Apr 5, 2022
Dr. Adam Kaplin is the Chief Scientific Officer of MyMD Pharmaceuticals which is developing a drug that gets to the cause of inflammation. Since chronic inflammation is a factor in pathological aging, managing inflammation shows opportunities for slowing aging. Their lead drug MyMD-1 is a TNF-a inhibitor that can cross the blood-brain barrier and treat the brain where other anti-TNF-a treatments do not.
Adam explains, "By delaying aging, what I mean is they not only lived longer, but they didn't lose their function. So, they retained their strength and their cognition. Because if we were only developing a drug that would just allow us all to get older and demented, that wouldn't be good for the economy, good for our personal health, good for anybody. So really, what we're excited about is the prospect of actually slowing the aging process and extending the healthy portion of our lifespans."
"So, aging probably is going to end up being the result of two primary processes. One is inflammation, and that is the product of having an immune system which is all set up to fight off infection. And not just fight off infection -- it turns out, inflammation is also a part of how we develop."
"The second most important thing I think is that these drugs, the anti-TNF-a treatments like HUMIRA, do not have any benefit for the brain. I mean, they can cause things that look like MS, but they certainly have no benefit for CNS inflammatory conditions. And among those are MS, lupus, but also dementias. Alzheimer's now has been implicated to have inflammation involved. So, crossing over the blood-brain barrier's a big deal. It's orally available. Additionally, all the other TNF-a inhibitors have to be taken by a needle in some way, injection or infusion."
@MyMDPharma #Health #Medical #Aging #Lifespan #Sarcopenia #Immunology #Immunesystem #Inflammation #Cytokines #CytokineStorm #TNFa #BloodBrainBarrier
