8 | New Scientist | 3 August 2019COULD this be the start of a new
way to fight ageing? A supplement
designed to slow the ageing
process aims to increase the
number of healthy years we enjoy
towards the end of our lives.
Launched for online sale in
the US in July, the pill hasn’t been
through clinical trials. Instead, it is
being marketed direct to the public
as a dietary supplement named
Rejuvant. Its makers claim it is the
only scientifically validated anti-
ageing supplement on the market.
The launch comes at a time
of great excitement in longevity
medicine. As previously revealed
by New Scientist, numerous
experimental drugs are in trials,
and investors expect the field to
become a huge industry.
By choosing to sell its product as
a supplement rather than a drug,
Florida-based firm Ponce De Leon
Health (PDLH) has beaten many
companies out of the gate, but
only full clinical trials will be
able to confirm whether the
pill actually benefits people.Rejuvant contains alpha-
ketoglutarate (AKG), which some
studies suggest can extend the
lifespan of worms and mice.
It has been developed in two
formulations: one for men that
contains vitamin A, and one for
women that includes vitamin D3.According to PDLH, these
combinations are potent
extenders of healthspan – the
years spent free of serious
disease – in mice, while also
lengthening lifespan. The reported
improvements are, in theory, the
equivalent of about five human
years of healthy life.
The supplement was developed
by feeding mice combinations
of compounds identified as
longevity extenders in previous
animal studies. Researchers at
the Buck Institute for Research on
Aging in California assessed the
mice for hallmarks of ageing such
as frailty, hair loss, tremors and
difficulty walking. They found thatcombining AKG with vitamins had
the strongest effect on healthspan,
and was linked with a boost in
lifespan of two to three months.
AKG and vitamins A and D3 are
considered “generally recognised
as safe” for human consumption
by the US Food and Drug
Administration, but they haven’t
yet been assessed in combination.
“It should be safe, but it would
be good to have data to show
it’s doing something good in a
human before selling it,” says Joan
Mannick, chief medical officer
of a different anti-ageing biotech
firm, resTORbio. “I don’t think we
can assume that because it does
something in a mouse it’s going
to do something in a human.”
PDLH says its experimental
results are under review for
publication in a journal. Details
aren’t available for wider scrutiny
yet, but the firm says its mouse
experiments found significant
epigenetic changes in the animals.
This involves changes to methyl
groups on DNA that help regulate
the activity of certain genes. PDLH
says it saw methylation patterns in
older mice that resembled those
usually seen in younger animals.It also says it has evidence that
AKG targets senescent cells: worn-
out cells that have become a prime
target in the renewed quest for
anti-ageing treatments. Such cells
pump out inflammatory proteins
that contribute to ageing.
Rejuvant may also act through
another key ageing process – the
mTOR pathway that turns
processes that protect against
ageing on and off. Experiments in
the worm Caenorhabditis elegans
have previously shown that AKG
influences this pathway, but PDLH
has no direct evidence that its
supplement does this in mice yet.Safety trial planned
When PDLH CEO Tom Weldon
announced his plan at a closed
scientific meeting earlier this
year, many researchers expressed
concern about putting a pill on
the market without human data
on safety and efficacy.
Weldon is one of several PDLH
executives taking the supplement.
He says that, after a few months,
he has seen a dramatic
improvement in the levels of
certain chemicals in his blood,
including C-reactive protein, a sign
of inflammation. But he warns
that this is anecdotal evidence.
He says he decided to sell the pill
as a supplement after realising that,
at 63, he would be unlikely to see
the product make it to market as
a fully validated anti-ageing drug.
Janet Lord at the University
of Birmingham, UK, says that,
although there is good reason to
believe that ageing can be slowed,
“some of us are concerned about
companies coming in and leaping
ahead without actually getting the
evidence in humans”.
PDLH is preparing to begin
an 80-person trial, primarily to
confirm Rejuvant’s safety. This will
also look for epigenetic changes. ❚“Some of us are concerned
about companies leaping
ahead without getting
human evidence”News
LongevityAnti-ageing’s new hope
A treatment intended to slow the process of ageing has been launched
as a supplement without clinical trials. Graham Lawton reportsLiving active lives for
longer is now the focus
of anti-ageing researchDEEPOL/PLAINPICTURE