen and Hardy Jeremiassen as Business Development Coordinator and Head of Business Development for offshore-, wind- and marine service in a new department in Esbjerg, which will have special focus on the opportunities arising from the just agreed North Sea Tyra extension plan.

The new team Bjoern Joensen (33) grew up in the port of Esbjerg, and he comes to SH Group with a very broad background from the marine/offshore industry. Since 2006, he has worked his way up from Service Engineer to Team Lead for Rigs & Vessels at Fan Kran Service. Hardy Jeremiassen (52) is the previous owner of Oilpower Hydraulics, and for 6 years he was Service Coordinator and Project Manager with Fan Kran Service, before changing to PMC Technology in 2014. Now both have taken hire with SH Group. Many years in the marine and offshore business has given them a very strong and stable network nationally and internationally. They have used their technical insight for solving a wide variety of projects for customers, and this is a good basis for the new department. And the expectations to the new department are high.

Jeppe Sonne, Sales- and Marketing Director with SH Group, says: Both Bjoern and Hardy have years of experience with servicing hydraulic and mechanical equipment, and they are well-known in Esbjerg. We see a clear trend in customers requesting one single source of supplies for all mechanical, hydraulic, control systems and electrical work. With our in-house technical department of approx. 100 employees and many well-executed project references, we are certain that we can supply such a comprehensive package. That agreement on the Tyra field extension was reached this week just makes us speed up everything related to the new department in Esbjerg.

Focus on customers, safety and delivery As Business Development Coordinator, it is Bjoern Joensens job to establish the new Esbjerg organization within SH Group. Aside from phasing in SH Groups safety procedures in Esbjerg, the goal is to expand the co-operation with existing customers and make new partnership related to the North Sea agreement. Also, a service organization with service engineers and workshop is to be build-up, so that SH Group will be a visible, local company both for customers and potential new employees.

As Head of Business Development, Hardy Jeremiassen has the primary responsibility for sales, and it is his task to grow relations via his extensive network of customers looking for a one-stop-service-shop. Focus is on local, national and international customers, who consider Esbjerg a central location for service work on assets. Source: SH Group

Excerpt from:

North Sea Tyra extension fuels growth: SH Group establishes footprint in Esbjerg - Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

We live in a whirlwind of information, and many times its a struggle just to stay focused on one thing. Dr. Nicole Perritore, with UK Extension, sits down with Meteorologist Eric Burke to discuss some strategies for managing lifes distractions.

Dr. Perritore says social media is a great way to stay connected to friends and family, but it can stop you from being able to concentrate on a task you have to do. If you are always checking for status updates, you may not be able to stay on track with the task you have to do. The best way to avoid this distraction is to not log onto social media sites when you are at work. If you feel like you have to check, limit it to only when you have break times. Also, dont have the tabs open at the top of the computer and dont auto log on.

When it comes to emails, Dr. Perritore recommends, if possible, to create only certain times that you answer emails, even if it is that last ten minutes of every hour. That way you can work on your project uninterrupted and still check your emails in a timely manner.

Also of note, most of us like to think that we are good at multitasking that we are able to get more done in a shorter amount of time. Dr. Perritore says that, actually, it usually takes LONGER to complete those tasks then if you had done each one individually. This is especially true if you are working with a tight deadline. Save multitasking for tasks that are not urgent.

Finally, watch out for stress and being tired! The best way to deal with stress is to find a way to reduce stress. You may start deep breathing or even meditation. One study even found that when people meditated they not only lowered the stress but actually increased their focus! Meanwhile, when you are not getting a good night sleep and resting, it can be very hard to concentrate. By getting enough sleep you are able to be more alert and be able to pay attention to the task you need to complete.

Find more information on maintaining your focus, as well as other great UK Extension programs at ca.uky.edu.

The rest is here:

Managing Life's Distractions UK Extension - WTVQ

Human Ageing Genomic Resources announced last week their on-line database of animal studies that evaluated drugs and supplements for extended lifespan. HAGR is a project of the University of Liverpool, spearheaded by Joo Pedro de Magalhaes, who has been an activist-scientist in aging research since his days as a grad student at Harvard.

The database is a great resource for researchers, and helps assure that we have no excuse for overlooking a substance or a perspective or a particular result. Maintaining and updating it will continue to be an important and demanding project.

The full database covers 1316 studies, and I will review here just those on mice and rats. My reason is that life extension in simpler animals turns out to be too easy. There is much we can learn about universal biochemistry from studies in worms and flies, but most of the successes there fail when the (longer and costlier) studies are done in mammals.

