I have a dream that one day humans will unite and say: We hold this truth to be self-evident that what serves the right to health is a common good.

I have a dream that one day medical data, research data for health and longevity will be accessible to all and will allow for a longer and healthier life, with more solidarity.

I have a dream that those who were sick and those who were overwhelmed by bureaucracy, regulations and financial or psychological factors will find sisters and brothers to be all together more resilient, happier and proud to help each other.

I have a dream that the hell of privatized and dispersed knowledge will be transformed into an Eden of knowledge sharing to enable a much longer healthy life for all.

Text inspired by « I have a dream » by Martin Luther King.

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Theme of the month: Sharing health data and longevity

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Our health data

Of all the personal information stored in computerized form, but also often in paper format, information relating to health and all our biological data is among the most numerous, the most sensitive and the most useful.

Since the beginning of the history of medicine, healthcare has been delivered through collective knowledge, individual experiences, often inaccurate beliefs and knowledge of the patient’s condition.

It is only relatively recently that patient data have become an important part of the field of knowledge, not only for the treatment of individuals themselves, but also for medical research.

How to share health data?

Since the end of the 20th century, the concern to protect privacy has been growing. Initially, the measures taken were aimed at, and resulted in, preventing abuses. Today, the combination of regulations and practices relating to medical data and, more broadly, all the regulations and practices concerning the privacy of citizens has resulted in :

• The citizen does not have access to their own medical data in a simple way.
  
• The citizen does not have the opportunity to participate in medical experimentation and share knowledge scientifically, even if he or she wishes to do so out of personal or collective interest and even if he or she has given explicit informed consent.
  
• Researchers do not have access to the detailed health data of most citizens.
  
• Medical data is often the subject of opaque and self-interested commercial transactions.
  
• The development of research using artificial intelligence and « massive medical data » is slowed down, as biased and sold data potentially contains more inaccuracies.

It is perfectly normal that citizens are protected from illegal uses of private data that could be harmful to them. But the protection should stop there. It is immoral, and it should be illegal, for data useful to public health to be withheld from researchers, when this does not cause harm to the people from whom the data originates.

In an ideal world, the fact that medical data may have value for research should not give rise to financial transactions except in relation to the cost of the operations required to make the data available.

The current situation does not ensure the protection of privacy, it prohibits almost totally, in fact and in law, the effective sharing of data. As far as classical medicine, medical records, relations with our health institutions, pharmaceutical information, etc. are concerned, we only have restricted and temporary access to them. The lack of sharing to prevent and reduce the impact of diseases in the future is particularly regrettable for information concerning the elderly (indicators of neurological diseases, detection of falls, …).

Some private and public organizations sharing data

New tools, such as the mass processing of health data and artificial intelligence, will enable significant progress in patient support, evaluation and choice of treatments and management of the healthcare system. This is why many players are investing in this field.

• Health Data Hub (HDH) is a health data sharing platform launched in December 2019 in France. Its objective is to promote the use and multiplication of the possibilities for exploiting health data, particularly in the areas of research, support for healthcare personnel, healthcare system management, patient monitoring and information. The HDH enables the development of new techniques, particularly those related to AI methods. It also has a role in promoting innovation in the use of health data.
• A similar project exists in Germany: the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII). The French and German projects share the same objectives but differ in terms of methodologies. The HDH project is based on a top-down approach and focuses on a shared computing infrastructure, providing tools and services to accelerate projects between data producers and users. The MII project is based on a bottom-up approach and relies on four consortia comprising teaching hospitals, universities and private partners.
• Apple places a lot of emphasis on health and wellness features with its Apple Watch. The latest model can measure heart rate, warn of falls and perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) thanks to an optical sensor. Unfortunately, both the Apple firm and firms offering similar services do not share the information.
• The X-Prize Foundation promotes the integration of healthcare data. Breaking down barriers to data access while respecting privacy and security principles is a huge challenge and a tremendous opportunity. Standardized, aggregated and granular patient data that can be shared across systems is the foundation for low-cost, high-quality healthcare, including enabling front-line healthcare systems to function optimally and efficiently. In addition, this data is essential for A.I. algorithms to deliver information.

