{"slug": "study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging", "title": "Study Suggests AI-Generated Drug Could Slow Aging", "summary": "A study published in Nature Biotechnology reports that Insilico Medicine's AI-generated drug rentosertib reduced biological age markers in 42 patients over a 12-week trial, as measured by six aging clocks, while placebo or untreated groups saw no improvement. The findings mark an early step toward using AI to develop anti-aging treatments, though the drug requires further trials before regulatory approval.", "body_md": "An AI-generated drug showed early signs of potentially slowing aging, according to a [new study](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-026-03286-y#Abs1) out today in Nature Biotechnology, possibly taking the first small step towards using AI to cure all the diseases tech companies companies keep talking about.\n\nThe new study centers on rentosertib, a drug from [Insilico Medicine](https://insilico.com), an AI drug discovery and development company. From the onset, Insilico said it [created](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/science/ai-generated-drug-longevity.html) rentosertib with the aim of both treating patients suffering chronic lung disease and extending their lifespan. In the [study](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-026-03286-y#Abs1), the company showed that its drug managed to successfully reduce some of the biological markers of age, as measured by aging clocks, in a small set of patients.\n\nAging clocks have moved from a sort of shorthand to a reference of where a person is in their life (“their biological clock is ticking”) to a real metric that aims to measure a person’s morbidity and mortality. A number of these clocks have been developed with AI to take many measurements—biomarkers in blood, physiological metrics, psychological assessments, etc.—and spit out a biological “age” meant to reflect a person’s overall health.\n\nIn the 42 participants of the study, Insilico found that its drug managed to reduce their biological ages over the course of the 12-week trial, while those who received a placebo or no treatment saw their age increase or stay the same. The company used six different so-called aging clocks and noticed enough of a shift on all six to conclude that “the drug may modulate complementary dimensions of biological aging.”\n\nThe idea of reducing aging certainly sounds good (and has become the obsession of [some tech bro-types](https://gizmodo.com/bryan-johnsons-new-list-of-adorably-obvious-longevity-tips-shows-hes-come-a-long-way-2000759066)), but the actual utility of aging clocks is up for debate.\n\nThere are several variations of these clocks, all of which take different approaches. The earliest versions, developed over a decade ago, [track methylation](https://tallyhealth.com/blogs/learn/dna-methylation-and-aging-how-epigenetic-clocks-measure-your-biological-age), which observes chemical changes in DNA. More recent models focus on proteomics, or measuring blood proteins, which a [2024 study](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03164-7) found could be used to determine if a person had a higher risk of age-related diseases.\n\nAnd while some researchers believe that these catch-all measurements [could be useful](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-025-00312-2), there’s still a long way to go before they become truly meaningful markers. Scientists have tried to [kick-start the field and improve accuracy](https://www.science.org/content/article/scientific-showdown-seeks-biological-clock-best-tracks-aging) so that such tools can be used for research purposes, but there still isn’t a measurement that serves as a universally accepted “age” indicator—and some doctors have warned that leaning on these metrics could lead to [pursuing the wrong interventions](https://www.aging-us.com/news-room/why-epigenetic-clocks-may-fail-to-measure-anti-aging-effects), seeking ways to slow aging indicators in a way that actually harms a body’s repair response.\n\nAll that said, a pill that keeps a person’s body from succumbing to the effects of aging would be a breakthrough. Insilico’s pill is still a long way from being that—it’ll have lot of trials to go before getting any sort of regulatory approval.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging", "canonical_source": "https://gizmodo.com/study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging-2000808265", "published_at": "2026-09-07 22:01:36+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-07 22:31:32.119560+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Insilico Medicine", "Nature Biotechnology", "rentosertib"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/study-suggests-ai-generated-drug-could-slow-aging.jsonld"}}