Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Feb 6;36(2):354-376.
doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.12.007. Epub 2024 Jan 4.

Human trials exploring anti-aging medicines

Leonard Guarente  1 , David A Sinclair  2 , Guido Kroemer  3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Human trials exploring anti-aging medicines

Leonard Guarente et al. Cell Metab. .
Free article

Abstract

Here, we summarize the current knowledge on eight promising drugs and natural compounds that have been tested in the clinic: metformin, NAD+ precursors, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, TORC1 inhibitors, spermidine, senolytics, probiotics, and anti-inflammatories. Multiple clinical trials have commenced to evaluate the efficacy of such agents against age-associated diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. There are reasonable expectations that drugs able to decelerate or reverse aging processes will also exert broad disease-preventing or -attenuating effects. Hence, the outcome of past, ongoing, and future disease-specific trials may pave the way to the development of new anti-aging medicines. Drugs approved for specific disease indications may subsequently be repurposed for the treatment of organism-wide aging consequences.

Keywords: age-related disease; autophagy; metformin; nicotinamide mononucleotide/NAD(+)/sirtuins; senescence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests L.G. is a founder of Elysium Health and a founder of Galilei BioSciences. G.K. has been holding research contracts with Daiichi Sankyo, Eleor, Kaleido, Lytix Pharma, PharmaMar, Osasuna Therapeutics, Samsara Therapeutics, Sanofi, Tollys, and Vascage. G.K. is on the Board of Directors of the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation France. G.K. is a scientific co-founder of everImmune, Osasuna Therapeutics, Samsara Therapeutics, and Therafast Bio. G.K. is in the scientific advisory boards of Hevolution, Institut Servier, Longevity Vision Funds, and Rejuveron Life Sciences. G.K. is the inventor of patents covering therapeutic targeting of aging, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and metabolic disorders. G.K.’s wife, Laurence Zitvogel, has held research contracts with Glaxo Smyth Kline, Incyte, Lytix, Kaleido, Innovate Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Pilege, Merus, Transgene, 9 m, Tusk and Roche, was on the on the Board of Directors of Transgene, is a cofounder of everImmune, and holds patents covering the treatment of cancer and the therapeutic manipulation of the microbiota. G.K.’s brother, Romano Kroemer, was an employee of Sanofi and now consults for Boehringer-Ingelheim. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. D.A.S. is a board member, equity owner and inventor on patents licensed to Life Biosciences, an epigenetic reprogramming company and MetroBiotech/EdenRox Sciences and Jumpstart Fertility, both developing molecules for the treatment of diseases by raising NAD levels. Other affiliations are listed https://sinclair.hms.harvard.edu/david-sinclairs-affiliations.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources