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First Successful Gene Therapy Against Human Aging? (geekwire.com)

An anonymous reader writes: For the first time data may show that a human being has been successfully rejuvenated by gene therapy, claims Bioviva USA. "In September 2015, then 44 year-old CEO of Bioviva USA Inc. Elizabeth Parrish received two of her own company's experimental gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age, another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities." Bypassing America's FDA, the controversial therapies were described by the MIT Technology Review as "do-it-yourself medicine," saying it "raises ethical questions about how quickly such treatments should be tested in people and whether they ought to be developed outside the scrutiny of regulators." "The treatment was originally intended to demonstrate the safety of the latest generation of the therapies," reports Bioviva's web site. "But if early data is accurate, it is already the world's first successful example of telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual."

3 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A bubble that doesn't pop? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    >When real anti-aging therapies become available they are going to be priced out of this world...literally priced for billionaries.

    That's one reason Parrish went outside of the US to do her trial. By doing so, she bypasses regulations and fees that the FDA requires that can make the cost of bringing a brand new drug to market today roughly around a billion dollars. So of course in order to recoup the cost of research and go through the lengthy gauntlet of FDA approval, pay their overcompensated CEO's, and shareholders pharmaceuticals have to exorbitantly price new drugs. But as she mention in a Reddit AMA, they're hoping to utilize the gene therapy to aid Alzheimer patients and others with degenerative diseases.

  2. Re:This... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    An IRA or 401K is not the same as a pension.

    And pensions are for people who are in unions. You think companies just all of a sudden decided to give retiring workers money? Pensions were something that were fought for through labor organizing.

    You can thank Ronald Reagan and trickle-down economics for pensions where people can live with dignity in old age to 401k plans (if they're lucky) that are nothing but piggy banks for Wall Street to play with.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.
  3. Re:This... by HiThere · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Probably, but I doubt that that will be her problem. Teleomere shortening is one of the body's defenses against cancer...and she's apparently turned that off. There may also be a similar reason for stem cell depletion, though I've never heard of one for certain, only a couple of things that suggest that stem cells are more likely to turn cancerous than other cells. And the word is suggest, as there are other findings that suggest that senescent cells are the ones most likely to turn cancerous.

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    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.