Libella Gene Therapeutics has publicized the first-ever clinical trial that has been approved by IRB (institutional review board) to cure and treat aging. This pay-to-play and gene therapy-based clinical trial in Colombia can reverse the effects of aging by twenty years.
How to get enrolled in this clinical trial?
Any individual who is interested in this pay-to-play trial and wishes to get enrolled will have to pay one million dollars in his country. Only after paying this amount and signing an informed consent in Colombia, he can become a part of it.
The gene therapy is performed on the trial’s participant in the hospital in a strictly supervised environment.
According to the traditional point of view, aging has been known as a natural phenomenon. But this perspective has changed with the latest research and discoveries in this aspect. And currently, scientists expect to observe aging as a disease instead of a natural process.
Role of Telomeres in the Aging Process
The studies on this process suggest that reduction in the length of telomeres is the primary reason that leads to aging.
One can think about telomeres as a biological clock of the body. The cell cycle is a mechanism present in the body for cellular division. It was observed that with every cell cycle, telomeres reduce in length, decreasing the cell’s ability to divide again. It can explain the cause of aging.
These findings are also proved by a large number of scientific and peer-reviewed studies. Whereas, a few of these researches also suggest that increasing the length of the telomeres can reverse the process of aging and possibly cure it.
The Chief Scientific Officer of Libella Gene Therapeutics, Bill Andrews, has introduced a new gene therapy based on these results. The therapy aims to cure aging by increasing telomeres’ length.
Related: Latest Technology Allows The Control Of Gene Expression
Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase enzyme
Almost 20 years ago, Dr. Andrew discovered the human telomerase while he was working with his team at Geron Corporation. Additionally, he was a part of the research team that experimented about telomerase induction and cancer.
Libella’s clinical trial based on gene therapy targets to increase the length of telomeres. In this, the adeno-associated virus (AAV) is used as a vector to transfer the gene for human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase enzyme (hTERT).
Libella trusts that doing so can help them reverse and cure aging. Observance of minimal adverse effects in almost 200 individuals participating in this clinical trial shows that this gene therapy to be safe.
The clinicaltrials.gov database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) has also posted this Libella’s gene therapy-based clinical trial to reverse the aging process by 20 years.
Why the clinical trial wasn’t conducted in the U.S.?
Conducting clinical trials in the U.S. require years and are quite expensive. They may cost about millions or even billions of American dollars. But Colombia has the equipment, the lab partners, the scientist, and the physicians required to conduct this clinical trial at a reduced cost and a faster rate.