Do U Want To Live Forever???

[SoulManX]

Longevity Pill Tested in Humans


Sirtris Pharmaceuticals announces that its souped-up version of resveratrol has passed early tests in humans.
What if I told you there was a pill that slows aging and allows you to live a healthy life to age 100?
Such a pill may exist right now. It's being tested in people in very early-stage human clinical trials. Today, the company making the pill, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, announced its findings from preclinical testing in cells and animals, and also from tests conducted on 85 male volunteers this summer.


The verdict: so far, the pill works, although it will be years before we know how well it works, or if it can actually extend the life span of people in the same way that it has bumped up the life span of mice.


Speaking today at the Annual Metabolic Diseases Drug Discovery and Development World Summit in San Diego, Sirtris's senior director of biology, Jill Milne, announced that the drug, SRT501, reduces glucose and improves insulin sensitivity in animal and in vitro studies of the drug's effect on type 2 diabetes. In people, the drug was tested for dose, safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics--that is, how well the drug was absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and removed from the body.


Phase 1b trials are already under way to test safety and pharmacokinetics on patients with type 2 diabetes. Later-phase trials will test to see if the drug actually works in diabetics.


SRT501 is a proprietary chemical developed by Sirtris that's based on the naturally occurring resveratrol that company cofounder David Sinclair of Harvard University has been studying for its effects in extending life span in a number of organisms, including yeast, flies, and mice. Last year, Sinclair created a sensation when he published a paper in Nature detailing how mice on a high-fat diet that were fed large doses of resveratrol were as healthy as mice on a regular diet.


Resveratrol also sharply extended life span, produced positive changes in insulin sensitivity and other diabetes-preventing mechanisms, and increased energy production in cells. The mice were given very high doses of resveratrol--22 milligrams per kilogram of weight. In comparison, a liter of red wine delivers 1.5 to 3 milligrams. To match the results in the mice, a 150-pound human would need to drink 750 to 1,500 bottles of wine a day.


Sinclair says that SRT501 is a thousand times more potent than naturally occurring resveratrol, which gives it the same punch as the resveratrol in all those bottles of wine.


Sinclair believes that resveratrol activates a gene called SIRT-1, which is associated with the regulation of life span in several animals. This contention is disputed by some critics: they argue that the mechanism by which resveratrol works is still poorly understood.


Because humans are so long-lived, SRT501 can't be easily tested for longevity in humans--nor does the Food and Drug Administration recognize "increased life span" as an allowable indication for an approved drug. This is why Sirtris is testing SRT501 for diseases related to aging, such as type 2 diabetes. However, should the drug be approved for diabetes, it will undoubtedly be used to extend life span by many people without diabetes.


The drug still has years of testing to go and faces many hurdles. It may not work. But if it does, the consequences will be profound. For instance, it will mean that more people will be alive on the earth. Age 90 will be the new 70, and 70 the new 50, with profound impacts on everything from social security to retirement age. It may also mean fewer people with diabetes, Alzheimer's, and some cancers.


Can one pill do and cause all that? Critics have long said no--that such a compound will not work in humans. But they also said it wouldn't work in mice--until it did work. (At least in fat mice.)
So let's sip some pinot noir and wait for more results from Sirtris. After all, we're not getting any younger.
Look for my profile of longevity researcher David Sinclair in the September/October issue of Technology Review

[MildSoss]

Foxy grandma, forever!!

[Obi-Ron]

Doesn't mention any side effects.

[R0rschach]

Who knows this might work and we'll become sterile in the process.
You can't F with nature unless you wish nature to F you up.
Everything has a price.

[Halcohol]

Originally Posted by Obi-Ron

Doesn't mention any side effects.

Like the fact that you soul passes on when it rightfully should, leaving you to be a decrepit, ancient, unnatural shell of a human being?

[The Question]

Originally Posted by Halcohol

Like the fact that you soul passes on when it rightfully should, leaving you to be a decrepit, ancient, unnatural shell of a human being?

