Finally!

Vyacheslav Golovanov, Geektimes

A group of biologists from the Albert Einstein New York Medical School claims that they have developed a drug based on metformin that can slow down aging in humans. More precisely, the pill reduces the likelihood of diseases associated with old age in the body. On June 24, the group filed an application for approval of this drug for human clinical trials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Modern gerontologists agree that the natural death of a person does not occur "from old age", but from any of a large number of diseases that the aging body ceases to cope with. Thus, if you move the moment of the onset of diseases away, the body will be able to stay active longer.

The drug metformin is used as a hypoglycemic agent by patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This is the only antidiabetic drug that can reduce mortality from cardiovascular complications in diabetes mellitus. It is included in the list of the most important medicines of the World Health Organization. Its principle of action is based on increasing the sensitivity of the body to insulin.

Metformin was first described by American scientists in 1922, and in 1929 other scientists discovered its hypoglycemic effect in rabbits, noting that it was the strongest of the biguanides (a class of hypoglycemic drugs used in diabetes mellitus) that they studied. But the drug was forgotten for many years thanks to the discovery of insulin.

He was remembered only after the war. It was found that, unlike similar drugs, it does not affect the cardiovascular system, is non-toxic, and has a certain antiviral effect. French diabetologist Jean Stern studied the effect of this drug in detail in the 1950s, and was the first to try to use metformin for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in humans. He coined the name "Glucophagus" ("glucose eater") and published his results in 1957.

As a medicinal product, it began to be sold for the first time in the UK, and then, after the withdrawal of other biguanides from drug circulation in the 1970s, it began to gain popularity in other places. In Canada, it was approved in 1972, in the USA – only in 1994. Now it is the most frequently prescribed antidiabetic drug in the world.

Dr. Nir Barzilai, a leading expert in this study, and part–time director of the Institute for Aging Research, explained that the life-giving effects of the drug have already been observed on the example of rodents and nematode worms. Dr. Barzilai says that his laboratory has the most complete data on the study of this drug, and that there is every reason to believe that it will have a beneficial effect on the state of the human body.

In the application for the FDA, the researchers presented a drug testing program, which they called TAME (Targeting Aging with Metformin, fighting aging with metformin). The department promised to give its answer in a few weeks. The application, in particular, states: "We believe that delaying aging is the only way to significantly delay the onset of age–related diseases, reduce the time that people spend in old age in a sick state, and increase the expected duration of active life."

Research within the framework of TAME will help open the way for the study of other drugs that can affect the body in a similar way. Dr. Barzilai and his team do not expect metformin to be the best "cure for aging" – but at least it could be the first such drug. Now the team hopes that the FDA will allow us to characterize aging as a "symptom" – and only in this case will medical methods of exposure become possible. If approved, this will become a precedent and will enable other companies to begin active work in this direction.

Scientists have already found that some drugs have a beneficial effect on the body and reduce the signs of aging. It is an anti-cancer agent rapamycin and an antioxidant resveratrol. Also, a new class of drugs that slow down the aging process has recently been discovered – they turned out to be antitumor agent of directed action dasatinib (brand Sprycel) and quercetin, a substance that helps with edema, cramps, inflammation, and is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves and cereals. 

But, as Dr. Barzilai explains, metformin has an undeniable advantage – it has already been used for several decades, and therefore doctors have well studied both its effects on the body and side effects.

If the TAME study is approved, it will involve 30 specialists and 15,000 volunteers aged 70 to 80 years in several parts of the United States. The experiment will last two years.

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21.07.2015