The ‘forever young’ drug

A ‘forever young’ drug that allows people to grow old gracefully could be available in just 10 years, a leading scientist has revealed.

Professor Linda Partridge, an expert in the genetics of ageing, said science is moving quickly, and it would soon be possible to prevent many of the ills of old age.

By taking a pill a day from middle-age, we will grow old free from illnesses of the body and mind such as Alzheimer’s and heart disease.

The drug could also allow people to work longer – or simply make the most of their retirement. Some research even suggests skin and hair will retain its youthful lustre.

Professor Partridge, of University College London, said she would be surprised if there were no advances to this within 10 years.

“If told you could take a drug that has minimal side-effects and that’s going to keep you healthy for another five or 10 years, and then you’ll drop off your perch without disability, most people would want it,” Professor Partidge said.

Extraordinary as the professor’s prediction may seem, it is based on a host of promising scientific studies from around the world.

Scientists discovered key genes linked to longevity and health, and found ways of tinkering with them, at least in animals.

In one of the remarkable examples, a Harvard University doctor made old mice young again.

At the start of the experiment, the rodents’ skin, brains, guts and other organs resembled those of an 80-year-old person.

Within just two months of being given a drug that switches on a key enzyme, the creatures had grown many new cells that they had almost completely rejuvenated.

Remarkably, the male mice went from being infertile to fathering large litters.

Other research showed chains of reactions in the body involving insulin and related hormones are key to health and ageing. This means that years of research into diabetes could have yielded medicines that can be reinvented as anti-ageing drugs.

Professor Partridge said the principle was for drugs, if taken from middle-age, would ward off quite a broad array of diseases rather than doing things “piece-meal or acting when the diseases appear”.

However, she said any drug would have to be shown to be extremely safe before they were given to healthy people to combat ageing.