Geroprotectors. What are geroprotectors? And what are the criteria for the evaluation of compounds as potential geroprotectors? 

Yeah,  it's always it's a little bit of a semantic argument. They started off calling them anti-aging compounds, but the term anti-aging brings in connotations of going to the supplement store and buying things off the shelf that are completely untested. Skin products, which may help your skin with aging, but don't affect systemic aging. 

And so I think there's a lot of effort to try to find terms that differentiate things that affect systemic aging, and that were experimentally tested, from things that may be snake oil.  Dr. Brian Kennedy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. 

And so the term geroprotector really means something that delays the aging process. And you would expect it to have many downstream effects, one of which being it would prevent the onset of chronic diseases of aging. Geroprotector should preserve resilience. 

So if you get COVID-19, you should recover better. It should delay functional decline. As we know, things get harder to do as you get older.  Dr. Brian Kennedy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. If you don't believe me, go run 100 meter dash and see how fast you go now. And so maybe it'll prevent that decline as well. 

So the concept is, instead of waiting till you get sick and doing sick care, and targeting whatever disease you have, we're going to start earlier while you're healthy. We will do healthcare and find interventions that target the most important driver of decline, which is aging itself. So that's what Geroprotectors do.  Dr. Brian Kennedy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD.