Youth obsessed Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is now bankrolling the \u201cworld\u2019s first\u201d anti-aging vaccine.<\/p>\n
Putin last week ordered his scientists to develop the forever-young vaccine, part of a budget of more than 2 trillion rubles \u2014 equivalent to more than $26 billion \u2014 for a national health project that includes the development of an anti-aging vaccine for a country facing a population decline.<\/p>\n
Putin is 73, and well known to be obsessed with longevity.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin is obsessed with aging and works hard to stay youthful. via REUTERS<\/p>\n
The average age of death for a man in Russia is 67, compared to 76.5 in the US.<\/p>\n
Deputy Minister of Science Denis Sekirinsky said researchers have developed a gene therapy targeting the RAGE or Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts \u2014 the cellular trigger linked to biological aging, according to the Moscow Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n While this announcement has generated significant global attention, the US has also been deeply involved in similar and often more advanced anti-aging research, though it typically frames these as \u201clongevity research\u201d or \u201ccellular reprogramming\u201d rather than a single \u201cvaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n Blocking the receptor could effectively put aging on pause, or at least slow down the progression, Sekirinsky told a conference of over 300 doctors and health experts in Saransk.<\/p>\n If all goes according to plan, anti-aging vaccines could be available to Russians by 2030. Dmitry Borovikov\/Stocksy \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The goal now is to create \u201cthe world\u2019s first gene therapy drug\u201d specifically designed to block the receptor, he added.<\/p>\n Russian research on RAGE receptors has involved both lab experiments and animal models<\/a> to study inflammation and disease, but human trials have not been done. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Russia plans to begin producing the anti-aging drug between 2028 and 2030, reported The Moscow Times<\/a>. <\/p>\n A source close to the Kremlin previously\u00a0told\u00a0the exiled news outlet Meduza<\/a> that the project stemmed from what they described as an \u201cobsessive idea\u201d from Mikhail Kovalchuk, a Putin crony and head of the Kurchatov Institute for nuclear research, \u201cwho dreams of eternal life and the \u2018genome of the Russian person.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Russian\u2019s anti-aging vaccine could be just wishful thinking of a youth-obsessed leader, say critics. Manu Padilla\/Stocksy \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n \u201cWhat some time ago we could describe as an incredible future is now becoming reality,\u201d Golikova said.<\/p>\n During a meeting in September, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, 72, were overheard on a \u201chot mic\u201d moment discussing aging, according to NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Putin said, \u201cWith the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality.\u201d<\/p>\n Xi\u2019s interpreter then replied: \u201cPredictions are, this century, there\u2019s a chance of also living to 150<\/a> [years old].\u201d<\/p>\n