On April 22nd, 2024, NPR published a story on the Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) Trial Initiative featuring AFAR Senior Scientific Director Steve Austad, PhD, AFAR Scientific Director Nir Barzilai, MD, and TAME Trial Principal Investigator Stephen Kritchevsky, PhD.
As a proof-of-principle and demonstration project, the six-year Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) Trial will test the drug metformin in order to evaluate whether a drug can target aging.
By design, TAME researchers at 14 medical centers will begin recruiting healthy men and women, ages 65 to 80 years, who have begun to show age-related diseases or deficits. Half will be assigned to metformin, half to placebo, and their health monitored for six years. The FDA only approves drugs for conventionally designated diseases. The overall hypothesis is that by targeting the biology of aging, we can delay the onset of age-related diseases and other phenotypes of aging in humans.
"If you could help prevent multiple problems at the same time, like we think metformin may do, then that's almost the ultimate in preventative medicine," AFAR Senior Scientific Director Steve Austad highlights the potential uses of Metformin.
Read the article, “A cheap drug may slow down aging. A study will determine if it works” here.
AFAR is leading fundraising efforts to support and launch the TAME Trial. Learn more here.
