Researchers believe they are taking "the first baby step" towards creating an anti-aging drug that can fight off deadly diseases, according to a new study.
More than 200 volunteers, aged 65 or older, were used in the study, and were randomly given either the new drug or a placebo pill, followed by a dose of a flu vaccine, reported HealthDay.
The experimental drug is a variation of the approved drug rapamycin, which has "limited anti-aging effects," according to ScienceDaily.
When the researchers tested this new rapamycin-like drug, they found that it generally made the seniors develop about 20 percent more antibodies in response to the flu vaccine, and they had fewer white blood cells associated with age-related immune decline, reported HealthDay.
Other drugs, like rapamycin, claim to help with anti-aging, but this is one of the first studies to show that these drugs also can delay the effects of aging in humans, Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, said to HealthDay.
"It sets the stage for using this drug to target aging, to improve everything about aging. That's really going to be for us a turning point in research, and we are very excited."
The effects of the drug are expected to be so great that researchers on the project are calling it a "fountain of youth" drug.
It appears that if the researchers can perfect this drug, it can be revolutionary when it comes to treating the elderly from deadly illnesses.
"Aging is the major risk factor for the killers we're afraid of," Barzilai said to HealthDay, pointing out that people's risk for deadly illnesses increases as they grow older. "If the aging is the major risk, the way to extend people's lives and improve their health is to delay aging."
