Sagecasts

The latest Sagecast series focuses on the potential of drugs to treat the symptoms of aging.

Pharmaceutical companies have thousands of drugs in the research, development, and clinical trial phases.  These drugs are marketed and prescribed to individuals that need to treat a specific symptom stemming from a disease or condition.  Recently, researchers and companies have begun to see potential in making medication that can treat symptoms in elderly patients such as frailty and loss of apetite, but there is a problem with this.  These symptoms are not specific to one disease; they hold true of the general process of aging.  The Food and Drug Administration will not approve of treatments that do not fall under specific disease and condition categories thus preventing the development of these medications from moving swiftly through clinical trials.  Crossroads caught up with members of both academia and industry to discuss the long list of benefits to treating the symptoms of aging and what type of reforms need to take place in order to get these products to market.

#57 - Dr. Larry Miller, formerly of Glaxo Smith Kline, talks to Crossroads about the potential that pharmaceutical companies see in treating aging.  He discusses whats on the horizon for treating the symptoms of aging, but he also cautions that there are several hurdles to overcome before these drugs can ever get to market.

#58 - Dr. William Evans, a laboratory director at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, digs deeper into the issues keeping aging specific drugs from getting to the general public.  It all boils down to a matter of policy and regulatory affairs.

#59 - Dr. Michelle Dipp offers up an industry perspective on treating the symptoms of aging with drugs.  She feels that the biggest challenges to the development of these medicines are scientific rather than rooted in policy, but she exudes confidence that we will tackle the problems of aging with pharmaceuticals in the near future.  

Click through to the Sagecast archive to see all previous Sagecasts.