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Man's search for immortality is another step closer to reality with a major breakthrough in creating a drug capable of fighting the aging process. A drug could be available before 2018, after pioneering work led by an Australian researcher with the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The study led by Professor David Sinclair, from UNSW Medicine, has revealed that a single anti-aging enzyme in the body has the potential to prevent age-related diseases and extend lifespans. The paper released this month, shows all of the 117 drugs tested work on the single enzyme through a common mechanism. This consequences are far-ranging and suggest that an entirely new class of anti-aging drugs are now viable. Drugs that could ultimately prevent the great disease's of our lifetime -- from cancer, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's disease and even the burden of modern lifestyles -- type 2 diabetes. "Ultimately, these drugs would treat one disease, but unlike drugs of today, they would prevent 20 others," Professor Sinclair said. "In effect, they would slow aging." Trials focusing on a series of maladies have shown promise already, and the list is a veritable who's who of the great disease's of the 21st century.