Imagine a not-so-distant future, when a 60-year-old man named John Doe goes to the doctor to replace a faulty gene or insert a whole new gene into his body—something that cures his diabetes, for instance. This is no pipe dream.
So far, gene therapy has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for only a couple of applications like rare inherited diseases and blood cancer. That said, more than 2,000 clinical trials are taking place in 2023, with 200 of them having already reached phase 3 clinical trials. A slew of upcoming gene therapies could be approved—possibly in the months to come—in the United States and Europe, targeting everything from sickle cell disease and hemophilia to metastatic skin cancer. In this future, gene therapy will be approved for everything we can imagine—and many things we can’t.
I’ve thought for quite some time that many of the interventions we discuss here are a bridge to get us to gene therapy.
I agree.
Sorry, without the genes we may just be pi$$ing into the wind. (and that includes Okinawins)
Some people stay effortlessly younger than their age while the rest of us struggle.
“Elinor Campbell Feihel, 102, has credited her youthful attitude to alcohol”
“She drinks a glass of vodka, whiskey, or bourbon every night”
William Shatner (92) claims he exercises, but from the looks of him, he doesn’t do much.
To me, he looks like a robust 65-year-old who is overweight.
Multiple facelifts and botox. Despite this, he is blessed. From the neck down, he looks very unhealthy.
I think that people with excessive money/power/fame tend to be longer-lived than normal people even with the same awful diets and lack of exercise.
Maybe that is just due to better health care access? Especially true probably for third world countries and USA.