Key points from article :
In August, Unity announced that its lead drug candidate had failed to beat a placebo in reducing joint pain and stiffness.
Inhibiting MDM2 risks unleashing indiscriminate cell killing in off-target, non-senescent tissues.
Unity is now focused on the development of its BCL-xL inhibitor UBX1325 for retinal diseases.
More than two dozen other startups continue to pursue approaches to target senescent cells.
University of Florida trying to make BCL-xL blockade safer for systemic administration.
Peter de Keizer described a cell-permeable peptide comprising part of FOXO4 that could disrupt this process.
He started Cleara Biotech to make the drug more stable and targeted by introducing more unusual amino acids.
Uğur Sezerman started a company called Eternans centered around a peptide drug that directly binds to FOXO4.
To identify senescent cells, many researchers rely on imperfect proxies.
Lars Zender has developed a radioactive form of β-galactosidase that can be tracked non-invasively in the body.
