Possible New Anti-Aging Drug to begin human trials

[Fartsniffage]

My grandma was on metformin.

I don't recall it doing any good on her health other than for managing her diabetes.

There was a study by the university of Cardiff last year that linked type-2 diabetes sufferers treated with metformin to living the same lifespan as their compatriots despite them statistically having an 8 year shorter lifespan due to the illness.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

My grandma was on metformin.

I don't recall it doing any good on her health other than for managing her diabetes.

There was a study by the university of Cardiff last year that linked type-2 diabetes sufferers treated with metformin to living the same lifespan as their compatriots despite them statistically having an 8 year shorter lifespan due to the illness.

Hmm... might be something to look forward to. Although I'm more curious if this isn't going to become a sought-after "miracle drug" for people who wish to live longer but have no idea how metformin actually works by suppressing the generation of glucose in the liver.

[Greed and Death]

Eh, the drug has been around since the 20's and dosages cost pennies per day.

Eh, don't worry. There's a Martin Shkreli for every drug out there!

I beat him to it. So come now give me 1,000 dollars a day if you want to live to old age.

[Saiwania]

Eh, the drug has been around since the 20's and dosages cost pennies per day.

For that reason, I don't think this is anywhere near effective as the media says it will be. I think this is exaggerated. What was the hold up from the 1920s until today? How does it work?

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Eh, the drug has been around since the 20's and dosages cost pennies per day.

For that reason, I don't think this is anywhere near effective as the media says it will be. I think this is exaggerated. What was the hold up from the 1920s until today? How does it work?

All we know is a glucose blocker which helps people with hyperglicemia and that there are very good indications it also helps with cardiovascular functions.

It does wreck your body regardless, but the benefits outweight the costs.

[Olivaero]

Eh, the drug has been around since the 20's and dosages cost pennies per day.

For that reason, I don't think this is anywhere near effective as the media says it will be. I think this is exaggerated. What was the hold up from the 1920s until today? How does it work?

There may be a difference in how it is taken for the anti-aging style of treatment. It's true we've all been talking about the upper end of the scale, a 50% improvement but even the 8 years it apparently give to diabetics would be nice.

[Whish]

Well perhaps "New" is a slight misnomer an already existing diabetes drug is being looked into for anti aging purposes it's suggested that it could increase the human life span by up to 50% leading to people living to 120 on average. From the NZ herald:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11553026

The world's first anti-ageing drug will be tested on humans next year in trials which could result in people being able to live healthily well into their 120s.

Scientists now believe it is possible to stop people growing old and consign diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to history.

Although it might seem like science fiction, researchers have already proven that the diabetes drug metformin extends the life of animals, and the Food and Drug Administration in the US has now given the go-ahead for a trial to see if the same effects can be replicated in humans.

If successful it will mean that a person in their 70s would be as biologically healthy as a 50-year-old.

So this would obviously be a pretty big deal if it were successful not only does it increase the lifespan but it also increases the "Healthspan" possibly literally making 70 the new 50.

And from a second source this time the express
Derma Clinic in Dubai
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/622976/Trials-testing-metformin-drug-live-120-anti-ageing

The trials are expected to take five to seven years. The drug will aim to attack the process of ageing, rather than individual diseases, one of the project's members, Prof Stuart Jay Olshansky, has explained.

"We lower the risk of heart disease, somebody lives long enough to get cancer," he said in an interview earlier this year.

"If we reduce the risk of cancer, somebody lives long enough to get Alzheimer's disease.

"We are suggesting that the time has arrived to attack them all by going after the biological process of aging."

This exert explains a bit more in combating aging we're really also combating disease in fact the two are synonymous. Age related diseases are diseases that you can theoretically get earlier in life but that are more likely because of age so if we can prevent as many cells from displaying old age characteristics we can reduce the likely hood of those diseases and thus allow people on average to live longer. It's by no means a silver bullet to all aging after all of the current age related diseases are only as prolific as they are now because we have defeated many of the other diseases that previously claimed us before they became problems. But in making progress in extending the human life we buy ourselves more time to make progress further hopefully reaching the point where we can continually fight the effects of aging with more and more advanced technology.

So, what do you think the possible ramifications of this probable biological breakthrough NSG? I think this could give the whole economy a boost in the short to medium term if 70 year olds can become as productive as 50 years olds then tha'ts a massive pool of labour opening up, Over the long term we'll end up with about the same amount of people to support except they'll be 100 year olds now if we don't continually push the frontier of medical science in this direction that is. But Older people being able to be more productive in the economy and not being forced to just living off accumulated wealth has the potential to be very positive indeed I think.

I listen that Metformin is the worlds first anti-aging drug, Metformin is truly an amazing drug. It has potentially far-reaching effects on everything from diabetes, obesity, cancer, and heart disease to general life extension.

[Annorax]

If this does work, then it will be even more reason for countries to get a fully nationalised health system. And I hope the NHS manages to get it, because their prescriptions are dirt cheap.

Pfft, what are you on, and where do I get some?

Face the reality, folks: a real, honest-to-goodness anagathic? The elites will make sure that it remains scarce - just enough for them, their colleagues and their kids.

So instead of a powerful upper class that mostly inherits its power, we'll have an immortal (or at least much longer-lived), powerful upper class that has a vested interest in making sure that us mere mortals never get to challenge it.

Welcome to Hell.

That is the endgame. Hell on Earth with our immortal "lords" making people work for peanuts while they get to be opulent hedonists. No way its going to be cheap and widely available.

[Stagnant Axon Terminal]

Oh damn. I should get my metformin prescription filled.

[Ashkera]

That is the endgame. Hell on Earth with our immortal "lords" making people work for peanuts while they get to be opulent hedonists. No way its going to be cheap and widely available.

Metformin, the drug under discussion, is already cheap and widely available.

Also, the costs of aging on the healthcare system are utterly enormous. They might try and jack up costs in the US, where they don't have to pay for them, but the EU's healthcare systems are often social schemes in some way. Delay the body falling apart by 8 years, and France gains millions if not billions of dollars each year.

Health insurance costs would also be cheaper (fewer busted kidneys to pay out on).

If you want something actually expensive, it might be gene therapy catering to each specific individual. That would be expensive. Any other enzyme or whatever can be grown using engineered bacteria and so probably won't cost much, or the cost would primarily be in R&D and not production.