Promote health uses, prevent illegitimate uses

Your insurer, your banker, the government knows a lot about you. Google, Facebook, your employer and your neighbor too. They don’t normally use it for illegitimate purposes.

What is needed first of all is to prohibit the illegitimate use of information and ensure effective sanctions in the event of harmful use of health data (as of any other data for that matter). We must prevent data on sex, origins, health status, etc., from being used by private or public companies to discriminate. It must not be permitted to sell, provide services or even contact people in a differentiated manner in other contexts than scientific research and health care. Illegitimate use must be strictly prohibited. Violation of the prohibition should be sanctioned by measures including full compensation of victims and prevention of recurrence.

An important aspect of health data being considered a public good, not a private good, is that it would be a provision that could not be opted out of. There would be no clause allowing health data to be sold, leased, exchanged, …. This prohibition would apply both to the patient data of a health institution and to an individual’s own data.

Of course, individual medical data should not be accessible to the merely curious. For everything not directly necessary for scientific research, a system of anonymization (or pseudonymization) should be implemented.

Conclusion: Sharing to improve longevity and resilience

It is now technically possible to share health data. The legal and logistical framework would be relatively easy to set up.

Imagine a world where health data cannot be used commercially, but only for your health and that of others. Imagine a world where the sharing of medical data would be systematic, instantaneous and usable by artificial intelligence. You and your doctor would know in seconds what medications people your age, in your region, with your medical characteristics are taking, what the best treatment is, based on knowledge gathered from around the world.

Imagine what should be the basic logic followed. Just as you can easily find on the internet what your favorite politician or singer did in July 2007, you could in one click find the medication you took three years ago, the blood test, the vaccinations, which you had done 15 years ago, the comparison with other populations, your allergies, predispositions, …

Imagine that all this data will allow tomorrow’s collective health research to be much more efficient, and clinical trials to be safer and faster.

Imagine a much longer and healthier life for everyone who wants it.

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This month’s good news: Towards restoring fertility in menopausal women

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A pilot study, conducted between 2017 and 2019 at the Genesis Fertility Clinic in Athens, Greece, enabled postmenopausal women to give birth. The experiment involved 30 women who had not had a period for more than a year, and 80% of them experienced an improvement in their hormone levels and returned to a regular menstrual cycle. Among them, four became pregnant and three had children. Fertility is said to have been restored with blood transfusions using the ovarian Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) method.

We have discussed the potential rejuvenating effects of transfusion in previous letters. Further research is underway to confirm that this fertility treatment is viable. Professor Pantos is supervising four randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials and two other trials are being conducted by Professor Emre Seli at Yale Medical School.

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To learn more about it:

• See in particular: heales.org, sens.org, longevityalliance.org and longecity.org.
  
• Image Source.
  

The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.

This is the certain fall in life expectancy following the overpopulation that Paul Ehrlich, author of the book « The Population Bomb », published in 1968 and which sold millions of copies, announced. Half a century later, the size of the world’s population has more than doubled. Even though hundreds of millions of people still suffer from hunger, we have never had so much food per person. And in terms of mortality rates, global life expectancy has increased by more than 15 years.

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Theme of the month: Overpopulation and Longevity

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Decline around 2064

It is time for some pessimists to put aside their images of doom about overpopulation. According to a recent study published in the scientific journal The Lancet, the world population will peak around 2064 at 9.7 billion people, and then begin a decline to 8.8 billion by the end of the century.

In the 1960s, each woman still had an average of 4.5 children, today this figure is less than 2.5. This is not much higher than the replacement rate of 2.1: the number you need to maintain a population.

As Swedish physician Hans Rosling writes in his book Factfulness: When parents see that children stay alive, that children are no longer needed for work, and that women receive an education and have access to contraceptives, both sexes, in all cultures and religions, begin to dream of fewer, but well-educated, children.

In 1950, 25 babies were born for each person who blew out 80 candles. Today, that number is about seven. If current trends continue, by 2100, for every person over 80 years of age, there will be only one baby. It is an invisible revolution, an inverted population pyramid, never seen before in history. It’s time to think about it, instead of wallowing in obsolete images of a supposedly inevitable explosion of the world’s population.

It is said that by 2100, 183 countries will not have the fertility rates needed to maintain the current population.

