Drug developed for lung disease may slow biological aging in surprising ‘bonus’
Experimental Lung‑Disease Drug Shows Signs of Slowing Biological Aging, Researchers Report
A small clinical trial of an experimental medicine for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has revealed a surprising secondary benefit: patients who received the drug appeared to be biologically younger by three to four years on average. The findings, published in Nature Biotechnology and presented at a Nature conference in Paris, come from a 12‑week study involving 42 adults in Massachusetts who all had IPF.
The drug, called rentosertib, was developed by Insilico Medicine, a Massachusetts‑based biotech firm that uses artificial intelligence to identify potential drug targets. The team, led by founder and co‑CEO Alex Zhavoronkov, had originally sought a therapy to reduce lung scarring, but during the trial the researchers noticed that the medication also altered patterns of proteins in the blood that are used by scientists to gauge biological aging.
“We see a promising trend in age reversal in addition to treating the disease, and it came as a bonus for disease treatment,” Zhavoronkov told Fox News Digital. “It basically means that you are predicted to be younger using a validated set of aging clocks. We don’t know what that means yet.” He added that the study was still in its pilot phase and that the results were preliminary.
The 12‑week trial involved patients taking 30 mg of rentosertib twice a day. After four weeks, the drug’s impact on biological age was most pronounced, with six different aging biomarkers showing that participants were up to six years “biologically younger” than their peers. Across the cohort, the average reduction was 3‑4 years, according to six separate tests that compare current protein levels to a database of more than 55,000 people from the UK Biobank.
The researchers noted that the protein changes were opposite to the normal trajectory of aging and that rentosertib also affected cellular processes involved in damage response and function. However, because all study participants had IPF—a condition itself known to alter many of the same blood proteins used as aging markers—the team cautions that improvements in lung disease could be linked to the observed changes in protein patterns.
“We’re early days,” Zhavoronkov said. “This is a pilot and exploratory.”
Safety data from the study indicated that side effects were generally mild and manageable. Dr. Carol Ann Satler, senior vice president of clinical development at Insilico, said the most common reactions were mild diarrhea, a slight drop in blood potassium, and temporary rises in liver enzymes. She added, “Once you stop the drug, essentially, they return to normal.” Satler said future trials would adjust dosing to maintain patients on therapy longer.
The drug has entered a phase‑3 trial in China that will enroll more than 300 participants over a year, the company said. That study will include patients without IPF to determine whether rentosertib’s anti‑aging signals hold true in a broader population.
The research team comprised scientists from Insilico Medicine and a consortium of universities and institutes—including Harvard Medical School, Stanford University, the Broad Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Peking University and Westlake University—highlighting the collaborative nature of the study.
While the results are intriguing, the investigators emphasize that no firm conclusion can yet be drawn about the drug’s ability to extend lifespan or improve overall health. Larger, longer‑term studies that include healthy older adults are needed to confirm whether rentosertib can truly slow the aging process or merely alter biomarkers in a way that mimics youthfulness.
“Everybody agrees that living longer should be a fundamental human right for everyone,” Zhavoronkov said. “This gives me more confidence to continue pursuing drugs that could target both age‑related diseases and aging itself.”
