Interest in NZ anti-ageing drug grows
Global interest in a Kiwi company’s anti-ageing drug is ramping up and three clinical trials are underway to test it against a range of ailments. Mitoubiquinone mesylate, which is marketed as MitoQ, is a New Zealand owned and developed superantioxidant that works by penetrating and optimising the cellular mitochondria — the socalled batteries within our cells.
Its backers believe the drug holds the potential to increase lifespan by 10 to 15 per cent, while also improving health span.
Discovered by Otago University’s Professor Rob Smith and global mitochondria expert Dr Mike Murphy, of Britain’s Cambridge University, the drug was launched as a skincare and supplement range in 2013, and now sells in more than 100 countries.
Ageing and its associated health issues and lower energy levels is linked to a loss in mitochondrial function and mitochondrial dysfunction is now known to be linked with more than 200 diseases or conditions.
“This includes some of the biggest issues affecting hundreds of millions of people around the world like diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and more,” said Greg Macpherson, MitoQ’s chief executive and the pharmacist who formulated the antioxidant to penetrate mitrochrondria. MitoQ is the subject of a collaborative study with Callaghan Innovation and Auckland University, assessing its effects on blood sugar and cardiovascular health in 20 New Zealand patients.
Meanwhile, in the United States, University of Colorado researchers are investigating whether it improves physiological function in middleaged and older adults, and a University of Delaware team is examining its effects on patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease.
Interest in the technology had been boosted by its recent selection for the US Government’s National Institute of Ageing’s (NIA) Interventions Testing Programme.
Macpherson said the commercial benefits that came with being picked for the programme were enormous.