NZ anti-ageing drug in promising heart disease findings

Mitoubiquinone mesylate, marketed as MitoQ, is a super-antioxidant designed to penetrate and optimise cellular mitochondria (pictured), the so-called batteries within our cells. Photo / Supplied

New clinical trial results out of a multi-million dollar US research programme suggest a Kiwi company's novel anti-ageing drug could play a big role in preventing heart disease.

Mitoubiquinone mesylate, marketed as MitoQ, is a New Zealand owned and developed super-antioxidant that works by penetrating and optimising the cellular mitochondria, the so-called batteries within our cells.

Its backers believe the drug holds the potential to increase lifespan, while also improving health.

Discovered by the University of Otago's Professor Rob Smith and global mitochondria expert Dr Mike Murphy, of Cambridge University, the drug was launched as a skincare and supplement range in late 2013, and now sells into more than 100 countries.

Ageing and its associated health issues and lower energy levels is linked to a decline in mitochondrial function, and mitochondrial dysfunction is now known to be associated with more than 200 diseases or conditions.

A new study led by University of Colorado Boulder's Integrative Physiology of Aging Laboratory suggested the drug could reverse ageing of blood vessels by the equivalent of 15 to 20 years within six weeks.

The study, just published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, added to a growing body of evidence suggesting that pharmaceutical-grade nutritional supplements, or nutraceuticals, could help prevent heart disease.

Its authors report it could also prompt a re-think around widely-dismissed oral antioxidants, which they say could reap measurable health benefits if properly targeted.

"This is the first clinical trial to assess the impact of a mitochondrial-specific antioxidant on vascular function in humans," said the study's lead author Matthew Rossman, a postdoctoral researcher at the US university's department of integrative physiology.

"It suggests that therapies like this may hold real promise for reducing the risk of age-related cardiovascular disease."

The study recruited 20 healthy men and women age 60 to 79, half of whom took 20mg per day of MitoQ, with the others taking a placebo.

After six weeks, researchers assessed how well the lining of blood vessels, or the endothelium, functioned, by measuring how much subjects' arteries dilated with increased blood flow.

Then, after a two-week "wash out" period of taking nothing, the two groups switched, with the placebo group taking the supplement, and vice versa.

The tests were then repeated.

The researchers found that when taking the supplement, dilation of subjects' arteries improved by 42 per cent, making their blood vessels, at least by that measure, look like those of someone 15 to 20 years younger.

An improvement of that magnitude, if sustained, was associated with about a 13 per cent reduction in heart disease, Rossman said.

Part of a five-year programme funded by the US National Institutes of Health, with some support from MitoQ, the study also showed that the improvement in dilation was due to a reduction in oxidative stress.

In participants who, under placebo conditions, had stiffer arteries — another indication of vascular dysfunction — supplementation was associated with reduced stiffness.

A previous study conducted in the laboratory on mice showed similar results.

Greg Macpherson, MitoQ's chief executive and the pharmacist who formulated the antioxidant to penetrate mitrochrondria, said the findings were most promising to date for the drug. Photo / Supplied

Blood vessels grew stiff and had trouble dilating with age largely as a result of oxidative stress - the excess production of metabolic byproducts called free radicals which could damage the endothelium and impair its function.

When we're young, our bodies produced enough antioxidants to quench those free radicals.

But with age, the balance tipped, as mitochondria and other cellular processes produced excess free radicals and the body's antioxidant defences could not keep up, Rossman said.

Oral antioxidant supplements like vitamin C and vitamin E fell out of favour after several large studies showed them to be ineffective.

"This study breathes new life into the discredited theory that supplementing the diet with antioxidants can improve health," said the lab's director, Dr Doug Seals.

"It suggests that targeting a specific source — mitochondria — may be a better way to reduce oxidative stress and improve cardiovascular health with ageing."

Greg Macpherson, MitoQ's chief executive and the pharmacist who formulated the antioxidant to penetrate mitrochrondria, said the findings were the most promising to date for the drug.

Currently, more than 140 studies using MitoQ were being carried out at research institutions around the world.

Here, the company was funding work, with help from Callaghan Innovation, at the University of Auckland into its impact on sports endurance and performance, particularly around the regulation of blood sugar.

Macpherson said pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies were now spending billions of dollars researching mitochondrial health and designing new products.

"We can't compete with multi-billion dollar marketing budgets, so legitimate research and funding is the key driver for MitoQ."

Study take-aways

• Older adults who take the novel Kiwi-made antioxidant MitoQ see ageing of their blood vessels reverse by the equivalent of 15 to 20 years.
• When taking the supplement, subjects saw a key measure of vascular health improve by 42 per cent.
• The study suggests targeting mitochondria with antioxidants may be an effective way of combating cardiovascular ageing.