Scientists explore longevity drugs for dogs that could also ‘extend human life’
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Researchers say drugs may be able to increase lifespan by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageing. Not for nothing are dogs called man’s best friend: they are good for their owners’ mental and physical health, and some studies have shown that if you’re looking for a date and want to seem more attractive, it might be time to get a canine companion.
So what would it be like if dogs could live for ever – and what if that secret could help their owners live longer, healthier lives too?. A number of companies are now finding common ground between the two goals. Early next year, Loyal, a US biotech start-up, is confident that it will bring LOY-002, a daily, beef-flavoured pill, to market that could give dogs a minimum of one extra year of healthy life.
The San Francisco-based firm has raised $125m (£100m) in funding from companies who have held back from investing in human longevity projects because of the decades those trials would take. But Celine Halioua, founder and chief executive of Loyal – which is part of Cellular Longevity, a biotech firm researching the science of longevity – believes their work will benefit humans.
“Finding out how to prevent canine age-related decline is a really strong proxy for doing the same with humans because dogs get similar age-related diseases, and share our environments and habits in ways laboratory mice do not,” she said. The LOY-002 pill aims to blunt and reverse metabolic changes associated with ageing: reducing frailty by curbing ageing-related increases in insulin.