Today there are about7.8 billion of us. Demographers already knew that our population was expected to decline within a few decades, but this new study predicts that it will happen even faster than we thought.

The United Nations has also assumed that countries that fall below the replacement rate will stabilize at around 1.75 children per woman, but according to The Lancet, this estimate is based on a restricted sample. In countries such as Thailand, South Korea, and Greece, we find that the decline is continuing, at less than one and a half children per woman. And that makes a big difference in the long run.

Of course, a world of about 10 billion people remains a challenge, especially if we want everyone to benefit from the level of prosperity enjoyed in the West (one billion people don’t even have access to electricity yet). But with modern science and technology, this is certainly surmountable. More people even means, in many ways, good news.

A priori, it seems plausible that the more people there are, the fewer resources remain for everyone. However, from an economic point of view, this is not always true. More people often means less scarcity. Because many brains, densely packed together, come up with smarter ideas and become more specialized. The Simon Index of Abundance, named after economist and thinker Julian Simon, shows that raw materials become more abundant and cheaper as the world’s population increases. It sounds crazy and counter-intuitive, but this is often the case with scientific knowledge.

But beware, this can only be envisaged in the long run in a world where technological progress allows the use of mainly renewable energies and raw materials. This is technically possible, but it requires a political, social and economic will that is still insufficient today.

We must also temper the image of an overpopulated world. The surface of the planet is about 200 million square miles, 57 million of which is land. A country like Bangladesh is self-sufficient in food with more than 160 million inhabitants (one fortieth of the world’s population on one thousandth of the surface of the land mass).

By 2100, 183 of the 195 countries are predicted to lack the fertility rates needed to maintain current population levels, with a prediction of 2.1 births per woman, said researchers at the Institute for Health Metrology and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Some 23 countries – including Japan, Thailand, Italy and Spain – would see their populations decline by more than 50 percent.

However, the population of sub-Saharan Africa could triple, allowing just under half of the world’s population to be African by the end of the century.

The world, since the 1960s, has really focused on the so-called population explosion, » Dr. Christopher Murray, who led the research, told CNN. Suddenly, we’re now at that kind of turning point where it’s very clear that we’re rapidly moving from too many to too few.

More people over 80 will be over 80 than under 5 years old.

The study also predicts major changes in the global age structure as fertility declines and life expectancy increases. By 2100, an estimated 2.37 billion people worldwide will be over 65 years of age, compared with 1.7 billion under 20 years of age.

The number of people over 80 years of age in the world could be multiplied by six, from 141 million to 866 million. At the same time, the number of children under the age of five is expected to decrease by more than 40%, from 681 million in 2017 to 401 million in 2100. Childhood could become rare (article in French).

What about healthy longevity in all this?

First of all, it is necessary to recall, as was done as early as 2012 in a »Death of Death » letter (in French), that there is a strong correlation between life expectancy and fertility. In regions of the world where women and men live longer (and are better educated and more affluent), the birth rate is falling and the population tends to decrease. When life expectancy increases, the birth rate decreases and population growth is lower (or negative).

So the first good news is that longevity is a stabilizing factor for the population. To put it in a way that will appear provocative: to be fewer in number, let’s live longer!

Second good news: where people live longer, they tend to be more cautious. If one day, life expectancy becomes potentially much longer, well beyond a century, citizens will naturally be much more prudent, will invest more in their future and will not wish, for themselves or for others, an overpopulated planet.

There is, however, less good news. To this day, for populations beyond the age of 80 or 90, we still are not achieving significant progress in health. As already stated in previous letters, in terms of maximum lifespan, our progress is insufficient, particularly in terms of healthy longevity.

So, in the current state, overpopulation is not something that we are at risk of, on the contrary. However we do stand to havea world with a large population in fragile health. This is one of the many reasons why research for a much longer life in good health is fundamental, not only in the individual interest, but also in the collective interest.

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This month’s good news: Alzheimer’s disease is declining in Europe and the United States. Plasma and albumin to reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s disease. An enzyme prevents memory loss in mice.

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The risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or another form of neuronal degeneration at a given age has been reduced by 13% in ten years, reports an important study conducted in the United States and several European countries. 

