英矽智能（Insilico Medicine）利用人工智慧研发的一款肺部疾病实验性药物 rentosertib，在一项针对42名特发性肺纤维化患者的中期临床试验中，展现出逆转人体生物学衰老标记的潜力。研究透过六种不同的衰老时钟进行评估，发现接受该药物治疗的患者在给药四周后，其平均生物年龄最多降低了六岁，而对照组安慰剂受试者则几乎没有变化，相关成果已发表于《自然生物技术》期刊。
目前该药物在中国正处于治疗特发性肺纤维化的后期临床试验阶段，而英矽智能采用了专注于双重用途疗法的策略，旨在攻克与年龄相关的慢性疾病的同时促进健康长寿。该公司透过人工智慧演算法筛选庞大资料以锁定衰老标靶，并进一步在虚拟环境中设计与优化分子结构，展现了AI加速新药研发时程并提升成功率的潜力，未来亦计划对其研发管线中至少半数药物进行类似的生物年龄分析。
执行长亚历克斯·扎沃隆科夫（Alex Zhavoronkov）指出，尽管目前在监管上无法直接以抗衰老作为适应症取得批准，但降低生物年龄往往意味著延长寿命，本项研究为未来抗衰老药物开发提供了重要典范。不过他也审慎提醒，当前研究规模较小且结果仍属早期阶段，药物对更大人群的长期健康效应仍有待进一步验证，但若其原定适应症获批，将为未来抗衰老相关的临床应用与探索开启大门。
Rentosertib, an experimental lung disease drug developed by Insilico Medicine using artificial intelligence, has demonstrated promise in reversing biological signs of aging in a mid-stage clinical trial of 42 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Evaluated across six distinct biological aging clocks, patients treated with the drug experienced a reduction in average biological age of up to six years four weeks after the initial dose, whereas the placebo group showed virtually no change, according to findings published in Nature Biotechnology.
Currently undergoing late-stage clinical trials in China for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, rentosertib exemplifies Insilico Medicine's strategy of pursuing dual-use therapies that tackle specific age-related conditions while broadly enhancing longevity. The company utilized AI tools to mine vast biological datasets to identify disease targets linked to aging and to design and optimize the candidate molecule virtually, highlighting AI's capacity to shorten development timelines with plans to conduct similar aging analyses on at least half of its pipeline drugs.
Chief Executive Officer Alex Zhavoronkov noted that while gaining regulatory approval specifically for anti-aging is currently unviable, lowering biological age correlates with extended lifespan and provides a viable blueprint for future longevity therapeutics. However, he cautioned that these results represent an early, limited study with long-term effects across broader populations still unknown, though obtaining regulatory approval for its primary lung indication could pave the way for physicians to explore and prescribe the drug for age-related conditions.