According to the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy of Ukrainians is 72 years. This is the lowest life expectancy in Europe.

But the situation is improving. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, over the past quarter century, Ukrainian men have started to live an average of 1.5 years longer, and women – 2.5 years. The data of the Ukrainian Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) are slightly different, but confirm the trend.

According to them, the life expectancy of Ukrainian men increased by 1.2 years (in 1990 and 2016, the average age of men was 65.5 and 66.7 years, respectively), women – by 1.7 years (average age in the same period was equal to 74.8 and 76.5 years).

These are soft data. There are several reasons for it.

LIGA.net has addressed the issue how and due to what the Ukrainian pharmaceutical industry can extend the lives of people living in the largest country in Europe.

The main factors that positively influence life expectancy are proper nutrition, moderate daily physical activity, ecology and, of course, genetics.

Following a healthy course in everyday life is hindered by increasing stress, deteriorating ecology, and new strains of viruses.

From this perspective, is it a dream or reality to live up to 100 years in the modern world? For a long time, Ukrainian and foreign pharmacists have been developing the concept of anti-aging: then, what are the achievements?

The scientists from Marshall University have discovered that a specific enzyme – sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase – is involved in the generation cycle of reactive oxygen species that are associated with the body's aging processes.

To test how sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase affects the body, an experiment was performed in mice. At the same time, to accelerate the aging of the body, scientists kept the rodents on a diet rich in fats, carbohydrates and sugar for a year. Keeping to this diet, many oxygen radicals were synthesized in mice that could damage proteins, DNA, and lipids.

At the same time, in rodents who were injected with the synthesized product pNaKtide, the aging process slowed down. The same effect was observed when testing pNaKtide in cultures of human connective tissue cells.

American scientists are confident that if pNaKtide is safe, then people can be treated for old age.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin conducted the first clinical trial of a "cure for aging" – a cocktail of senolytic drugs that cleanse the body of old toxic cells. According to the scientists, the product will not rejuvenate people, but it can slow down their aging.

Experts explain that some damaged cells do not die and are not excreted from the human body, but are stored in it. Such cells can activate chemical signals that have a toxic effect on tissues and contribute to their aging.

To prove their theory, they conducted an experiment by testing two combined drugs in humans: a cure for leukemia (Dasatinib) and a Quercetin supplement. For three weeks, patients took two pills. By the end of the test, they had made obvious progress in their condition, in particular, they were able to walk a greater distance than before, within the same period of time.

Another example of a double miracle is the new bioprinting technology. It is no longer a secret that scientists have learned to print new tissues and organs on a 3D printer. However, the new technology, invented by the scientists from Switzerland and the Netherlands, has excelled volumetric bioprinting. It allows to print organs in the split second. When 3D printing of organs, the material is applied in layers, which is a very slow process. What is even more destructive, it does not allow the creation of viable organs with a very complex internal structure.

A team of scientists from the Laboratory for Applied Photonics Devices (LAPD) of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and the Medical Center of Utrecht University has invented a technology that allows the formation of an organ simultaneously throughout its volume. To do this, a laser beam is directed to a rotating tube filled with a biocompatible hydrogel containing stem cells. By focusing the energy of light in specific places, researchers form tissues. Within a few seconds, a complex three-dimensional figure appears in the gel. Then the researchers inject endothelial cells into it (the so-called cells lining the inner surface of the blood and lymph vessels) to vascularize the tissue, that is, to create a vasculature in it. In this way, various interconnected structures can be built.

In addition to scientists, several large companies have announced their plans to invest in the fight against aging, including Alphabet through its subsidiary Calico. And the startup Telomere Diagnostics is studying the telomeric hypothesis of aging – a scientific idea that is based on determining the age of chromosomes and their elongation. Telomeres are a kind of "caps" on the chromosomes. The shorter they are, the more so-called cellular age of the body is higher. Unlike biological age, the cellular one can be corrected by increasing the length of the telomeres due to a healthy lifestyle.

However, many companies are not ready to provide anti-aging services right now, instead, they are investing in the development of new drugs. For example, Hong Kong Insilico Medicine uses computer assisted teaching to search for "molecules of immortality". With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), companies create new drugs in just a few weeks. This is ten times faster than traditional methods.

However, bionic prostheses, gadgets for rejuvenation, gene modifications are well known to Ukrainian developers. Though, they are not that popular now as a means of improving quality and prolonging life.

Многие Many people are not ready to wait for scientists to agree on a unified theory of aging and finish research in worms and mice. These daredevils are ready to experience untested medicines and methods right now, hoping that at least one of them will work. People spend fortune on pills, injections and consultations with top doctors. Biohacking, genome editing is the future. But what can be done today to avoid aging?

In Ukraine, there are at least five anti-aging drugs produced. Doctors assure that taking them, you can extend the duration of your stay on Earth in a clear mind and good memory.

Initially, this is a medicine for the treatment of diabetes. Sugar contributes to the appearance of hemoliths in the vessels, and Metformin fights with them.

Later studies showed other properties of the drug. A particular enzyme determines how long a cell will live. It turned out that Metformin helps the production of this enzyme, prolonging the life of cells. It is important that this medicine is cheap, not patented by any particular pharmaceutical corporation.

Metformin 25 - 40% reduces the risk of cancer. But it should be prescribed by the doctor.

Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is used as a mild analgesic and for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Blood platelets have a habit of sticking together and forming blood clots. Aspirin prevents vascular blockage effectively dissolving blood clots.

But platelets can also be the guise for cancer cells. Having covered with them, cancer with blood flow travels about the body. The nocifensors of the body cannot recognize it.

Taking aspirin is also the prevention of cancer. In those cardiacs who regularly take aspirin, the risk of getting cancer is reduced by 24%.

At the same time, aspirin can be dangerous – the drug carries the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. So you can rejuvenate only after consulting a doctor.

This is a group of drugs that resist cholesterol plaques. The medicine reduces the production of cholesterol in the liver, thus lowering its level in the blood.

Statins affect human DNA. The vitality of a cell is determined by the length of the telomeres. It has been proven that in people who regularly take statins, telomeres decrease more slowly.

Statins provide a 40% reduction in cardiac mortality over the first five years; 30% reduction in the risk of stroke and heart attack. The constant intake of these drugs provides a decrease in cholesterol levels by 45 - 55% of the initially high level.

With an asterisk, however: statins are not cheap drugs.

The so-called "sleep hormone" is useful for those who have difficulty sleeping. It is used to prevent and treat "sleep-wake" rhythm disorders with changing time zones. The disorder can be manifested by increased fatigue, sleep disturbance, including chronic insomnia, and insomnia in the elderly. The medicine is also taken to increase mental and physical performance, as well as eliminate stress reactions and depressive states of a seasonal nature.

Enalapril is used to normalize blood pressure, the increase in which often affects the elderly. Enalapril is effective in treating congestive heart failure, bronchospastic conditions, and coronary heart disease.

It is important that for elderly patients, the dosage should be selected taking into account renal function.

Elderly people are prone to more frequent respiratory diseases, accompanied by the formation of viscous, difficult to separate sputum. Tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma literally interfere with breathing for people with "tired" immunity.

Also, the drug is used when it is necessary to remove viscous secretions from the respiratory tract in the postoperative and post-traumatic periods, as well as in preparing the patient for bronchography or bronchoscopy.