Here is a spreadsheet extracting just the 93 studies on mice and rats. You can view it online, and if you download it or copy it into your own GoogleDrive account, you can sort and edit and re-arrange it at will.

Old News

Rapamycin: Has the most studies and the best data. Clearly works, but has side effects and it is not yet clear if it is appropriate for general use. Make your own decision. [read more]

Metformin: We have extensive experience with humans, and clear indications that it lowers cancer rates and ACM*, but there are dangers and side-effects. [read more]

Melatonin: Good evidence for modest life extension in rodents. For some people, its also a good nights sleep; for others it can lead to grogginess or depression.

Aspirin: The best evidence for lower cancer and ACM* is in humans. Most people can tolerate a daily mini-aspirin without stomach complications.

Epithalamin (and other short peptides): This is work by Anisimov in St Petersburg, and it is so promising that I cant understand why it isnt being replicated all over the world. [read more]

Deprenyl: Old studies, but they show consistent, if modest life extension. It affects CNS in ways that you might feel, might like or might not. [read more]

Vitamin E: This is just one study, dosage equivalent to hundreds of pills a day, mice kept in shivering cold conditions. [ref] In a large human study, antioxidant vitamins increased mortality. [ref]

Acarbose: A diabetes drug that blocks the digestion of carbohydrates. Side effects and toxicity make it less promising than metformin as a general recommendation. [drug info]

C60 Fullerene: Just one study in 6 rats, with spectacular results. Replication has failed [private communication from Anton Kulaga]. Nevertheless, there are thousands of people experimenting on themselves. [read more]

Curcumin: There are major questions about absorption and dosage, but no question that anti-inflammatories are a good general strategy, and curcumin is a good anti-inflammatory. [read more]

Green tea: Small but consistent life extension from polyphenols extracted from tea. From a number of high-profile experimentalists, 2013.

Resveratrol: Works great in simpler animals, including some vertebrates, but in mammals life extension has been limited to overweight mice on a high-fat diet. [read more]

The New Part

BHT: This is an anti-oxidant and chelating agent, which means that it is attracted to metal ions, it pulls them out of circulation and takes them out of commission. This sounds good when its removing mercury or lead, but lessgood when its removing iron and dangerous if its removing zinc or other essential trace minerals. BHThas long been used as a food packaging additive to preserve freshness, and it is still avoided by natural foods types. This Russian study [2003] found 17% life extension in mice.

Creatine: Used by body-builders, it encourages muscle growth by blocking myostatin. It also increases nerve growth, and slows shrinking of the brain. In one promising mouse study [2008], average lifespan increased 9%.

Icariin: This is an active ingredient in the traditional Chinese herb which in the West is known as Horny Goat Weed. One mouse study, 6% increase in lifespan.

VI-28: Another Chinese herb. Just one study, up to 14% increase.

Royal Jelly: Queen bees are genetically identical to worker bees, yet they live 100 times longer. Is it the royal jelly they are fed? One mouse study [2003] showed a 25% increase in mean lifespan, but no increase in max lifespan.

N-Acetyl Cysteine: Glutathione is an antioxidant associated with mitochondria. Unquestionably, glutathione is a good thing. Too bad we cant just eat it. The next best thing is to take the precursor, NAC, which seems to lead to increased glutathione throughout the body. This one study [2010] came out of the same prestigious group at Jackson Labs that brought us rapamycin. Mean lifespan increased a stunning 255. Two reservations: (1) they used enormous dosages, and (2) the mice on high-dose NAC ate less, so they probably benefited from caloric restriction.

Ginkgo biloba: Extract from the stinky fruit of an ancient oriental tree. Traditionally used as a neuroprotective and concentration enhancer, for which it is mildly effective. In 1998, a single study found 17% life extension in rats. Who knew?

The Bottom Line

Clearly there is a great deal of promise here, but there is also much work to be done before we have it sorted out.

If youre curious, of the substances reviewed here, I personally take metformin, aspirin, creatine and NAC. I season with turmeric a few times a week. I have dabbled with deprenyl and rapamycin.

* All-Cause Mortality

. Bookmark the

.

Read more:

New Database of Lifespan Trials - ScienceBlog.com (blog)

Mark OConnell has spent the past few years meeting people who want to upload their minds to robots and never die. He has visited warehouses filled with frozen heads, met people who implant technology in their own bodies, and toured the United States in a coffin-shaped camper van with a man who was campaigning to be president.