Beware, this good news is relative. Because of the increase in life expectancy, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is still increasing. In other words, the percentage of people affected in a given age group is decreasing, while the absolute number of people affected continues to increase.

In the field of Alzheimer’s disease research itself, a clinical trial to remove aging factors from the blood (by injecting albumin and immunoglobulin) is showing good results. This study is randomized and double-blind. It remains to be confirmed, however, especially since it is funded by a company producing albumin and immunoglobulin for therapeutic purposes.

In an article to be published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica, Lars and Arne Ittner, researchers specializing in the study of dementia at Macquarie University, detail how activation of a key enzyme (p38gamma) in the brain can prevent the type of memory loss associated with advanced forms of Alzheimer’s disease, and even reverse it. An important advance tested on mice, to be confirmed on humans.

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For more information, please visit:

• Heales.org, sens.org, longevityalliance.org and longecity.org.
• Image Source. 

Man has overcome the power of natural selection. He no longer adjusts to the conditions of external environment, but creates around him an artificial, beneficent environment, remaking nature. He does not need death as a factor accelerating the improvement of humanity from generation to generation. …

There are no theoretical prohibitions to raising the possibility of immortality. I am deeply convinced that, sooner or later, the era of longevity will arrive. … As in any task, enthusiasts are needed for this, unfortunately these are very few; we are hindered by the deep-rooted conviction that death is inevitable and that the struggle with it is futile. This is a sort of psychological barrier that must be overcome.

Vasily Feofilovich Kuprevich, microbiologist (1897-1969). Quoted by Ilia Stambler in A History of Life-Extensionism In Twentieth Century. 2014.

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Theme of the month: Blood and rejuvenation

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Some history

For thousands of years, blood has been one of the elements of the body with the strongest symbolic representation, representing in particular life, heredity (blood ties), fidelity (exchange of blood) and mechanisms of rejuvenation.

Considered to be one of the most ancient acts of medicine, bloodletting probably originated in Ancient Egypt, but also in the oldest traditions of India and the Arab world.

In Greece, Erastratus, in the third century BC, taught that diseases result from an overabundance of blood: the plethora.

In the second century AD, Galen professed that good health requires a perfect balance of the four « humors »: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. His writings and teachings made bleeding a common technique throughout the Roman Empire.

In medieval Europe, bloodletting became the basic treatment for all diseases, in particular, plague, smallpox, epilepsy and gout.

The technique then was to cut veins or arteries in the forearm or neck, using a special tool with a sharp blade.

Bleeding, as a medical procedure, became a little less distressing in the 18th century: doctors used spring-loaded lancets and an instrument called a scarifier, with several blades making parallel cuts.

Young blood 

What if the elixir of youth flowed through our veins? At least among those of us who have not yet dried up the source: the young. The hypothesis, which seems to come straight out of a vampire movie, is being studied more and more seriously since experiments have shown that blood extracted from an organism in the prime of life can regenerate bodies weakened by the weight of years. So much so that, in order to combat the many diseases associated with old age, the first patient transfusion trials have just begun.

A recent article by Harold Katcher and Steve Horvath, among others, concerns two-year-old rats that received blood plasma from young rats. Their physiological indicators during the test had almost become those of 6-month-old rats. This seems promising but this study is controversial, in particular because it does not test longevity and the rat sample is not sufficient to draw reliable conclusions. Moreover, this study has not yet been validated by the scientific community.

Already 15 years ago, this surprising lead in the quest for eternal or at least prolonged youth was opened up by the experiments carried out by Irina and Michael Conboy and their colleagues at Stanford University. “We wondered why all organs age at more or less the same rate, and we thought that the blood that connects them could be an explanation, » says Michael Conboy.

To test this, his team temporarily connected the vascular networks of young and old mice as if they were Siamese twins; a complex surgical procedure called parabiosis. And they found that the muscles and liver of the older mice regenerated more efficiently, while the opposite occurred in the younger mice.

According to results published by an international team led by Tony Wyss-Coray of Stanford University, young blood could stimulate the production of new neurons in older mice. Meanwhile, an Anglo-American team, co-led by Amy Wagers, observed a regenerative effect in the spinal cord.

