Do large pharmaceutical companies support anti-aging studies?
The role of big pharmacies in combating aging is, in the process of undergoing quite a big change. Historically, the problem has been first of all that it wasn't clear what sort of approaches might actually be effective against aging. And secondly that even if some things were likely to be effective, it was going to be an awfully long time line. And of course, like any commercial entity, big pharmacies want to make profits in a reasonable time. So, this has scared people off a little bit, but the types of therapies that are likely to work against aging in the future are becoming clearer, not least of these my own work. And also, the pharmaceutical companies are beginning to experiment with the possibility of looking at longer time lines on the basis that, there is a lot of profit out there to be had in the end. So, I think that this may change. One thing that's often brought up with regard to the attitude of big pharmacies on anti-aging drugs is that actually big pharmacies don't want to do anything about aging because elderly, frail people are their main customers - the main reason for the profits that they make out of existing drugs. But, you shouldn't read too much into that, because the drugs and other therapies that will come along in the future that will really combat aging well; will not be one off things that suddenly make us non-aging such that we never have to take such drugs again. Rather, there will be things that we have to take periodically, just like repairing or maintaining a car for example, to repair and maintain the human body. And that will be a perfectly good source of profits for the same companies.
