Weight loss drugs can do more than melt away pounds: they could melt away years.
Pharmaceutical companies and GLP-1 drug makers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk say these blockbuster drugs can slow biological aging.
The notable difference in reverse aging adds evidence that vaccines and pills could be a real longevity treatment.
More than one in ten American adults take GLP-1s for weight loss, these weight-loss medications offering a host of other unexpected benefits.
Many factors, from our relationships to lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, weight and health status, can influence biological aging, or the way our cells and organs age.
At the Aging Research & Drug Discovery conference, pharmaceutical companies shared the results of several trials on the effects of drugs on aging.
And overweight or diabetic patients taking the drugs saw their age decrease by about two to three years, a notable result according to an expert in biological aging.
“In my book, two years is a pretty big effect,” said geneticist Steve Horvath, the inventor of aging clocks, adding that the data suggests that GLP-1 drugs “are actually what are called geroprotectants, drugs that slow or even reverse biological aging.”
As part of their research, Novo took blood samples from 10,052 people, half on the drug semaglutide and half on a placebo.
The blood – collected at the start of the study as well as months later – was then measured with “proteomic clocks”, which use levels of key proteins to predict a person’s age and their risk of dying.
Eli Lilly conducted a similar, but smaller, study of its drug, tirzepatide, using “epigenetic” clocks that measure age by marking changes in a person’s DNA.
In the search for scientific cures for aging, Novo’s drug semaglutide (sold under the names Ozempic and Wegovy) might be the closest solution.
The difference in aging varied considerably depending on the type of clock used and the organ tested.
For example, the drugs slowed aging by up to four years in the case of a clock that analyzed heart proteins.
Overall, however, both studies found that the drugs significantly slowed molecular time.
Several other studies have shown that GLP-1 improves health indicators such as high blood pressure and cholesterol through a combination of weight-loss and weight-independent mechanisms, which also affect biological aging.
However, it is unclear whether they would have the same anti-aging effects in a healthy population as in patients with obesity or type 2 diabetes.
And although the drugs come with a multitude of side effects and adverse events, research points to a significant benefit in terms of aging and longevity.
“All the clocks tell a consistent story that we’re seeing a reduction in age,” Kevin Duffin, vice president of aging research at Lilly, said at the conference.
“It’s not like we’re going to reverse the age of 30 or anything like that, but it’s a significant reduction.”
And more companies are investing in the anti-aging effects of these drugs, with the US agency ARPA-H investing $38 million in a study to determine whether semaglutide affects cognition, mobility and sensory acuity in healthy people over 60.
Gn Health
