A wave of biotech companies is looking to prove that it’s possible to slow down the aging process. Mountain View, California–based Rubedo Life Sciences is starting with the most outwardly visible sign: the skin.
The company’s experimental treatment is showing early promise that it may be able to reduce the appearance of aging, according to data the company presented at the Aging Research and Drug Discovery meeting in Boston earlier this month.
In a small clinical trial, Rubedo tested its topical cream on 11 people with atopic dermatitis, an inflammatory skin condition and the most common type of eczema. The drug targets a mechanism of cellular senescence, a biological state in which damaged or stressed cells permanently stop dividing but do not die. These senescent or “zombie” cells accumulate as people age and can release substances that contribute to inflammation and tissue damage, which contributes to disease.
After four weeks of using the cream, participants lowered the biological age of their skin by about two years, on average. That estimate was based on an aging “clock” designed by a different company, Mitra Bio, which performed an independent analysis on participants’ skin samples. One person in the trial had a reduction of more than 11 years in skin age. Separately, Rubedo found that its treatment was tied to a reduction in inflammation-related markers and a 10 percent increase in a type of collagen associated with skin elasticity and structure.
Biological or epigenetic age is an estimate of how well a person is aging compared to their calendar age. Aging clocks like Mitra’s attempt to calculate this number by looking at patterns of methylations, chemical modifications to DNA that regulate how genes function and can change over time. That metric doesn’t necessarily prove that the body or a particular organ or tissue has become functionally younger, though.
“Our idea is to find ways to change the trajectory of how we age,” says Marco Quarta, Rubedo’s cofounder and chief scientific officer. “Aging is complex. There are many mechanisms, but cellular senescence is one of them.”
Senescent cells are also involved in normal biological processes, such as wound healing and tumor suppression, but their accumulation over time is associated with many age-related conditions. Getting rid of them is one of the leading strategies that anti-aging and longevity companies are pursuing.
Rubedo’s approach aims to clear out senescent cells by targeting a protein known as GPX4, a gatekeeper for cell survival. By transiently turning off GPX4, the drug is designed to make senescent cells more susceptible to ferroptosis, a regulated form of cell death, while reviving stressed, non-senescent cells nearby.
In a separate study, researchers looked at the drug’s effect on actinic keratosis, a skin condition caused by sun damage and produces rough, scaly skin patches and can sometimes progress to skin cancer. In a trial of 18 people, the cream led to a 46 percent reduction in total lesions after a month of use.
Rubedo is studying the same drug for psoriasis and skin with sun damage. Soon, the company will add androgenetic alopecia, a type of hereditary hair loss, to the list. CEO Frederick Beddingfield, previously the chief medical officer at Allergan, where he launched Botox, sees potential in a lower-potency, over-the-counter version for general skin aging, which would compete with retinol. The company is also formulating the drug into a pill to study whether it can be used to treat metabolic conditions associated with aging.
“It's great to see them doing this work,” says Eric Verdin, president and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, which has developed several aging clocks. “I would probably be a little circumspect about what these clocks really measure, because right now, there are a proliferation of them.”
Plus, the results that patients will care about is how their skin actually looks and feels, not a result from a biological aging test.
And senescence is just one piece of the aging puzzle, says Anthony Rossi, a dermatologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “Some senescent cells are good because they turn things off, like cancer progression.”
He says the science is novel but the work is still very early-stage, and it will be interesting to see how it affects biological aging in people with healthy skin, not just those with certain skin conditions. “The best anti-aging routine right now is sleep, a good diet, and exercise,” he says. For now, at least.
Comments
Back to topComments
Back to topYou Might Also Like
Introducing the app:More ways tomake the most of WIRED
Why so many AI researchersthink the technology could kill us all
The Big Interview:Patti Harrisonhad dreams of a tech utopia
I let an AI agenthack all my gadgets—and I’d do it again
In your inbox:Go inside the world of digital security withKernel Panic
Topics
agingSkincareregenerative medicinehealthlongevitySome Pancreatic Cells Are Just One Genetic Tweak Away From Treating DiabetesBy deactivating a gene, researchers were able to cause cells in the pancreatic ducts to produce insulin to regulate blood sugar.
Jorge Garay
A New Headset to Help With Depression Is Now Available in the USThe device made by Flow Neuroscience is approved by the FDA and could help people get off antidepressants—but it costs $2,200.
Emily Mullin
The Ovary Is Surprisingly Active After Menopause. Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out WhyA growing body of research is putting the ovary in a new light, not as an egg factory with an expiration date, but as an organ that shapes women’s health long after the fertile years have passed.
Kristen V. Brown
‘Smart’ Nanoparticles Deliver mRNA Directly to Tumors in New Cancer TherapyThe treatment can reprogram immune cells that have been corrupted by the cancer, strengthening the body’s ability to attack.
Javier Carbajal
Life Is Asymmetric. The Scientists Who Figured Out Why Won the 2026 Nobel Prize in ChemistryHenri Kagan and Kensō Soai designed chemical reactions producing only one of the two mirror-image forms of a molecule—an important finding for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other biological substances.
Fernanda González
A Biotech Founder Makes the Moral Case for Gene-Editing Human EmbryosThe practice of editing the genes of embryos remains highly controversial and risky, but Origin Genomics founder Cathy Tie argues its a “moral imperative” to address hereditary diseases.
Kristen V. Brown
The Science Behind the Nobel-Winning Technology That Controls Neurons With LightOptogenetics revolutionized neuroscience, but its origins come from an entirely brainless organism—an alga.
Fernanda González
Nicotine Is Mounting a Comeback in the Wellness MovementImproving mood and increasing longevity are just some of the unfounded claims about this substance circling around the “natural” medicine corners of the internet.
Hasmeena Kathuria
Anthropic Says It Discovered a Crispr-Like System. Now What?“The experiments are still in the queue. The PR is already live,” says one expert.
Emily Mullin
A New Neurotech Startup Launches to Rival Sam Altman’s Merge LabsBridge Neurotech is planning to build a wearable brain-computer interface that uses ultrasound.
Emily Mullin
He Won the Nobel Prize for Protein Design. Now He Uses AI to Create Molecules Not Found in NatureDavid Baker spoke with WIRED en Español about where biological design is headed next and the great potential and risks of taking biology outside the bounds of the natural world.
Jorge Garay
I Tested the Best At-Home Pet DNA Test Kits on My CatsI sent my cats’ saliva to the lab to get health and genetic insights sent to my inbox—with very different results.
Molly Higgins
