Five Alarm Bio today announced positive results from their first series of experiments to boost the body’s ability to defend itself against the damage of aging.
Five Alarm Bio has been testing our probe molecule FAB001 for its ability to delay and decrease cell senescence. As cells that come from normal tissues are cultured in vitro they do not divide forever. Rather, after a number of divisions they slow down and then stop dividing in a state called cell senescence. Senescent cells have different shape, characteristic gene expression profile, make inflammatory molecules. Critically, senescent cells are known to be drivers of the many of the diseases and disabilities of old age.
Five
Alarm Bio has cultured human skin cells (primary dermal fibroblasts) until they reached senescence, in different amounts of FAB001. As they grew old and senescent we measured how much they grew, how much chemical damage they accumulated, and how well they functioned. All measure of the cell’s health showed that FAB001 delayed the onset of senescence. But it did not stop it entirely, which is critical, as cell senescence is a vital defence against cancer. If cells grow together they can become cancerous – we do not want to abolish cell senescence, only delay it.
FAB001 is extremely safe, and so this class of drug has potential for long-term dosing to treat the diseases and disabilities of old age that arise from cell senescence. Five Alarm’s next steps will be to optimize FAB001 with our own compounds that we can take forward to clinical development.
For more details on Five Alarm Bio Ltd, see www.fivealarmbio.com .