A pharmaceutical firm may have stumbled on the proverbial fountain of youth.

Massachusetts-based Insilico Medicine is testing its newly developed rentosertib to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease that causes scarring of the lungs.

Initial results of the experimental drug on 42 patients indicated that it changed the patterns of proteins in the blood, making them appear an average of three to four years younger, Fox News reported.

Researchers also found signs that the drug may affect aging at the cellular level, as it changed processes involved in how cells function and respond to damage.

The findings of Insilico Medicine were published in Nature Biotechnology and presented on 7 September at the Nature conference at Sorbonne University in Paris.

Insilico founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov told Fox News that the age reversal was a bonus to treating IPF, but said that it needed validation through a bigger and longer clinical trial.

The results were based only on changes in proteins in their blood and do not yet support the use of rentosertib as an anti-aging treatment, the researchers added.

Meanwhile, Chinese workers are claiming that their workplace environment is causing them to age unnecessarily.

Reinforcing the so-called “office ageing” phenomenon are social media posts like that of RedNote user @lelehangmu from Jiangsu province in eastern China. @lelehangmu posted that his complexion had noticeably darkened and his eyes frequently felt strained just one month into his job, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Lighting, dry air, dust-laden ventilation systems and elevated carbon dioxide levels were blamed for physical discomfort and mental fatigue.

In a 2008 study, Indian social medicine scholar Sumedha Joshi connected sick building syndrome to decreased productivity and higher absentee rates, recommending improved ventilation, regular breaks and strategies to alleviate workplace stress, SCMP reported.

Heeding the advice, workers share tips on social media to combat “office aging.” Their posts show them applying sunscreen, donning sun hats, using full-face masks and setting up parasols or sunshades above their desks to shield themselves from the intense ultraviolet rays emitted by office lighting.