A new type of drug, known as an anti-necrotic, could be the first drug ever approved to treat aging itself. Kidney disease impacts nearly half of all people over the age of 75. But with her, the doctors just said ‘you can’t intervene—it’s just aging,’” Kern says. Kidney disease is widespread in older adults, but it also has a silver lining: It displays accelerated aging. “Anti-necrotics could be a way to make those tissues and organs resilient enough to withstand that damage and pause cell death” until the astronauts return to Earth.