Everon Biosciences Introduces Physiological Frailty Index as a Measure of Biological Age in Mice, Enhancing the Development of Healthspan-Extending Pharmaceuticals

BUFFALO, N.Y., March 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, a research team from Everon Biosciences, Inc. and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute has published a new study describing a methodology for determining a physiological frailty index (PFI) as a measure of biological age in laboratory mice. The paper provides a new robust, non-invasive, quantitative technique suitable for testing potential anti-aging pharmaceuticals in pre-clinical studies.

The study, titled "Physiological frailty index (PFI): quantitative in-life estimate of individual biological age in mice," was published online ahead of print in the scientific journal Aging (http://www.aging-us.com/article/101206).

Currently, the anti-aging properties of novel agents are usually described in the context of specific age-related disease, such as atherosclerosis or arthritis, rather than aging per se. This is explained, in part, by the lack of a reliable tool for quantitatively assessing age-related progressive physiological decline in laboratory animals. In humans, individual health status can be quantitatively estimated by means of a frailty index (FI), a parameter which reflects the scale of accumulation of age-related deficits. However, up until now, a similar metric has not been optimized for use in the animal experiments where the efficacy of all novel anti-aging drugs must first be proven.

In this study, Everon Biosciences characterized and calibrated changes in PFI in the course of chronological aging. Optimization of the input parameters used for PFI determination resulted in two sets of measurements, different for male and female mice.  The study further demonstrated that PFI predictably tracked negative effects on animals placed on a high fat diet (they aged faster) and provided a tool for their quantitative assessment. Additionally, it shows that PFI could reveal the sex-dependent rejuvenating effect of the mTOR inhibitor RAPATAR (Everon's bioavailable formulation of rapamycin) much earlier than in longevity studies. Together, these findings introduce PFI as a reliable, non-invasive, quantitative tool suitable for testing potential anti-aging drugs in animal studies.  

"The impact of introducing physiological frailty index for estimating the objective biological age of a mouse in antiaging drug discovery is hard to overestimate," said Andrei Gudkov, Ph.D., DSci, Chief Scientific Officer of Everon Biosciences and Sr. VP, Basic Science at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He added: "The PFI methodology converts this subjective, descriptive and qualitative area of research into an accurate, robust and reproducible one. I am confident that it will help accelerate our own program and will hopefully be utilized by others to become a universally accepted experimental tool."  

"This paper is the result of a productive collaboration between scientists from Everon Biosciences and Roswell Park Cancer Institute". A true partnership between these organizations has enabled the translation of top-notch academic research into a practical tool that is absolutely necessary for anti-aging drug discovery and development," said Alexander Polinsky, Ph.D., President and CEO of Everon Biosciences.

About Everon Biosciences 
Everon Biosciences, Inc. is a private biotechnology company focused on developing novel anti-aging therapeutics. Aging is a systemic process of progressive dysfunction of tissues and organs associated with chronic inflammation, changes in tissue composition and the quality of cells within the tissues. Everon is a leader in understanding cellular mechanisms of aging and translating this knowledge into development of anti-aging therapies. Everon Biosciences, Inc. is headquartered in Buffalo, New York.

For more information, please visit www.everonbio.com 

CONTACT: Moish Soloway, 212-964-0030x169

SOURCE Everon Biosciences, Inc.

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