But where do these « alchemical » powers of young blood come from? Scientists have been trying for several years to identify the molecules that promote this regeneration. Experiments involving the injection of some of them have already produced promising results, and there is no shortage of avenues of research.

Where, on the other hand, may the molecules with the opposite action come from that gradually replace them in the blood over the years? We can imagine that certain tissues or organs, as they age, ‘infect’ others by producing more and more harmful molecules, which will travel through the bloodstream, says neurologist Tony Wyss-Coray. It remains to identify which ones.

The researcher shares the hope, with many colleagues, that inhibiting the action of these molecules linked to aging, and reinforcing the action of regenerative molecules present in young blood, could slow down the aging process.

While waiting for this Grail of life extension, the objective is already to prevent or treat the many chronic diseases favored by age (cardiovascular or neurodegenerative pathologies, bone and muscle fragility…), but also to promote organ regeneration after an accident or surgery.

And the first human trials have already begun. As early as 2014, Tony Wyss-Coray founded a start-up, Alkahest, which has since been giving weekly transfusions of a few deciliters of plasma, donated by individuals under 30 years of age, and bought from blood banks when they had a surplus, to 18 Alzheimer’s patients.

In 2019, the Wyss-Coray team published in Nature Medicine concerning a protein, VCAM1, which increases with age and seems to have a significant impact on the brain. Biological and cognitive measurements indicated that blocking VCAM1 not only prevented old plasma from damaging the brains of young mice, but could even reverse the deficits in older mice.

Diluted blood plasma

A new study, led by Irina and Michael Conboy of Berkeley University, has revealed an interesting new direction in efforts to combat the effects of aging. The team’s research showed how diluting the blood plasma of older mice can have a strong rejuvenating effect on tissues and organs by reducing the concentration of inflammatory proteins that increase with age.

Half of the mice’s plasma was exchanged for a solution composed of salt water and albumin. This significantly improved the health of the older mice. The rejuvenation effects on brain, liver and muscles were the same or greater than in the first experiments in 2005. The procedure had no negative or positive effects on the health of the young mice.

Using proteomic analysis to study blood plasma and its protein content, the team discovered that the process acts as a « molecular reset button”. After the exchange, the team observed lower concentrations of pro-inflammatory proteins while beneficial proteins, particularly those that promote vascularization, were able to thrive.

“There are two main interpretations of our original experiments (from 2005), » explains Irina Conboy. The first is that in the mouse joining experiments, the rejuvenation was due to young blood and young proteins or factors that decrease with age, but an equally possible alternative is that, with age, you have an increase in certain proteins in the blood that become harmful, and these have been suppressed or neutralized by the young partners. As our (recent) experience shows, the second interpretation proves to be correct. Young blood or factors that are not necessary for the rejuvenating effect; dilution of old blood is sufficient.

Drug candidates

“Some of these proteins are of particular interest and in the future we may consider them as additional therapeutic and drug candidates » says Michael Conboy. “But I would caution against being overly optimistic. It’s very unlikely that aging can be reversed by changes in a single protein. In our experiment, we found that we could do a relatively simple, FDA-approved procedure that simultaneously altered the levels of many proteins in the right direction.”

So this is extremely promising. Unfortunately, only markers of aging were measured. No verification of progress in longevity was done since the mice were sacrificed once the experiment was completed. It may well be that the effects are only temporary or even negative over the long term.

However, a double-blind experiment on humans is said to be already being planned. It is very positive if this happens quickly and with well-informed volunteers. We would then quickly know whether there is as positive an effect on humans as on mice. We would know after a few months whether the positive effect is lasting. If it is, it will be a huge advance in longevity.

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This month’s good news: More and more international conferences for online longevity  

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Following the Covid-19 pandemic, a positive collateral effect is a wider, faster and often free dissemination of events concerning longevity. Thus the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation (LEAF – Lifespan.io) broadcasts numerous conferences, in particular via its YouTube channel.

Note for non-English speakers that it is possible to use automated translation for subtitling. It is still imperfect, but generally already understandable. A useful technological advance for many uses, including sharing information for a longer life.

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For more information, please visit:

• heales.org, sens.org, longevityalliance.org and longecity.org.

Source of the image.

We are very familiar with life extension, but mostly it has appeared in the guise of life-saving strategies, like vaccination. The vaccinations for polio and smallpox have saved hundreds of millions of lives, or to put it another way, ‘have enabled hundreds of millions of people to live who otherwise would have died’. Vaccination is an exercise in life extension – but nobody throws up their hands in horror about its huge effect on life expectancy.

John Harris, bioethicist (quote perhaps too optimistic given the virulence of some « anti-vaccination » campaigns), April 2020 (source)

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Theme of the month: Covid-19 treatments and the fight against aging

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The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in December 2019 has left many physicians in the dark. Faced with this unknown virus, they have often had to make do with whatever they had to hand  to care for their patients, even if it meant testing unapproved drugs and treatments. A meta-study, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and published in the journal Infectious Diseases and Therapy, counted all the treatments administered to the first patients with Covid-19. They calculated that 115 different drugs and remedies were prescribed to 9,152 patients. But the study highlights the trial and error approach of the medical teams to find the appropriate remedy.

The purpose of this letter is to provide an overview, for non-specialists on the subject, of the situation as of 20 June 2020 of the most promising research as well as some links with research relating to aging. However, some avenues will not be explored (e.g. ways to strengthen the immune system, including vitamin D).

• Vaccines

Research into coronavirus is breaking all records, 140 research projects have been recorded by the WHO as of 18 June 2020: the development of research for a vaccine usually takes much longer. Although several laboratories are making serious headway, a working vaccine is not for tomorrow!

Messenger RNA vaccines

Vaccination via messenger RNA is taking  the lead in the race for a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic.  It is a vaccine of this type that was the first to enter the clinical trial stage.

In the United States, the Phase II trial of the mRNA-1273 vaccine began May 29, U.S. biotech company Moderna Therapeutics said in a statement. If successful, the Phase III trial could begin as early as July.

The first two European human trials took place April 23 in the United Kingdom and Germany. The ChAdOx 1 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford will be tested on 800 patients, reports the BBC. The BNT162 vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech has also been given the green light to be tested on 200 volunteers.

Recombinant DNA technology

The French pharmaceutical group Sanofi has partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop a candidate vaccine using « recombinant DNA technology ». It consists of combining the DNA of the virus with the DNA of a harmless virus to create a new cellular entity capable of provoking an immune response. The antigens created by this process can then be replicated on a large scale.

David Loew, executive vice president of Sanofi Pasteur, estimated in February that a candidate vaccine would be available « in less than six months » and potentially enter clinical trials « in about a year to a year and a half ».

The advantage for aging of having vaccines for Covid-19 is, as with the influenza vaccine, to immunize older people to protect them from future contamination.

A universal vaccine against aging is of course currently unimaginable from a scientific point of view. However, some universal vaccinations that are favorable to longevity are conceivable. For example, it is conceivable to extend vaccination for diseases such as herpes. Herpes is often asymptomatic, « underground ». It affects the majority of humans and the vast majority of the elderly. Vaccination could provide a moderate gain of healthy life for those who are free of the condition.

• Antivirals and anti-inflammatory drugs

Chloroquine, a controversial antimalarial drug

A Chinese study, published by the journal BioScience Trends on February 18, 2020, was the first to affirm the efficacy of chloroquine, a drug used against malaria, in the treatment of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and its Covid-19 disease.

Professor Didier Raoult, who is testing chloroquine at the Marseille Infectious diseases University Hospital Institute, said that its effect against the coronavirus was spectacular, with the virus disappearing in six days in three-quarters of patients. But several experts call for caution in the absence of further studies and because of its undesirable effects which can be serious, especially in the event of overdose.

In May, a Lancet study that identified the potential dangers of chloroquine was quickly retracted. A recent double-blind randomized clinical trial against the prophylactic use of chloroquine appeared in the New England Medical Journal.

This case was a superb textbook case for presenting medical science. It was useful to point out the many methodological errors. However, the debate very quickly became a conflict between anti-chloroquine on the one hand and pro-chloroquine on the other. Yet the scientific approach is neither pro nor anti. It values doubt, taking a step back, and is little concerned with our desire for efficacy in a therapy, it is intended to cut through to the reality, not to lull us into reassuring illusions.

