Harvard researcher tells WGS ageing reversal trials in humans are nearing launch

WAM

DUBAI, February 5, 2026 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) – Ageing could be treated as a medical condition rather than an unavoidable process, Harvard geneticist David Sinclair told the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday, outlining plans for human trials aimed at reversing biological ageing.

Speaking in a session titled “The Science of Living Longer and Better,” Sinclair said advances in biotechnology are accelerating efforts to prevent and potentially reverse age-related decline, and that healthcare could shift over the next 10 to 20 years toward treating ageing itself instead of individual late-life diseases.

Sinclair argued that tackling single diseases in isolation has limited effect on lifespan, noting that many chronic conditions emerge together with age. His research focus, he said, is on targeting ageing as the underlying driver of multiple illnesses.

He said his team is preparing human clinical trials using epigenetic reprogramming approaches designed to restore cells to a more youthful state, after results in animal models that he described as showing substantial reversal of age-related decline in specific tissues, including vision-related outcomes.

Sinclair told the summit that U.S. regulators had cleared an initial human trial pathway focused on eye disease indications, with broader applications under study.

He also highlighted the potential economic impact of extending healthy lifespan, linking longevity research to productivity and labor-force pressures in ageing societies.