Wonder pill to combat frailty in elders

Washington, November 5: Can the effects of age on skeletal muscle be halted or reversed? Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System declared that daily consumption of an investigational drug, MK-677, improved muscle functions in healthy elders, sans serious side effects.

The so called ‘anti-frailty’ drug accentuates the level of growth hormone (HG) and insulindefine-like growth factor I(IGF-I) in elderly adults, to the levels found in youngsters.

The reduction in growth hormone is assumed to be the cause of frailty in the aged.

The intake of MK-677 replenishes the hormone which diminishes with age. The hormone supplement favorably alters the aging process, strengthening bone and cartilage, rebuilding muscle mass and also decreasing the existing fat mass.

Dr Michael O. Thorner, Professor of internal medicine and neurosurgery at University of Virginia claims, “our study opens the doors to the possibility of developing a treatment that averts the frailty of aging.” According to him the search for such a drug is essential. Most Americans are expected to live to the ripe old age of eighty. MK-677 would help them in their endeavor to accomplish the basic task of independent living.

The two year study funded by National Institute of Health was a double-blind, placebo controlled research, involving 65 men and women in the age group of 60-81 years.

As a part of the experiment, half the participants were given an oral dose of MK-677 for a period of one year. The remaining half were administered a placebo. At the end of the year in a reversal of roles the volunteers on placebo were given MK-677, and those on the drug given the medicine or placebo randomly.

The study revealed that the drug stimulates appetite and hormone growth, restoring 20 percent of muscle mass, increasing strength of the wasted muscles associated with advancing age. The drug MK-677 could also prove useful to combat metabolic disorders related to body weight and composition.

The researchers found that the drug was effective for people who received it for full two years, but the benefits wore off once the medication was discontinued.

Being at an experimental stage, the researchers felt it was a ‘proof of concept’ study. To evaluate and assess its long term safety for the frail, further clinical research was suggested.

The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.