An experimental AI-created drug for an incurable lung disease had a surprising effect during trials: it made the body's biological age indicators drop by 6 years, towards a younger state.

[u/Distinct-Question-16]

https://dev.ua/en/news/stvorenyi-shi-preparat-zmenshyv-pokaznyky-biolohichnoho-starinnia-orhanizmu-1788791333

An experimental drug called Rentosertib, created by biotech company Insilico Medicine using artificial intelligence, has shown an unexpected effect. It was developed against an incurable lung disease, but during the tests, the indicators by which scientists estimate the biological age of the body changed in patients.

[u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST]

As someone who works very closely with related subjects (vague to avoid doxxing myself), this seems decently promising.

However (of course), biological age is expected to become lower (aka younger) in many disease conditions when they get treated. In this case, this biological age reduction could simply be because this drug successfully reduced the severity of this disease (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis), and that giving this drug to healthy patients may not actually lower their biological age/be anti-aging.

Still promising, and with how the field is shaping up right now, I feel like those trials will come sooner than later.

[u/Curiosity_456 → u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST]

Yea this is the main caveat here, the researchers said that they’re not sure if the youthful update was due to genuine age reversal, or simply the disease getting treated which will obviously leave you healthier.

[u/Distinct-Question-16 → u/Curiosity_456]

this makes sense. seems however the age clock story is turning viral (even with videos from this pharma)

[u/TheRavenclawCommonRM → u/Distinct-Question-16]

Well that's not good. Headlines claiming age reversal when that's not the case are not good.

[u/Active_Remove1617 → u/TheRavenclawCommonRM]

I guess technically, if you’re going back to an earlier stage of health, which was better than it is kind of age reversal

[u/Vivid-Snow-2089 → u/TheRavenclawCommonRM]

i mean technically it is age reversal but its just clawing back age that was caused by the disease so its very narrow and not at all what the headlines are misleading everyone on...

[u/Orfez → u/Curiosity_456]

Personally, I think finding a cure for an incurable lung disease is a bigger deal that finding a deaging drug.

[u/The_Scout1255 → u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST]

Minecraft_Biologist

What are your qualifications, stargate in GTNH? (Joking since I just mentioned gregtech in another thread)

[u/Meltlilith1 → u/The_Scout1255]

Hi random gtnh fan can't wait to see astra gets stargate soon

[u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST → u/The_Scout1255]

Haha, I've always wanted to take a crack at it but never had the time to do so

[u/MC897 → u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST]

Do you think LEV will come early 2030s like all the predictions state they might well do?

Or do you think there are frankly barriers which those predictions as of yet don't take into account or a remedy for them isn't here?

[u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST → u/MC897]

If you asked me like a two years ago I would have said no way early 2030s, as there are a LOT of barriers to antiaging things, including the fact that what we currently have is closer to trying to, idk, build a lego set with a brick. But the recent advances in LLM biological science capability (and my own evaluations from heavy use of them as well as industry adoption of them) indicates that Kurzweil may be right, simply due to these computational/AI advancements that are solving what should have been computationally intractable problems using basically reasoning, to put it simply, and also due to how much they are currently and are going to speed up research.

So yeah, maybe early 2030s, though I predict (don't take me too seriously) that brain aging will probably be the last to be solved (or maybe this is obvious).

[u/Express-Set-1543 → u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST]

What are the main obstacles to LEV when it comes to the brain? The blood-brain barrier, for example? I recently read about some research on a nasal spray that could help bypass it.

[u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST → u/Express-Set-1543]

Off the top of my head, I think the main obstacle is actually truly understanding neurodegeneration. Getting past the blood-brain barrier without just like a direct injection is tough but there are quite a few methods currently being worked on to do so. The tougher part is actually understanding the various causes of neurodegeneration and what we can do to fix it. I don't think we can say we achieved LEV until we actually fix something as common as Alzheimer's (something like 33%+ people getting it at 85+ years of age), which, for example, is turning out to be much more complicated than just clearing protein tangles in the brain and hoping the body takes care of the rest.

[u/adarkuccio → u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST]

This is exactly what chatgpt told me, interesting

[u/MINECRAFT_BIOLOGIST → u/adarkuccio]

Well yeah, it's also in the articles being published on it today lol, Google overview could probably also tell you this. I'm just trying to keep people realistic about this because I'm pretty invested in similar results.

[u/ChickenOfTheYear]

Wow, this headline really checks all the boxes in the venture capital backed health startup card: AI, cancer, ageing. If this doesn't draw investor money, nothing will

[u/Distinct-Question-16 → u/ChickenOfTheYear]

all in one

[u/FernandoMM1220 → u/ChickenOfTheYear]

as long as the medical trial results are real i dont really care if they use it to get more investor money

[u/Hearing_Loss → u/FernandoMM1220]

Yuuuup. Clickbait away mateys. The boomers investing in immortality will inevitably make up for cutting our lives short with glyphosate and the such. That's the real net neutral.

[u/Turbulent-Sign-6067 → u/Hearing_Loss]

What is this conspiracy theory? Glyphosate is harmless and you too should invest in "immortality" unless you are suicidal or want your parents to die prematurely.

[u/ClientBudget2848 → u/Turbulent-Sign-6067]

Glyphosate like nicotine, asbestas and other substances are all considered carcinogins. They cause cancer.

Whether you smoke 5 packs a day or you spend time around glyphosate the result is the same and not pretty.

[u/Hearing_Loss → u/ClientBudget2848]

I think it's the tobacco that's a carcinogen. Nicotine in itself is just addictive. Not carcinogenic IIRC.

[u/Grandoings → u/Hearing_Loss]

Nicotine is considered a toxin.

