More evidence emerging that Rapamycin and Metformin can prolong human lifespan in healthy people by several years but when will you be able to go to...

Evidence is emerging that some widely used drugs can prolong lifespan for well people – and insiders have started taking them off-label.

Millions of people are taking anti-ageing drugs every day – they just don’t know it. Drugs to slow ageing sound futuristic but they already exist in the form of relatively cheap medicines that have been used for other purposes for decades.

Google and Venter’s plans may have injected an over-hyped field with a measure of credibility but they are unlikely to bear fruit for some time. Yet evidence is emerging that some existing drugs have modest effects on lifespan, giving an extra 10 years or so of life. “We can develop effective combinations for life extension right now using available drugs,” says Mikhail Blagosklonny of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York.

One of the most promising groups of drugs is based on a compound called rapamycin. It was first used to suppress the immune system in organ transplant recipients, then later found to extend lifespan in yeast and worms. In 2009, mice were added to the list when the drug was found to lengthen the animals’ lives by up to 14 per cent, even though they were started on the drug at 600 days old, the human equivalent of being about 60.

The first evidence has emerged of one such drug having an apparent anti-ageing effect in humans. A drug called everolimus, used to treat certain cancers, partially reversed the immune deterioration that normally occurs with age in a pilot trial in people over 65 years old.

Nextbigfuture has been covering Rapamycin and Metformin for a few years

Nextbigfuture covered research that the diabetes risk from Rapamycin was overblown.

A big drawback to long-term use of rapamycin, however, is the increase in insulin resistance, observed in both humans and laboratory animals. Rapamycin, by contrast, allowed a buildup of fatty acids and eventually an increase in insulin resistance, which in humans can lead to diabetes. However, the drug metformin can address that concern, and is already given to some diabetic patients to increase lipid oxidation. In lab tests, the combined use of rapamycin and metformin prevented the unwanted side effect.

Antiaging Dr. Terry Grossman has recommended the use of Metformin, exercise, aspirin and lowering iron levels in blood.

I have personally tried to ask doctors to allow metformin or rapamycin use but they will not prescribe it for off label purposes. However, some doctors are able to get it prescribed for themselves.

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