The general subject of OConnells beautifully written book, To Be a Machine, is transhumanism. And far from being a fringe movement of online nuts, this is, in fact, at the centre of futurist thinking in Silicon Valley Ray Kurzweil of Google is among its foremost theorists. The central tenet of transhumanism is the notion of the singularity, a moment at which we will have both self-aware computers and the technology to allow us to merge our consciousness with machines. (Kurzweil has suggested the year could be 2045.)

OConnell first came across transhumanism 10 years ago, when writing for the now defunct Mongrel magazine. He is, he stresses, a layman, not an expert, and he is even apologetic about describing himself as a journalist, despite writing for the New York Times magazine and the New Yorkers Page Turner blog. (Im emasculated by your professionalism, he says when he sees my uncharacteristically printed-out notes.)

I guess I do have this weird obsession with the machine of the body, OConnell says as we upload sandwiches in a Dublin cafe.

While there is this quite extreme movement with a cluster of interesting ideas to think about in and of themselves, its also a kind of an extreme manifestation of our own f***ed-up relationship with technology and my own f***ed up relationship with being a fallible, dying human being.

So its a way of writing about death? To Be a Machine, he says, is a book about death. I didnt really realise it until Margaret Atwood put it on a list of her favourite books about death . . . I have this thing where anytime I go through a major life change it translates to instant obsession with death. When I got married I thought, The first part of my life is the part before I got married and I didnt die, and the second part is the part where I have been married and I die. He laughs. I am morbidly preoccupied with death.

There was no better place for him to be, then, than Phoenix, Arizona, where Max More, chief executive of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, showed him a warehouse full of frozen heads.

They call them cephalons, OConnell says. They get a lot of mileage out of that euphemism. But its this really banal, mundane scenario. Its an office where no one seems to be doing that much work. Theres a real air of lassitude about the place, and its literally in a business park beside a place called Big D Floor Covering Supplies.

Is being frozen expensive?

Those who sign up for this postdeath procedure do so in the hope that by the time they are unfrozen there will be a cure for death. I think the preferred scenario is that you upload the brain into a new body, and the old fleshy body is disposed of. Its a religious idea, basically. They hate that interpretation of it.

In his book OConnell cant help but reach for religious allegories. Still, he is reluctant to describe transhumanism as a religion (although he visits a quasi-religious offshoot, Terasem Faith). His narration has a winningly anxious air, and he indulges in long, entertaining tangents where he talks about philosophy, his young son and his own sanity.

Mad as he found some transhumanist ideas, he cant entirely discount them. I was often really aware of being the stupidest person in the room. I had this sensation of being around people who were way more rational than me and way more informed about the technologies. I used this phrase magical rationalism. There was a logic to everything, but it went to this space of craziness.

A case in point: OConnell spent time with a bunch of biohacking body-modification aficionados in a house on the edge of Pittsburgh. They want to be cyborgs, he says. They refer to themselves as practical transhumanists, and theyre in an uneasy relationship with the people talking about mind uploading in the future. They want it now. Theyre like the DIY punk wing of the movement.

Practical transhumanists have unlicensed surgery to have technology implanted in their bodies. So Im a cyborg, but what does it mean? It means I can open my car without taking my keys out of my pocket. The cure is worse than the disease, basically. You have to get unlicensed surgery so you can open the door of your car without taking your key out. They saw it as a gesture towards the future.

Again, theres a hugely religious dimension to it, but if you say that to them they get really impatient, because theyre all hard-core atheists into Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett.

Tim Cannon, the groups de facto leader, recently had an implant removed that left a horrible scar on his arm.

Hed had this thing about the size of a mobile phone in his arm, OConnell says.

in this case a body modification artist named Steve Haworth to put it into you . . . It uploaded information about body temperature to his laptop, which was connected to his heating system. If he got too cold the heat went on.

OConnell laughs. Kind of interesting, but also, would you not just get up and turn on the heating?

Not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid. Transhumanists ultimately believe that the mind is a vast collection of data that is replicable outside the body. But one sceptical neuroscientist told OConnell that the brain is less like a collection of data and more akin to a shoal of fish. The notion that we might be able to upload to machines anytime soon is unrealistic.

