Insilico Medicine developed the drug rentosertib using artificial intelligence, which was studied in an early clinical trial. The work was published in Nature Biotechnology.
Six independent aging clocks estimated the biological age of participants receiving the drug to be up to six years lower compared to the placebo group. The study involved 42 people.
The result is significant for AI-driven drug development approaches but does not yet prove a rejuvenating effect. The drug has not been tested on healthy people, and the presented study was small.
editorial commentary
Why it matters
The likely consequence is increased interest in AI approaches for developing drugs against age-related changes. The next observable signal will be the emergence of larger studies and trials in healthy people. The main uncertainty is whether the difference in aging clock readings reflects a real improvement in health.