Progeria treatment research. Fluorescent light micrographs showing the blood vessel of an untreated mouse with progeria (left) compared to the blood vessel of a similar mouse treated with the farnsyltransferase inhibitor drug tipifarnib (right). Progeria is a rare genetic disorder that causes a person's body to age at a very early age. Here, tipifarnib has blocked the loss of smooth muscle cells (stained green) in blood vessels, preventing the cardiovascular disease characteristic of progeria.