MORE ON PROSPECTS FOR ANTI-AGING DRUGS:

“The general public has no idea what’s coming,” said David Sinclair, a Harvard Medical School professor who has made headlines with research into the health benefits of a substance found in red wine called resveratrol.

Speaking on a panel of aging experts, Sinclair had the boldest predictions. He said scientists can greatly increase longevity and improve health in lab animals like mice, and that drugs to benefit people are on the way.

“It’s not an if, but a when,” said Sinclair, who co-founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals to pursue such drugs. The company, which is testing medicine in people with Type 2 diabetes, was recently bought for $720 million by GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s second-largest drug maker.

Sinclair said treatments could be a few years or a decade away, but they’re “really close. It’s not something (from) science fiction and it’s not something for the next generation.”

Bring it on. None of us is getting any younger. Plus this:

Sinclair has said that he has taken resveratrol supplements, but at the longevity event he cautioned that right now there is no proven magic pill to extend life.

His suggestion? Exercise.

Yeah, if they had a pill that did what exercise does, everyone would take it. Some background on this subject here.