On October 29th, 2024, Fortune Well published an article featuring insights from AFAR Board Member Nir Barzilai, MD, exploring the future of therapeutics to treat or delay age-related diseases and extend healthspan.
Dr. Barzilai discussed four drugs--approved by the FDA for other conditions--that could have potential as gerotherapeutics by targeting the biology of aging. Metformin and GLP-1s such as Ozempic and Wegovy are among the drugs discussed.
He stressed the importance of clinical trials for validating drug effectiveness for targeting aging through clinical trials. (AFAR is helping to launch the Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) Trial to provide proof of concept that aging mechanisms can be targeting through a therapeutic.)
He urged readers to seek guidance from medical professionals before trying any such medication while reminding them how research has shown how lifestyle interventions such as exercise, sleep, and social connectivity can help extend healthspan.
Dr. Barzilai is a 1997 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging scholar and 1994 AFAR Research Grant recipient, as well as the Co-Investigator of the AFAR SuperAgers Family Study, an AFAR Board Member, and author of Age Later: Health Span, Life Span and the New Science of Longevity. He also directs the Institute for Aging Research at the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research, and the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Read the article, “Top aging expert says these 4 FDA-approved drugs hold promise for extending life”, here.
