After selling Euroset, Timur Artemyev directed part of the proceeds into a project that many considered at least dubious: in 2007 he founded the Institute of Biology of Aging. Over the year and a half since its creation, the businessman invested $1 million in it. In St. Petersburg, in the building of the N.N. Petrov Institute, that money equipped a vivarium—a laboratory for animal experiments. There, as reported, the vast majority of anti-aging drugs were tested.
The institute verifies existing medicines, conducts fundamental research, and studies the mechanisms of aging at various levels. Artemyev's stated motivation was a desire to live longer.
Science Against Aging
Igor Artyukhov, an expert at the Institute of Biology of Aging, called the work of Academician Vladimir Skulachev one of the most successful projects in this field. Basic Element head Oleg Deripaska invested $15 million in it; the company RAINCO, of which he is the beneficial owner, had been implementing the project since 2005. According to representatives of the Institute of Biology of Aging, the work has now been suspended. RAINCO said it was developing a strategy for the project under crisis conditions, optimizing costs, and seeking additional investors.
Skulachev's method is based on creating special antioxidants with a complex molecular structure that accumulate in cell mitochondria and prevent the formation of harmful free radicals. The academician's main idea, as the article conveys it, is that old age is a disease, and it can and should be treated. The use of antioxidants increased the lifespan of nematode worms 7–10 times; in mice the results are more modest.
"To complete animal experiments, several hundred thousand dollars are needed, and to conduct clinical trials in humans, many millions will be required," Artyukhov said. "To bring such a drug to the U.S. market, a billion is needed. In Russia, of course, that figure is significantly lower."
In his view, the problem is not only money: sometimes substances that work beautifully in mice have no effect at all on humans.
Genes, Cells, and Organs
Besides antioxidants, science knows of attempts to extend life through genetic engineering—intervening in a metabolic pathway that in worms yielded a 7–10-fold increase in lifespan. It was recently proven that one variant of a gene in this pathway occurs significantly more often in long-lived people over 100 than in the population average. According to Artyukhov, many laboratories worldwide are working in this area, but translating the results to humans requires many decades. The second difficulty, he said, is that aging is not considered a disease and is absent from the relevant classifiers, so a remedy for it legally cannot go through the FDA international approval process.
The prospects of genetic engineering are not limited to extending life. Last November, the first transplant of a grown organ—a trachea—was performed in Britain. The field of cryobanks for cells, tissues, and organs for transplantation is developing: with a sufficiently large bank, suitable material could be found for almost every patient. Personal genomics, by Artyukhov's estimate, is rapidly becoming cheaper: the cost of sequencing an individual genome should fall from tens of thousands of dollars to a few thousand, and in 2010–2011 to a thousand, which is considered the threshold for mass adoption.
Stem Cells and Life Expectancy
More substantial rejuvenation results come from stem cell manipulations. A few years ago such preparations were sold on every corner, but then, according to Artyukhov, about 120 such "shops" were shut down in Moscow alone. Now rejuvenation procedures for considerable money are performed as part of scientific and clinical research at several centers, with information spreading by word of mouth. Among the best organizations is the Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Ministry of Health, where Academician Gennady Sukhikh leads this work.
The main problem, according to Artyukhov, is not so much rejuvenation as increasing life expectancy: in two-thirds of the world's countries people live 10–15 years longer than in Russia. Among the main causes, the expert cited the prevalence of bad habits and poor diet, in particular selenium deficiency. In Finland, he said, the state enriches soil and livestock feed with selenium, and the number of cardiovascular pathologies has fallen 2.5-fold in recent years, cancers 1.8-fold, and endocrine system diseases by 77%.
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