Knee Injections Could Hold the Key to Fighting Aging

To hear Nathanial “Ned” David tell it, the osteoarthritis drug his Unity Biotechnology began testing in human subjects last fall is about far more than just helping aging weekend warriors regrow cartilage in their damaged knees. It’s the first step toward making us all feel young again. “Aging is not a rigid, inflexible phenomenon,” he told a conference room full of Wall Street analysts and financiers in Midtown Manhattan. “Nature has created control knobs that it uses and turns to change the life span of different organisms. Finally, as scientists, we are learning how to identify some of these knobs and actually turn them as a therapeutic strategy.”

David, 51, was in New York to explain the science behind UBX0101, the drug Unity has in late Phase I clinical trials to treat the intractable arthritic condition, which affects 14 million Americans. The company is expected to release early results within the next several weeks. Analysts, scientists, and patients are watching closely.