A year out from Leqembi’s approval for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), ongoing research coupled with artificial intelligence is advancing both radiopharmaceuticals and small-molecule drugs for AD diagnostics and treatment, speakers at the 2024 KoNECT-MOHW-MFDS conference said.

Immortality and eternal youth have been the stuff of myths and legends from ancient times on. Now, in the 21st century, real studies of current medicine could be applied to repair tissues and organs damaged by age. During the 11th Aging Research & Drug Discovery (ARDD) Meeting held at the University of Copenhagen at the end of August, scientists explained the molecular keys of rejuvenation, as many artists imagined in the past.

Aging is part of the life cycle and, although the effects are not manifest until after adulthood, it actually occurs from birth. The concept of senescence has traditionally been associated with aging. However, an embryo has senescent cells. In that case, what is aging, how can it be measured, and from what point in the life cycle?

Since the publication of The Hallmarks of Aging in 2013, aging research has exploded. The field now has more than 300,000 articles on the biological signals of the effect of time on the body. What would Marty McFly, the legendary character from the Back to the Future saga who traveled with his DeLorean time machine from the ‘80s to the ‘50s, think if he visited 2024 and saw laboratories experimenting with techniques to turn back the biological clocks of cells or increase the lifespan of rejuvenated mice?

Increased life expectancy also comes with age-related diseases. But what causes one to age? Although there is no single answer, scientists at Duke-National University of Singapore have shown in mice that interleukin-11 (IL-11) promoted aging. Blocking it improved health and lifespan.

After Novosis Putty gained U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation of bio-fusion spine implantation device, South Korea’s Cgbio Co. Ltd. posted positive findings of similar ceramic bone graft, Novosis, to lay groundwork for U.S. market entry.

Crescom Co. Ltd., of Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, gained domestic approval for its AI-powered software to grade knee osteoarthritis, dubbed MediAI-OA, while launching a new AI-mobile platform, Onzaram, to help manage child growth care.

As with most common diseases of the developed world, aging is the major risk factor for developing cancer. Most of the half-dozen hallmarks of precancer that were published last week by investigators from Vanderbilt University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are also hallmarks of aging. Unfortunately, scientists reported at the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) 2024 annual meeting this week that accelerated aging is increasing, and may be driving an increase in early-onset cancers.

After decades of trying and dozens of failed trials, amyloid targeting has paid off with the first disease-modifying agents reaching the market. But success does not mean slam dunk. Aduhelm (aducanumab, Biogen Inc.) was dogged by controversy throughout its brief tenure, and Biogen pulled the plug on it in early 2024. Leqembi (lecanemab, Biogen Inc.) has received full approval. In this second installment of a three-part series on Alzheimer’s, BioWorld looks at the nuanced view of amyloid’s role in the disease.

At a recent meeting on “Research priorities for preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias” (ADRD), convened by the National Academies, one consensus priority on ADRD research was that there needs to be more of it at every stage. Several speakers presented stark numbers on the relative volume of research in cancer and neurodegeneration. Research output, measured in peer-reviewed papers, for dementia is estimated to be around 10,000 papers annually, compared to 150,000 for cancer, while AD clinical trials are also few and far between compared to cancer trials. This final installment of BioWorld’s series on Alzheimer’s explores some of the reasons for this discrepancy along with the latest advances and ongoing efforts to accelerate research and drug development in the field.