俄罗斯莫斯科的一位生物能量学教授近日宣布，他已研制出一种能够有效延缓衰老的“不老药”，并有望于几年内上架销售，这位科学家用40年的时间研制出一种抗氧化剂，能够有效抑制氧分子对人体的有害影响。

A Russian scientist claims to have discovered an anti-oxidant（氧化剂） that can stop aging.

Vladimir Skulachyov, a bioenergetics professor in Moscow, says he has been working on this for more than 40 years. The treatment is based on how oxygen reacts in the body and says the difficult part has been to try and prevent side effects.

"99% of the time oxygen turns into harmless water, but there's that one per cent that turns into a super-oxide that later turns into very poisonous elements," said Skulachyov.

The Russian scientist says the medicine will go on sale in just a few years. The treatment looks complicated and it certainly is. For Skulachyov, it is almost a life's work. Two more years of testing and the doctor thinks he will have finally cracked the enigma¹（谜） of aging.

He has been working to perfect his treatment for more than 40 years.

Colleagues around the world think Dr Skulachyov is on to something.

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Gunter Blobel M.D., Ph.D. at Rockefeller University, believes Skulachyov's theories look very realistic. "It has been shown that oxidative（氧化的） damage is huge. But we do not have an anti-oxidant of the type that Skulachyov has developed. He coined the term bioenergetics. He is clearly the world's best bio-chemist and bio-energetic scientist," Blobel stated.

The compound has already undergone animal testing and the results appear promising². Rats that have been given the drug are much more lively than those not treated.

"Finally, we hope that we will manage to convince people that a single pill treats many threats of aging. So, it must be doing something with the aging itself," biologist Maksim Skulachyov explains. "Then if authorities will accept this logic³, maybe we could somehow market it as an anti-aging drug."

After success with eye drops in animals, the inventor tried the medicine on his own cataract⁴. Six months later, his physician told him his cataract（白内障） was gone.

Thousands are queuing to take part in the clinical trials, which have just begun. But it will be a few years before Dr Skulachyov's discovery reaches the shelves of an average pharmacy⁵.

Some have already dubbed⁶ the drug a panacea⁷（灵丹妙药） . And if it lives up to its promise, the treatment should have an effect on the diseases of aging and bring with it the prospect⁸ of a longer and better quality of life.