AI designed a drug that could reverse aging. Early clinical trials are promising
Artificial intelligence has long been imagined as the future of medicine. The idea that AI will someday cure cancer is widespread enough that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently posted that “saying that AI will cure cancer is more a cliché than it is inspiring,” while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that curing cancer wouldn’t be “enough” and that “we should set our sights higher.” Despite the…
An AI-designed drug called rentosertib may hold the potential to reverse the effects of aging, according to early clinical trials. Insilico Medicine, an AI-based company, played a key role in the drug's development. Researchers from Insilico tested rentosertib in a 12-week trial, using "aging clocks" to estimate how quickly the participants' bodies were aging.
The results, published in Nature Biotechnology, showed that all 42 participants who took the drug had significantly reduced predicted aging ages compared to their starting points, while those who took a placebo saw their predicted ages increase or remain the same. Aging clocks, which use AI technology to analyze various biological, physiological and psychological markers, are used to gauge a person's biological age and proximity to death.
However, the scientific community remains divided on the accuracy and usefulness of these aging clocks, as there is currently no universally acknowledged method to measure biological age. Insilico's trial also had a limited scope, involving only participants with a specific lung disease, and the drug has not been tested on healthy individuals.
While the potential benefits of a drug that could reverse aging are intriguing, regulatory approval is still years away.
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