Its a recurring category error that we humans make, OConnell says: to assume that our minds are like the latest technology. I think transhumanist ideas come from spending too much time with a computer and overidentifying with it as an extension of the self. It reminds me of The Third Policeman the confusion between the man and the bicycle . . . I wonder if Flann OBrien was around now, would he be writing about computers?

In another chapter OConnell travels with Zoltan Istvan, a transhumanist theorist and life-size Ken doll, in a camper van designed to look like a coffin, as Istvan campaigns for the US presidency on an anti-death ticket.

I like him against my better judgment, OConnell says. The feeling must be mutual, because Istvan gave To Be a Machine a positive review on Amazon. He wrote, Im unaware of any other prominent writer having done so much research on the movement itself that was not a transhumanist.

How did all this contemplation of death and deathlessness affect OConnell? Hmm, he says and chews his sandwich. This is 80 per cent chewing, 20 per cent thinking, he says after a while. He thinks again. The American political philosopher Francis Fukuyama described transhumanism as the most dangerous idea in the world. OConnell wouldnt go that far himself, but he says he understands the anxiety that comes from long-standing beliefs about what it means to be human. He writes movingly about his animalistic love for his wife and son:

Would he like to be uploaded to a computer to live forever? I would rather be dead. I cant quite intellectually justify it, but it just feels viscerally nightmarish. Maybe I just dont love life that much.

His new friends in the world of transhumanism would call this a deathist philosophy. It is an outlook he couldnt even shake when faced with a minor cancer scare. I think my view of death is still the view of a guy in his mid-30s. Whereas I talk to my dad about it, hes 73 and he has a completely different view. Hes a pharmacist, and says maybe it wouldnt be such a terrible thing. You get to my age and an extra few years would be nice. I suppose its difficult to imagine being at a point where youre like, times up.

Transhumanists, on the other hand, dont talk in terms of an extra couple of years. Many fantasise about travelling the universe eternally as near god-like machines. Meanwhile, scientific types such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking warn of the dangers posed by malevolent artificial intelligences.

Theres a sense that these people are off the reservation, says OConnell, but at the same time these are the people creating the future. Fifty years ago, if you had people talking about how we were all going to spend all our time in this semi-imaginary, semi-real realm the internet wed think thats mad, and it doesnt sound all that great.

OConnells current concerns are more prosaic. He worries about who owns the servers on to which our data and personalities might be uploaded (few transhumanists fret about such things) and, in the shorter term, about his sons employment prospects.

The one thing I came out of writing this book completely shitting myself about was the employment implications of this technology. The destruction of jobs, he says, will happen soon.

In the same way that the book is about death and America, its about capitalism as well. I feel like the logic of capitalism is inexorably heading towards owning the means of production and the labour force, and integrating that into one machine and getting rid of as many people as possible.

Ultimately, To Be a Machine is both an insight into transhumanist thought and OConnells very relatable fears and anxieties about mortality and the future. I assume he will follow through on these in his next book, which is about prepping for the fall of civilisation: Its always the apocalypse one way or another.

His son recently asked what happens when people die. Without a religious afterlife to fall back on, his mother told him that his father was writing about people who believed that death would end, so he might never have to worry about it.

OConnell laughs. Also, it was perfect for the book.

Patrick Freyne is interviewing Mark OConnell as part of the Mountains to Sea DLR Book Festival, at the LexIcon in Dn Laoghaire, on Saturday, March 25th, at 7pm; mountainstosea.ie. To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death is published by Granta Books

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Who wants to live forever? Transhumanism's promise of eternal life - Irish Times

Investigators probing the fatal crash of a Sun Way Ilyushin Il-76TD heavy freighter in Karachi have determined the aircraft had been operating beyond its approved service life when it suffered an uncontained engine failure.

Analysis of the Georgian-registered aircrafts dynamics, using flight-data recorder information, indicates it had taken off with a weight of 195t, in excess of the 190t recommended in the flight crew operations manual.

The outboard right-hand Soloviev D-30 engine sustained a second-stage disk failure in its low-pressure compressor after the jet (4L-GNI) took off from runway 25L on 27 November 2010.

Pakistans Safety Investigation Board states that the aircraft was capable of maintaining flight with a single engine failure, and a wings-level attitude could have been maintained with aileron and rudder input.

But examination of the control inputs suggest the aircraft must have sustained extensive damage during the engine explosion and subsequent fuel fire.

The inquiry believes the Il-76 received damage to its flaps, and lost lift on the outer half of the starboard wing, causing the aircraft to bank to the right.

