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Weight loss drugs may do more than melt away pounds — they could melt away years.
Pharmaceutical companies and makers of GLP-1 medications, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, say the blockbuster drugs can slow biological aging.
The notable difference in reversed aging adds evidence that the jabs and pills might be a true longevity treatment.
More than one in 10 American adults are on GLP-1s for weight loss, with the drugs working to shed pounds and provide a host of other unexpected benefits.
Several factors, from our relationships to lifestyle factors like smoking, diet, weight and health conditions, can influence biological aging, or how our cells and organs age.
During the Aging Research & Drug Discovery conference, the pharmaceutical companies shared their findings from several trials on the effects the medications have on aging.
And overweight or diabetic patients taking the medications saw a decreased age of around two or three years, a notable outcome according to one biological aging expert.
“Two years is a pretty strong effect, in my book,” geneticist Steve Horvath, the inventor of aging clocks, said, adding that the data suggests GLP-1 drugs “are actually what is known as geroprotectors, medications that slow or possibly even reverse biologic aging.”
As part of their research, Novo took blood draws from 10,052 people, half on the drug semaglutide and half on a placebo.
The blood — collected at the start of the study as well as months later — was then measured with “proteomic clocks,” which use levels of key proteins to predict a person’s age and risk of dying.
Eli Lilly performed a similar, yet smaller, study on their drug, tirzepatide, using “epigenetic” clocks that measure age by marking changes to a person’s DNA.
In the search for scientific remedies for aging, Novo’s drug semaglutide (sold under the names Ozempic and Wegovy) may be the closest solution.
The difference in aging varied widely, depending on which type of clock was used and what organ was tested.
For example, the drugs slowed down aging as much as four years in the case of a clock that looked at heart proteins.
Overall, though, both studies found that the drugs slowed down molecular time in a significant way.
Multiple other studies have shown that GLP-1s improve health metrics like high blood pressure and cholesterol through a combination of weight loss and weight-independent mechanisms, both of which also affect biological aging.
However, it’s unclear whether they would have the same anti-aging effects on a healthy population as they did on patients with obesity or type 2 diabetes.
And while the medications do come with a host of side effects and adverse events, the research is pointing to a significant benefit in aging and longevity.
“All the clocks are telling a consistent story that we’re seeing a reduction in age,” vice president for aging research at Lilly, Kevin Duffin, said during the conference.
“It’s not like we’re going to reverse age by 30 years or something, but it’s a significant reduction.”
And more companies are investing in the anti-aging effects of the medications, with US agency ARPA-H putting $38 million toward a study that will look at whether semaglutide affects cognition, mobility and sensory acuity in healthy people over 60.