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A Chinese biotech company says it has developed a pill that could one day help humans live as long as 150 years, but the claim is based on animal research and has not been demonstrated in humans.
Shenzhen-based Lonvi Biosciences is developing a capsule containing procyanidin C1, or PCC1, a compound derived from grape seeds. The company says the ingredient targets senescent cells, often called “zombie cells,” which stop dividing but remain active in the body and can contribute to inflammation and age-related diseases.
PCC1 has previously shown promising results in laboratory animals. In studies involving mice, researchers found that the compound could selectively eliminate some senescent cells and extend lifespan. Lonvi says its own testing produced a 9.4 percent increase in overall lifespan and a 64 percent extension when measured from the beginning of treatment.
The company is now positioning the research as part of a broader effort to develop therapies that could slow the biological effects of aging. Lonvi CEO Ip Zhu has described the capsule as a potential breakthrough in longevity medicine, while Chief Technology Officer Lyu Qinghua has said that reaching an average human lifespan of 150 years could eventually become realistic.
There is a major gap between those claims and what science has established, however. The lifespan results so far come from mice, and there is no evidence that PCC1 can produce comparable effects in humans. Human aging is considerably more complex than the biological processes measured in laboratory animals, and compounds that extend lifespan in mice frequently fail to produce the same results in people.
The research is also emerging as China’s longevity industry expands rapidly. Aging research, once considered a niche field, has gained increasing attention from Chinese biotech companies and investors, alongside growing government interest in biotechnology and related areas.
Lonvi says its goal is not simply to make people live longer, but to delay diseases and physical decline associated with aging. The company believes treatments targeting senescent cells could eventually be combined with healthier lifestyles to extend both lifespan and healthspan.
For now, a 150-year human lifespan remains a prediction rather than a medical possibility. Before PCC1 can support anything close to that claim, it would need to demonstrate safety and meaningful benefits in carefully controlled human clinical trials.