Clinical trials, particularly double-blind trials, should have been an absolute priority, better coordinated and faster. It must be said that the enormous mobilization in the fight against the disease has not sufficiently allowed this to happen.

Remdesivir, the first effective treatment on the market?

Remdesivir, developed by the American laboratory Gilead, « acts directly on the virus to prevent its multiplication ». It has been tested in the past for Ebola.

« At the moment there is only one drug that we think could be really effective. And that’s remdesivir, » said Bruce Aylward, a World Health Organization (WHO) official, in March. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Monday 8 June that it had received an application for a conditional marketing authorization for the antiviral in the European Union.

Research on Covid-related antivirals has led to an acceleration of all research into this class of drugs. However, to date, this has not been applied to the longevity of elderly people not suffering from a viral disease.

Dexamethasone

In June, a steroid, dexamethasone, was shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect that significantly reduced deaths (up to 25%) in the most affected patients.

• Plasma and antibodies

When transfusing convalescent plasma, and thus transfusing blood from a healed patient to a patient who is still ill, it is hoped to generate a « passive immunity transfer ». Antibodies created to fight infection are inserted into a still infected person so that they can act immediately against the disease. This transfer can provoke an even more rapid defense response than with a vaccine. However, since they were not produced directly by the patient’s body, the antibodies transferred will not last and will not provide long-term immunity. Nonetheless, this speeds up the healing process and, in the case of Covid-19, the hope is to prevent the disease from getting worse.

Medical research is exploring different avenues to fight Covid-19. Among them, transfusing the blood – and more specifically the plasma – of cured patients into patients who are still ill is a serious possibility. The French Blood Establishment (EFS) started a clinical trial based on this principle on 7 April. In the United States, the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project research group is also involved in such experiments.

The advantage for the elderly is to compensate for the lack of defense capability of their immune system by providing them with a dose of antibodies present in the plasma of cured people. More broadly speaking, the replacement of blood by other substances in an elderly organism is one of the extremely promising avenues for longevity. A very recent development is discussed at the end of this letter (see below: This month’s good news).

Regeneron develops a treatment that is both curative and preventive

Last year, the Regeneron laboratory developed a drug, administered intravenously, known as « monoclonal antibodies », which significantly improved the survival rate of patients affected by the Ebola virus. The drug could work by administering it to people before they are exposed or afterwards, although the effects would only be temporary because the antibodies will not be part of the memory of an individual’s immune system.

• Stem cells

Chinese and American researchers have joined forces to test the effectiveness of stem cells against coronavirus. Their study was published in April 2020.

Stem cells appear to contribute to the rejuvenation and regeneration of other cells. They do this in many ways such as reducing inflammation, secreting substances that protect cells, reducing cell death, providing antioxidant effects, and boosting the immune system’s response.

In 2011, French researchers succeeded in restoring the youthfulness of donor cells over 100 years old by reprogramming them to the stem cell stage, thus demonstrating that the process of cell aging is reversible. The acceleration of stem cell research for Covid-19 may also be useful in the fight against senescence.

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This month’s good news: Replacing the blood of older mice with salt water and albumin makes them considerably « younger » .  

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In the monthly newsletter of May, we referred to a scientific article concerning an « elixir » injected into the bloodstream that would « rejuvenate » rats. 

A few days ago, another very promising article appeared in the Aging journal concerning a similar mechanism. Researchers, including a scientist couple specializing in this type of study, Irina and Michael Conboy, replaced half of the blood of elderly mice with a solution of salt water and albumin. The result was spectacular. This dilution has rejuvenating effects on the brain, liver and muscles.

Among the extremely promising aspects of this study :

• the given product is known and costs almost nothing,
• the treatment is very simple,
• the treatment does not pose the ethical problems that would arise with blood transfusions.

However, as with the experiment described last month, there remains a fundamental unexamined question: Is it really possible that the « rejuvenated » mice could live longer, or would the effect be temporary or even negative in the long term?

If the effect is long-lasting (with renewed transfers if necessary), a spectacular future of rejuvenation is in sight.

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For more information, please visit:

• heales.org, sens.org, longevityalliance.org and longecity.org.
• Source of the schema.