Modelling of the accident sequence indicates that eliminating 20% of the starboard wings flaps would have been sufficient to generate the roll moment registered on the flight-data recorder.

Taking into consideration low altitude and speed it was almost impossible to counter this situation by input of the flight controls, says the inquiry.

The aircraft banked 71 to the right, despite full deflection of ailerons and strong rudder input, and struck the ground about 1min after lifting off.

None of the eight occupants of the freighter survived the crash, and the fatalities also included three people on the ground.

The inquiry noted that, on two occasions earlier in the week of the accident, the crew had experienced difficulty in starting the outboard right-hand engine.

It was not possible to exactly determine the reason [for] abnormal starts of [the engine], says the Safety Investigation Board, but it suggests the most probable issue was reduction of compressor efficiency arising from worn blades.

Investigators add that the likely cause of the engine failure was fatigue cracking in a low-pressure compressor disk.

The condition of the 26-year old aircraft and its engines came under considerable scrutiny during the inquiry.

Investigators state that the carrier did not provide complete aircraft or engine logbooks to the probe, nor did it provide relevant records on service-life extensions to engines.

The lack of information has led the inquiry to conclude that all four engines were being operated beyond the service life established by the powerplant manufacturer, and that the manufacturer had not approved a life extension.

Investigators add that the Ilyushin design bureau assigned a calendar-based service life of 20 years for the jet, which expired in May 2004.

The aircraft was operated beyond its assigned life without approval of the designer, says the inquiry.

Although all four engines were located in the main debris field, some parts of the outer right-hand engine including low-pressure compressor blades and disks were found beneath the flight path about 1,900-2,400m from the end of the runway, and 1,200-1,400m before the crash site wreckage.

Analysis pointed to characteristics suggestive of fatigue cracking, due to fretting corrosion, in the second-stage disk. Since the logbooks of the engine were unavailable, the inquiry could not determine whether remedial measures to address this problem were implemented.

See the original post here:

Il-76 flown beyond service life before fatal engine explosion - Flightglobal

For some time I've been tracking work on extending healthy lives and longevity, both from a scientific as well as an investment perspective. I indicated that there are a number of biotech startups that start out seeking to extend lifespan, but as a survival mechanism, end up choosing a disease that is more common with age and seeking to address that.

Life extending drugs Metformin and Rapamycin

Previously I've highlighted two drugs, Metformin and Rapamycin, developed for specific diseases, which might also extend lifespan as a side effect. Here is an update.

Metformin

A good summary of the current status of Metformin has been published recently in Endocrine Today. This article describes the history of Metformin development, which has culminated in it being the recommended first-line drug for treating type 2 diabetes both in the US and worldwide. Because it is available as a generic and is cheap to manufacture, this drug could be used as a long term anti-aging drug (~$4 for 1 month supply).

Metformin has a number of positive health effects beyond its use in treating type 2 diabetes, including applications for treating some patients with obesity.

A six year placebo controlled study on 3000 elderly patients is underway to explore Metformin protection of age related disease occurrence. There are indications that Metformin may be protective against growth of cancer cells.

Of course prescribing Metformin as a life extending/quality of life drug is not an immediate prospect, although there have been some studies on a possible life extending action by Metformin.

The commercial prospects for this drug are limited as it is no longer patented and there seems to be limited opportunity to develop a proprietary formulation as it is easily administered as a daily tablet.

Since it is clear that Metformin doesn't work for everyone, perhaps the future for this kind of life extending drug might be to integrate its use into a wellness portfolio, with screening to see whether you are likely to benefit from the drug. This would mean packaging the drug in an informatics-based service business. Of course the benefits of Metformin need to be better clarified, but after that there needs to be a business model sorted out that doesn't rely on a patented position for the actual drug itself.

Management of patient data is now coming of age with cloud based electronic health records and data management with companies like Commvault (NASDAQ:CVLT). While these companies at present focus on integrating and making available a wide range of patient data, it is a logical step for these kinds of providers to assist health providers to mine and integrate data with a view to promoting wellness and reducing the cost of treatment after people get sick. In fact this approach is already emerging with companies like Nextgen Healthcare (a subsidiary of Quality Systems (NASDAQ:QSII)). Investors looking for future investments in the healthcare area might keep an eye out for how companies like Commvault, and Nextgen are positioning themselves.

