Could Biological Ageing Be the Next Big Shift in Drug Discovery?

In this special Scientific Council Spotlight episode of The Discovery Loop podcast, host Shubhangi Dua, Journalist, Podcast Producer and Podcast Host at Pharmatica.io, sits down with Deepankar Nayak, the CEO of Deep Longevity. Nayak also serves on Pharmatica’s Scientific Council.

Together, the speakers on this pharma podcast unpack the true potential of biological ageing and why pharmaceutical leaders need to pay attention to the new research on longevity. 

They also talk about the industry-wide shift from talking about reactive disease treatment to proactively targeting ageing as a modifiable biological process. 

“The top-line message would be that we should all look at ageing like a modifiable biological process, rather than an inevitable consequence of getting older,” the CEO of Deep Longevity stated. 

For context, he added that researchers around the globe are attempting to study longevity using a platform so they could come up with innovations. These longevity-driven innovations aim to help people live longer, live healthier, as against trying to react to disease conditions.

Also Read: Could Biological Age Become Pharma's Most Important Biomarker?

Why is AI-Driven Biological Ageing Important?

When we talk about innovations in the enterprise space, AI cannot be dismissed. Nayak spotlights AI-driven biological ageing clocks that are developing or could be developed as a critical solution in clinical trials. 

AI-backed biological ageing clocks can serve as surrogate endpoints that can accelerate drug development and improve patient stratification. 

“If you are trying to demonstrate longevity intervention, you really don't have the luxury of running a 40-year-old clinical trial,” Nayak expresses to Dua on The Discover Loop episode.

“The pharma industry is beginning to look at biological age as a surrogate endpoint to improve the clinical trials,” he added. “We [Deep Longevity] created the technology that turns complex biological data into a quantitative measure of biological age and at the rate at which someone is ageing.”

This is where Deep Longevity’s pharmaceutical technology comes into play. The enterprise enables the entire longevity ecosystem through biological ageing clocks. 

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How Deep Longevity Helps in Developing Therapeutics for Pharmaceuticals

Deep Longevity is a preventive health AI-driven company focusing on developing therapeutics. They also use digital interventions to improve health and longevity through their products and through the ageing clocks. 

In the field of longevity, pharma companies are looking to develop drugs or develop innovative diagnostics; others are running smarter clinical trials. However, in Deep Longevity, the task is to provide measurement and analytical technology to aid all of the above efforts.

By turning complex biological data into a quantitative measure of biological age, the platform provides researchers a much faster readout of whether an intervention is changing the underlying biology. 

“Pharma industries use these clocks to identify patients who are biologically ageing the fastest and therefore may benefit most from a certain therapy,” Nayak tells Dua. “This will help in patient recruitment.”

Those in the industry can track the trials and see if these trials are actually making meaningful progress early in the lifecycle.

In case of no progress, the platform data can be used to help make adjustments to the trial protocol. For instance, researchers can use biological age predictions as a way to address individual treatments by adjusting the dosage of drugs and transform trials into “truly adaptive clinical trials.”

“It’s a bold claim; however, I believe when deployed adequately, researchers can use biological age to even terminate programmes that are not showing the desired benefit,” Nayak tells Dua. As a result, pharma companies sponsoring or running clinical research programmes can “save millions of dollars in the process.”

“That money can be saved and reinvested in their R&D programmes.”

Ultimately, the conversation goes from talking about popular "biohacking" trends such as GLP-1 drugs and the need for evidence-based interventions, to urging pharma leaders to integrate biological ageing into their R&D strategies now to secure a competitive advantage in the coming decade.

Takeaways

• Ageing should be viewed as a modifiable biological process.
• Biological age is a better predictor of health outcomes than chronological age.
• GLP-1 medications are evolving from diabetes treatments to broader metabolic health solutions.
• Strength training is essential for health, especially in older adults.
• Caution is necessary when adopting new health trends and medications.
• Biological ageing clocks can transform clinical trials and patient care.
• Pharma leaders should start integrating biological ageing into their strategies now.
• The future of drug discovery will increasingly rely on biological ageing metrics.
• Emerging health trends should be approached with evidence-based caution.
• The competitive advantage in pharma will belong to those who adopt biological ageing early.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Biological Age and Longevity
• 02:25 The Shift in Pharma: Ageing as a Modifiable Process
• 09:12 The Importance of Biological Age in Medicine
• 11:15 The Role of GLP-1 in Metabolic Health and Ageing
• 19:03 Deep Longevity: Measuring Biological Age
• 24:36 Advice for Pharma Leaders on Ageing Strategies

Watch the full episode now live on pharmatica.io for research-backed, effective insights on how to best optimise biological ageing data into clinical trials for best patient care as well as meeting those ROI promises. Also, visit deeplongevity.com to learn all about the platform and how it can best serve pharma enterprises.