Harvard scientist to test oral rejuvenation drug in XPrize longevity competition
The $101 million Healthspan Competition, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Hevolution Foundation, challenges teams to demonstrate a 10-year improvement in apparent age. Sinclair’s approach uses chemical reprogramming to mimic embryonic gene effects systemically.
Longevity scientist David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School has confirmed plans to administer an oral drug mixture to volunteers as part of the XPrize Foundation’s $101 million Healthspan Competition. The trial aims to provide evidence for age restoration in humans using a chemical reprogramming agent code-named SL-100. This approach seeks to mimic embryonic gene effects systemically, contrasting with the eye-specific gene therapy trials currently underway by Sinclair’s company, Life Biosciences.
The competition, bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Hevolution Foundation, offers cash awards to teams that can demonstrate a 10-year or greater relative improvement in apparent age after one year of treatment. Apparent age is measured by improvements in immune, cognitive, and muscle function. Jamie Justice, the contest’s executive director, noted that while the goal is ambitious, the primary purpose of the competition is to encourage the development of standardized measures of aging to allow for reliable assessment by regulators.
Sinclair’s team is a late entrant to the contest, which launched in 2023. James Clement, head of Betterhumans, an organisation specialising in life-extension studies, stated he is running clinical trials of an oral reprogramming cocktail for Sinclair’s XPrize team. Sinclair’s lab has been searching for such compounds and is now using artificial intelligence to improve the oral agents being tested. The team is required to move into wider human tests starting this year.
The approach relies on chemical reprogramming, which uses drugs to mimic the effects of powerful genes discovered 20 years ago that can turn adult cells into stem cells similar to those found in embryos. This method allows drug compounds to travel through the bloodstream, potentially reaching most or all cells in the body. Sinclair declined to describe the exact makeup of SL-100, calling its contents highly confidential, though he has previously published lab studies of epigenetic age-reversal cocktails containing known supplements and commercially available medicines.
Experts have expressed caution regarding the safety of chemical reprogramming. Vadim Gladyshev, a Harvard biologist and member of a different XPrize team, reported last year that attempts to rejuvenate mice using a cocktail of compounds proved toxic at high concentrations. Sinclair stated that his team has conducted extensive animal studies to ensure safety and efficacy before releasing data, but acknowledged that the field still lacks a reliable way to measure age reversal.
The XPrize Foundation is currently selecting 10 finalists from 65 initial teams, with finalists to be announced in August. The contest follows previous competitions focused on commercial spaceflight and lunar landings. Executive chairman Peter Diamandis and other longevity promoters view the competition as a critical step in harnessing reprogramming phenomena for living people, with Sinclair arguing that chemicals may be the most practical strategy for whole-body rejuvenation.
