New drugs that can help people live beyond 100 as well as stay healthy could be available in a couple of years, one of the world's leading age scientists has said.

Professor Nir Barzilai studied age-related problems including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York, and found that certain genes determine people's longevity.

Although the medicines are termed as treatments for particular disease to satisfy the drug regulators' requirements, they can actually protect against various causes of unhealthy ageing, Prof Barzilai said.

The new drugs are being developed on the research's findings relating to biological pathways affecting metabolism, cell-death, inflammation and cholesterol.

Speaking during a discussion meeting on the science of ageing at the Royal Society in London, Prof Barzilai said: "Pharmaceutical companies are developing these drugs now. They will probably be available for testing from 2012."

Sirtuins, a family of enzymes linked to many age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cancers, is being examined by a subsidiary of drug giant GlaxoSmithKline.

Scientists are also looking forward to developing a drug that will inhibit an enzyme called cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) which influences levels of "good" cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

Two other major pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Roche, are also developing drugs that restrict CETP.

Copyright © Press Association 2010