London: A super-drug that could eliminate Alzheimer's, diabetes and heart disease and help people live to a 100 is being developed by scientists.
Their research is based on the identification of three genes that promote long and healthy lives and prevent diseases of ageing.
Medically manipulating the proteins made by the "longevity genes" will allow millions to live longer, predicts Nir Barzilai, a prominent geneticist.
Those whose DNA strongly features the three genes are 80 per cent less likely to develop Alzheimer's, he will tell BBC2's Horizon.
Genetic inheritance also protects against the deadly impact of smoking, bad diet, obesity and lack of exercise, he said.
Already, several laboratories are working on a pill to mimic the benefits of the genes and Dr Barzilai thinks it could be tested within three years.
Dr Barzilai, of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said the pill could eliminate some diseases that mar old age.
Reduced risk
"The advantage of finding a gene that involves longevity is that we can develop a drug that will imitate exactly what this gene is doing," he said. "The biology we're trying to uncover is that if we can imitate that, long life can be really terrific."
Of the three longevity genes, two boost the production of so-called good cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke. The third prevents diabetes.
They were discovered by Dr Barzilai's team while studying the DNA of 500 Ashkenazi Jews with an average age of 100.
