Medics hail 'new era' in battle against ageing

FROM the Fountain of Youth to the Holy Grail, the fight to beat ageing is almost as old as time itself.

- BY LUCY JOHNSTON Social Affairs Editor

But a team of scientists say they are close to a seismic breakthrough, after research found a way to block “necrosis” - the uncontrolled cell death that underlies many age-related diseases.

If successful it could signal a new era in medicine, where doctors don't just treat the symptoms of ageing but target the biological processes that cause it.

Scientists hope that by halting uncontrolled cell death they will prevent or delay many diseases of old age, including heart failure, liver disease, kidney disease, Parkinson's, strokes and dementia.

British biotech company LinkGevity is preparing to trial what could become the world’s first drug designed to slow the ageing process, after patenting its experimental drug and completing lab work.

The team is awaiting regulatory approval for human trials involving kidney disease patients. It is hoped these will begin in the UK, US and Europe within months - the first real-world test of what the founders call “anti-necrotic therapy”.

The company is supported by Innovate UK, a government agency which funds cutting-edge research and development.

It also receives backing from Horizon Europe, the EU's main funding programme for research and innovation, and the Francis Crick Institute, a world-leading biomedical research centre based in London.

LinkGevity's work has also attracted interest from NASA and the European and UK Space Agencies, which are studying how microgravity affects human biology.