(NewsNation) — Scientists are testing new drugs to extend dogs’ lives, with potential implications for human longevity.
Loyal, a San Francisco-based biotech startup that has raised $125 million in funding, plans to launch LOY-002 early next year. The beef-flavored daily pill could give dogs at least one extra year of healthy life by reducing age-related insulin increases and fighting frailty, The Guardian reported.
“We’re not making immortal dogs,” Celine Halioua, Loyal’s founder and CEO, told The Guardian. “The way the drug extends lifespan, we hypothesise, is by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageing.”
Meanwhile, the Dog Aging Project is studying rapamycin, a drug commonly used in human organ transplants, at the University of Washington. Researchers believe low doses could extend canine lifespans by three years while improving heart and cognitive functions.
“Our study is light years ahead of anything that’s been done on humans or can be done on humans,” said Daniel Promislow, project co-director and biogerontologist. “What we’re doing is the equivalent of a 40-year-long study on humans.”
The research could be particularly relevant to women’s health.
Kate Creevy, the project’s chief veterinary officer, said that studying spayed and unspayed dogs could provide insights into pre- and post-menopausal women’s health, The Guardian reported.
However, Jamie Justice, an adjunct professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, cautioned that without an agreed-upon human biomarker of aging, translating successful animal studies to human treatments will be challenging.
Results from the Dog Aging Project are expected in four to five years, The Guardian reported.