That's stupid. You're stupid.




Unless, of course, that ends up creating vampires. Then that's cool. And thus, by association, you're cool. I guess.

[LouFerignoDemon]

I thought the thread meant literally live forever from the title (which the answer is no), but a few extra hundred years wouldn't be so bad.

[wiegeabo]

Originally Posted by Mistress Gluon

I thought the thread meant literally live forever from the title (which the answer is no), but a few extra hundred years wouldn't be so bad.

I agree. But eternity might be nice if you can bring your friends and family along for the ride. Hang out together for a few decades. When you get sick of each other, you move on and explore for a century or two. Then when you all get back together you'll have tons of stories to tell each other for the next few decades.

[Deep Thinkin'!]

If it means better health, I wouldn't mind.

But then again, health doesn't bug me. It's the conflicts between humans that bugs me.

[LouFerignoDemon]

No possible way would I ever want to live that long, or wish it on another.

[The Question]

Originally Posted by Mistress Gluon

No possible way would I ever want to live that long, or wish it on another.

I don't know. We can make guesses and assumptions as to what reaching such ages would be like, but we wouldn't really know unless we reach them, would we? I've always felt that I should at least try and live forever. Honestly, having a "never say die" aditude is the only thing that keeps me sane these days.

[PLAS]

if you can't make it past 60 on your own, you shouldn't be able to live that long

[PLAS]

I remember reading a short sci fi story called "What if it works" and tackles the same issues presented here, instead of a pill it was shot, but the consequences were, you know how sci-fi works

[LouFerignoDemon]

Health and society be damned. I'd not wish it on an entire people or even a few.

[wiegeabo]

The way I'd want it is to stop aging. Then, if I ever get tired of living, for the aging process to start again. Then I could live out the rest of my 'normal' years.

[The Question]

Originally Posted by Mistress Gluon

Health and society be damned. I'd not wish it on an entire people or even a few.

Alright.

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

The way I'd want it is to stop aging. Then, if I ever get tired of living, for the aging process to start again. Then I could live out the rest of my 'normal' years.

Or you could jump of a tall building. That'd be cooler.

[PLAS]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

The way I'd want it is to stop aging. Then, if I ever get tired of living, for the aging process to start again. Then I could live out the rest of my 'normal' years.

the cycle of life is much more intricate than what we can actually comprehend, meddling with it is not wise

I'll say it again, want to live a longer, richer life? start becoming a healthier person

[LouFerignoDemon]

Originally Posted by PLAS

the cycle of life is much more intricate than what we can actually comprehend, meddling with it is not wise

I'll say it again, want to live a longer, richer life? start becoming a healthier person

They mean if you could "magically" stop the aging process with zero negative feedback.

[PLAS]

Originally Posted by Mistress Gluon

They mean if you could "magically" stop the aging process with zero negative feedback.

and I want my orgasms to last six hours without having to go through hours and hours of yoga before I could actually start practicing tantric techniques

and I also want to have awesome abs without having to sweat in the gym

and I want a hot wife with huge breasts that does my every bidding

oh wait, that's not how it works, does it?

[LouFerignoDemon]

Van Helsing made me dislike vampires.

[The Question]

Originally Posted by Mistress Gluon

Van Helsing made me dislike vampires.

Van Helsing makes people dislike alot of things. Vampires are still cool. They drink blood and stuff.

[LouFerignoDemon]

Originally Posted by The Question

Van Helsing makes people dislike alot of things. Vampires are still cool. They drink blood and stuff.

Bleh!

[LouFerignoDemon]

You DO realize this is hypothetical and whimsical, rather than daunting and realistic, oui?

This is a thread about "Do you want to live forever?" Not, "Is it reasonably possible to live forever while having no ill side effects from a chemical induction?"

[Addendum]

No, because the taxes would be a *****

[wiegeabo]

Originally Posted by Addendum

No, because the taxes would be a *****

But imagine what a couple of centuries of interest would do to your savings account!