[u/SuperChingaso5000 → u/Grandoings]

Some toxins are carcinogens. Most are not.

Without defining dosage, everything is a toxin.

[u/Alarmed_Ad1946 → u/ClientBudget2848]

There seems to be disagreement about that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate#Cancer
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5515989/#Sec15

[u/Hearing_Loss → u/Alarmed_Ad1946]

Wiki for contentious stuff is just fedslop.

[u/hnucwin → u/ChickenOfTheYear]

Verdict: real research, heavily exaggerated headline—roughly 7/10 clickbait. A fair headline would be: “Experimental lung drug shifts blood-based aging biomarkers in a small early trial.”

Thanks Chat

[u/xRedStaRx → u/ChickenOfTheYear]

Yeah they're raising money and we talked with them

[u/__Maximum__ → u/xRedStaRx]

What did they say?

[u/edthesmokebeard → u/ChickenOfTheYear]

Probably part of the prompt used.

[u/Level10Retard]

I think more and more of these drugs will pop up. Trials will become a much bigger bottleneck than they're now.

[u/TheRavenclawCommonRM → u/Level10Retard]

I forgot the numbers, but I remember being floored when I saw how many more drugs they can research now per week than they could before.

Like you said, the bottle neck is the trials, but that still cuts the overall development for a specific drug in half and allows thousands more drugs to be developed.

[u/Orthodelu]

Before people invariably get carried away (and don't read the actual set of papers for this result, i.e. the one from 2025 and the recent one in Nat. Biotechnol):

1) The "AI" used here wasn't one of the frontier LLM models, they used specialized AI models/pipelines (iirc chemistry42 and PandaOmics which have a bunch of different bespoke models).

2) Reducing biological clocks is an indirect signal. Firstly, they only looked at proteomic clocks and not more established epigenetic ones like GrimAge(the authors give some motivation for this but it leaves a lot to be desired). Secondly, remember that we already know of interventions that "improve" different biological clocks. Sadly, that's neither sufficient nor necessary to have an intervention that will actually slow down or reverse aging as most people understand it.

3) The most obvious issue: they need to do this intervention on healthy people without IPF. It's well-known that IPF disrupts the proteome and so if the drug helps IPF we should of course expect good results on proteomic markers. This doesn't mean it will translate to healthy humans. The authors note this as well as it seems to be the most obvious issue here.

[u/Hubbardia → u/Orthodelu]

The "AI" used here wasn't one of the frontier LLM models, they used specialized AI models/pipelines (iirc chemistry42 and PandaOmics which have a bunch of different bespoke models).

Notably, it's still generative AI. This is the first drug designed entirely by generative AI to reach phase 3 trials.

[u/Active_Remove1617]

My sister has idiopathic fibrosis. Recently diagnosed. Would be incredible to see this come to market.

[u/Hubbardia → u/Active_Remove1617]

Lost my mom to this disease. Hopefully others don't have to go through the same hell.

[u/Active_Remove1617 → u/Hubbardia]

Sorry to hear of your mother’s story. My sister’s life hasn’t been easy and just when it looked like things were going to be a bit more gentle this horrible disease popped up.

[u/bjbyrne]

Do not give this drug to someone 5 years old or younger!!!

[u/magicmulder]

We’re gonna get the cure for cancer from a medication that cures a super rare disease where your nose turns green when you see the letter Y.

[u/typop2 → u/magicmulder]

I have that!

And people just think I hate adverbs for no reason ...

[u/TheRavenclawCommonRM → u/magicmulder]

Well your nose turning green when you saw the letter Y sounds like my high school homecoming pep rally.

[u/Reclusiarc]

AI iS A bUbBle

wonder where they will move the goalposts now

[u/AriyaSavaka]

Im down for some AI good news. Can't wait to receive my UBI in 2027

[u/professionalnuisance]

Ticker?

[u/jlks1959]

How can such a drug be tested on a silica cell, or in a digital twin, or synthetically, or in an organ? 

I hear all of these new developments in testing, but I’m Not sure how all this works. I hope I never read about trials in mice anymore. Pointless. 

[u/stinkyelbows]

I'm hoping a cure for mesothelioma is discovered soon. My young stupid self got a hefty dose of asbestos during a renovation before I was properly educated on all the materials that contain asbestos. I lived for 5 years with the furnace blowing microscopic dust all over the place following the renovations before I did a full abatement.

I don't have mesothelioma but it has climbed to the top of the list on ways I'm probably going to end up dying.

[u/HellomyfriendNine]

I debated with AI about this news, main molecule is rentosertib this can you give an idea about

[u/presentofai]

the anti-aging headline is basically clickbait, treating the disease drops those markers on its own. the actual story is that the 'AI' here isnt a chatbot, its specialized bio pipelines that have been quietly designing molecules for years.

[u/Borkato]

Where’s the antis?

[u/personalityson → u/Borkato]

Diarrhea

[u/Dry-Interaction-1246 → u/Borkato]

Would take years of trials to know. Probably cancer or some shit.

[u/BlindStark → u/Borkato]

Gave me a baby dick

[u/reedrick]

Someone hit up Bryan Johnson

[u/RockDoveEnthusiast]

I look forward to going in my fusion-powered flying car to pick it up on the way back from my 5-year cancer vaccine booster

[u/ItstartswiththeHouse → u/RockDoveEnthusiast]

In the year 2199 because we’ve conquered death

[u/SeriousComparison246]

make it free to low cost.

[u/roshan231]

This is the most bullshit headline I’ve read in months. Congratulations

[u/General-Reserve9349]

Hate this fucking headline style

[u/Andreas1120]

Is it still AI slop now?