The ideas and approach of the scientist Professor Dr. Dr. Ana Aslan (1897–1988) are even more relevant today in our society in which “anti-aging” has become a hot topic. Ana Aslan was of the opinion that the biological pre-determined duration of the human life could not be extended. Premature aging was, according to her, the result of a disturbed metabolism in the cellular system and actually nothing more than a disease of the cells. Diseases should, according to Ana Aslan, be treated.

Ana Aslan discovered in 1949 that Procaine, a medication used for local anaesthesia, pain management and the treatment of rheumatism, has various effects that were unknown until that moment. She discovered that Procaine stimulates the blood supply, that it has anti-inflammatory effects and that it is also capable of retarding the human ageing process.

Prof. Aslan was scientific director of the National Institute of Geriatrics in Bucharest, Rumania. The institute was known at the time as the largest and most important research centre in the world in the field of geriatrics. Along with many scientists, Prof. Aslan studied many aspects of the effects of Procaine, after which she put together the therapy protocols, later known as the “original ASLAN Therapies”.

Professor Aslan has been rewarded many international scientific honours. She was head of the UNO and WHO health-commissions and spoke about her work in lectures around the world. Many universities turned to Procaine research and mostly confirmed the results of Professor Aslan’s lifelong work.

Under the leadership of the Ceaucescu-regime the social life in Romania and the scientific work at the ASLAN Institute in Bucharest came to an end. Many close colleagues of Ana Aslan immigrated to the West. Along with other geriatrists, Prof. Aslan set up a new ASLAN company in 1986 in Germany (Olsberg) to be able to preserve her findings for future generations. When Prof. Aslan died at the age of 91 in 1988, she had already transferred the majority of her knowledge and relevant documents to the new German ASLAN company, currently owned by ASLAN.

The original ASLAN Therapies have over the years been further developed, based on scientific research. Other substances that were partly derived from Procaine have, together with vitamins, been added to the ASLAN Therapy protocols, resulting in the fact that Procaine is no longer the single centre of the treatments. Today, the name ASLAN represents various therapeutical protocols that are jointly directed against the ageing process in a preventive and a symptom-oriented way.