It isn't surprising that Craig Venter, who transformed the human genome project, is interested in this space with his company Human Longevity Inc. However, it has been argued that Human Longevity Inc is more a personalised medicine company than a longevity science company. So Human Longevity operates in a similar space to Nextgen Healthcare, except that a core feature of Venter's company is sequencing and annotating individual human genome data.

Rapamycin

The Rapamycin story is different to Metformin as in the case of Rapamycin a number of big pharma companies have a patent position on variants of Rapamycin (Sirolimus). Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Everolimus and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Temsirolimus have been investigated for kidney cancer treatments, and also in combination with other drugs for exploring treatment of various cancers. Everolimus may also have fertility sparing attributes for women being treated with chemotherapeutic agents.

Abbott (NYSE:ABT) Zotarolimus and private company Elixir Medical Corp Novolimus (which is an active metabolite of Rapamycin (Sirolimus)) have been tested as a cardiac stent coating. Everolimus has also been used as a cardiac stent coating.

The above patented Rapamycin derivatives leave the way open for a more conventional drug development program for anti-aging and quality of life improvement. No doubt as part of consideration of Rapamycin derivatives for life extension applications, there are senior executives in big pharma trying to work out how this could play out.

Unlike the situation with Metformin where life extension possibilities are being identified through data mining of a large patient base who use Metformin, especially for Type 2 diabetes, in the case of Rapamycin, trials are being established to test low doses both in large animals (dogs) and humans to test more directly life extension and quality of life improvements.

Dog trials: The first phase of the Dog Aging Project has been completed; it involved a low dose of Rapamycin. There were 24 middle-aged dogs treated with placebo or Rapamycin in a trial in Seattle. The key findings, which will be published, were that there were no significant side effects of Rapamycin treatment and also that positive effects on heart function compared to controls were similar to results found after treating old mice. The trial involved a small number of animals and it produced limited, but encouraging results.

The second phase of the Dog Aging Project involves treating middle-aged dogs with low doses of Rapamycin (with a placebo control) for 3 -5 years to understand if Rapamycin does cause increased lifespan and a better elderly life. A number of age-related parameters will be assessed before, during and after the 3-5 year Rapamycin dosing period. Key parameters to be measured include cognitive function, heart function, immunity and cancer incidence. The geographical reach of the second phase trial will extend throughout the US and hopefully overseas. At the low doses used, no adverse effects of Rapamycin are expected.

Human trials: There are currently two human clinical trials assessing low doses of Rapamycin in progress.

One trial sponsored by The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio and due for completion in June 2017, involves treating healthy (includes those with chronic disease whose disease is stable) aged volunteers aged 70-95 years with a daily dose of Rapamycin or placebo for 8 weeks. The primary endpoint involves scientific measurements of immune response and T-cell function. Secondary outcomes involve physical performance (grip strength, walking speed) and cognitive performance based on 3 different tests.

A second trial, sponsored by the Mayo Clinic, is a Phase 1 study that involves a small open label trial, which will be followed by a randomized trial involving exercise or exercise plus low dose of Rapamycin. Patients will be 60 years or older. It looks like this study was preceded by a pilot study measuring senescence markers and physical function in elderly patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation. Rapamycin treatment showed some improvement of senescence markers and physical performance, but no improvement in frailty in the pilot study. The interesting point is that Rapamycin at a low dose unlikely to cause any adverse effects, is being taken seriously as a potential life extension/quality of life treatment. There are interesting developments in Rapamycin-like drugs that may have better potential as life extending drugs than Rapamycin itself.

The next developments here will be if big Pharma starts to do trials on their proprietary (patented) forms of Rapamycin.

Conclusion

As is often the case when new fields of medicine are opened up, the treatment, the drug pricing and the means of commercialisation are all unclear. It is a twist to contemplate taking a drug when you are well, but not without precedent as aspirin is often taken at low doses to prevent heart attack and stroke.

Here I've discussed two business models for old drugs that may have life extension/quality of life improvements. For Metformin I suggest that it could be incorporated in a wellness program. For Rapamycin a more traditional drug development route is possible. Watch this space.

Author's note: I am not a financial advisor. I look for innovation in biotech and try to understand how this may be monetized. If my commentary helps shape your perspective on biotech investment, please consider following me.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Metformin And Rapamycin: Signs Of (Extended) Life? How To Monetize? - Seeking Alpha

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/life-extension-set-to-introduce-ageless-cell-300416942.html

SOURCE Life Extension

http://www.lef.org

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Life Extension set to introduce Ageless Cell - PR Newswire - PR Newswire (press release)