Scientists are testing a pill for old age on dogs: it is assumed that this medicine can extend the life of people

Scientists are investigating the effects of an anti-aging drug on older dogs. This could help people and their pets live longer and healthier lives. Insider.

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Every Wednesday morning for the entire calendar year, golden retriever Jake received a delicious ball of peanut butter with five tiny pills hidden inside: two blue, two white and one orange.

Greyhound Dennis currently has a different schedule on Wednesdays. A tantalizing piece of cheese with three tiny pills inside: one blue, two white.

No one knows for sure yet, but it's possible that these snacks, mixed with mystery pills, could help older dogs live longer, healthier lives. And ultimately they could help people live longer.

Dennis and Jake, both 10 years old, are part of the Dog Aging Project, a multi-stage study of tens of thousands of dogs across the country. Jake and Dennis are part of a highly controlled study that is testing whether rapamycin, used in cancer treatment and transplantation, can help dogs live longer.

The study will also monitor whether rapamycin can help dogs stay healthier and stronger as they age.

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If the study is successful, it could make a big difference for people too. The researchers hope that rapamycin could be some sort of fountain of youth in pill form.

Dogs with more energy and less gray hair, or "wishful thinking"

So far, over 85 dogs, including Dennis and Jake, are participating in the rapamycin study, officially called the TRIAD (rapamycin aging dog trial). Research is underway in Texas, Colorado and will soon begin in California. All of this is being led by longevity researchers Daniel Promislow and Matt Caberlain of the University of Washington and veterinarian Keith Creevey of Texas A&M, who hope to enroll 580 dogs in the study by 2025 and complete the study by 2028.

“They take samples of blood, urine, stool, measure blood pressure,” said Jake owner Timothy Cleary.

"Jake gets a more comprehensive medical checkup than I do," Cleary said, referring to the checkups the dog gets at the University of Georgia every six months, which can take up to four hours.

Dogs and their owners, as well as researchers, have no way of knowing exactly how much medication the dogs are taking, or whether they are taking any medication at all. The study is designed so that while some dogs receive medication, other dogs receive placebo pills. Thus, the researchers hope to find out the real impact of this drug on the lifespan of dogs.

Cleary says it could be "wishful thinking," but he is convinced that after a few months of taking the pills, he began to notice changes in his dog.

“We were throwing a lacrosse ball in the backyard, I saw him jump off our stone wall,” Cleary said. “He just had more energy.”

"It may just be wishful thinking, but she's pretty sure her dog's coat, which had been graying for a while, started turning dark again after he started taking the weekly pills," Dennis' owner Veronica Muncy said.

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Rapamycin has been used for decades by people who have had kidney transplants. More recently, drug developers have discovered that it can also help with some treatment-resistant cancers by stopping cancer cells from multiplying. It helps suppress key parts of the immune system, slowing things like tumor growth and stimulating the body's cell-cleansing process, similar to fasting.

All of this appears to be good for immunity to viruses, including the flu and possibly COVID. Scientists have also shown that rapamycin increases the lifespan of fruit flies, worms, mice, and water fleas.

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But the effects of rapamycin in aging dogs and in aging humans are still being studied. And the drug is not without risk factors: Because rapamycin suppresses the immune system, patients taking the drug sometimes develop mouth ulcers and may have slower healing times for wounds and cuts.

That's why researchers first study the drug in dogs and then move on to more extensive clinical trials in humans.

Matt Kaberlein, co-director of the Dog Aging Project, said dogs are great research animals because they live in the same environment as us.

Unlike yeast and flies, dogs don't live in laboratories. They roll around in the grass, sniffing pollen and pollutants, and accompany us on our trips, occasionally taking bites of our food.

“The fact that a dog’s life reflects the human environment gives us some reason to be more confident that this will actually work in humans as well,” Kaberlein said.

Other studies

The biotech startup is also testing anti-aging pills for dogs, one specifically designed for large breeds.
Kaberlein and the University of Washington team aren't the only ones testing anti-aging products on dogs.

Celine Haliois, founder and CEO of biotech startup Loyal, is also committed to helping dogs live longer and stay healthier, and ultimately aims to help people do the same. Loyal recently received what Haliua believes is the very first milestone in longevity research—FDA approval for upcoming trials of two different drugs for aging dogs. No drug has ever been approved by the FDA to treat aging as a condition—in animals or humans. So if her trial is successful, it could be a watershed moment for an entirely new field of drug development, the discovery of what scientists call geroprotectors, drugs that can help defeat death.

“This is a very, very important milestone in the field of anti-aging because if we want to have more anti-aging drugs, we need to have a specific clinical path for an anti-aging drug before it hits the market,” she said.

Loyal is working on two different tablets. The first drug, called LOY-001, is designed to help large dogs live longer by minimizing the factors that contribute to premature aging among large breeds.

The second, LOY-002, which Haliua says is similar to rapamycin in many ways, but is a different compound. It also mimics fasting and improves a dog's metabolism, and can be used on dogs of all sizes if tests show it works.

Anti-aging drugs that do not cost a tidy sum

Haliua says the anti-aging field often gets a bad rap for being "associated with billionaires who want to live forever." But what's great about drug development for dogs is that it's the exact opposite of that. The treatment must be cheap, accessible, and ultra-safe if dog owners are willing to use it.

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“Our medications will be paid for in cash,” she said. — We do not rely on insurance to sell our drugs. So by definition, everything we develop must be accessible if we want it to sell at all.”

She suspects that eventually the same model could be applied to humans.

“My vision of what a cure for aging should be is simply a daily, cheap pill that the vast majority of the older U.S. population takes to reduce the risk and severity of future age-related diseases,” she said. “It’s kind of the ultimate preventative medicine.”

Kaberlein, who is not shy about admitting that he has already tried rapamycin on his aging joints, agrees with Haliua that yes, it would be fantastic someday to have a cheap ointment for age-related deterioration in people, especially one that only costs a few bucks a pill. But even if that weren't possible, he would still be content with research that would allow his own dog and other dogs to stay among the living for a while longer.

“If we can increase the healthy lifespan of pet dogs, that would be fantastic,” he said. “I’m a dog person, and I can say I’ve achieved something important in my career if we make that kind of impact.”

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