Treating Aging As a Disease?

May 20th, 2010

It may sound far-fetched to consider the process of aging a “disease”, but that is exactly what many researchers are trying to accomplish. Bear with their explanation before you jump on me. The purpose of this new approach would turn the search for drugs to fight age-related diseases on its head, they say, and could speed the path to market of drugs that treat multiple illnesses like diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s at the same time.

“If aging is seen as a disease, it changes how we respond to it. For example, it becomes the duty of doctors to treat it,” said David Gems, a biogerontologist who spoke at a conference on aging in London last week called “Turning Back the Clock.”

The issue that they are talking about here is that regulators don’t consider aging to be a disease so that drugs manufactured strictly for a general aging solution aren’t able to get through.

“Because aging is not viewed as a disease, the whole process of bringing drugs to market can’t be applied to drugs that treat aging. This creates a disincentive to pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs to treat it,” said Gems.

So…let’s think about this for a moment. This sounds like a bunch of BS to me. While in a philosophical sense it may sound like a great idea, but reality has to set in somewhere, and that reality sounds like it is in place with the regulators. What we are talking about here are “miracle drugs” that we have seen throughout history. Aging ISN’T a disease. This is just fanatasy talk. Guys dressed up in suits with mens ties and standing in front of a wagon selling tonics. The drugs have to actually DO SOMETHING. That is all the regulators want. You can’t make drugs that are marketed to “prevent aging” because aging isn’t a cause.