Quick overview of what we’ll cover in this blog post:
- What’s Rapamycin & how it works
- What modern Rapamycin research has shown
- The potential of Rapamycin longevity cocktails
- How AI worms are accelerating Rapamycin research
Of the longevity drugs in existence today, none hold greater promise to extend healthy lifespan (otherwise known as healthspan) than Rapamycin.
Not only has Rapamycin slowed aging in every organism it’s been tested on thus far, but it’s also shown even greater promise when combined with medications like Metformin and Acarbose, a combination known as a longevity cocktail.
To accelerate research into Rapamycin and longevity cocktails, scientists have introduced an equally innovative solution: AI-driven worms, called WormBots. With this new technology, we may have the next breakthrough longevity treatment sooner than we thought.
What Is Rapamycin?
Rapamycin was first discovered in the 60s on Easter Island, but it wasn’t until the 90s that scientists first discovered its longevity potential.
Around this time, researchers confirmed that Rapamycin acts on a previously undiscovered protein complex known as mTOR, which has since been identified as a central regulator of lifespan and aging. In fact, mTOR stands for the mammalian target of Rapamycin! Without Rapamycin, mTOR may have remained undiscovered.
How Does Rapamycin Work?
In recent years, Rapamycin has emerged as an exciting opportunity for longevity researchers. In fact, Rapamycin has demonstrated longevity benefits in organisms as varied as yeast and flies to worms and mice. Now, human trials of Rapamycin are showing similar promise.
Researchers have found that Rapamycin deactivates a master regulator switch within our cells, turning cellular repair on and cell growth off, which leads to reduced inflammation and increased autophagy (or, self-cleaning mode for our cells). Rapamycin has shown longevity benefits in every organism it has been tested on and across multiple species.
What Have Studies Shown?
All organisms share the same fundamental biology of aging that makes us grow older and vulnerable to disease, which is why researchers test medications like Rapamycin on such a wide variety of animals. The more organisms a longevity drug works on, the more likely it will also work on humans. As human trials into Rapamycin are in their early stages, these studies provide the best knowledge of Rapamycin’s potential.
The Interventions Testing Program (ITP), the most robust effort within the field to validate longevity-enhancing drugs, has shown Rapamycin to extend the lifespan of mice by up to 28%, equivalent to a nearly 22-year increase in human life years.
The ITP has gone on to declare Rapamycin as 1 of 9 drugs shown to expand lifespan. Acarbose is also among this list. As their research continues, they’ve now begun to investigate whether taking drugs like Rapamycin and Acarbose together multiplies the potential longevity benefits.
Combined Potential
One ITP study suggests that Metformin and Rapamycin “robustly extended lifespan” in mice, more than either drug alone.
But the potential doesn’t stop there. Another study tested the combination of Rapamycin and Acarbose and found it to be the most robust longevity-enhancing intervention to date. According to the study, the combination “led to a longer lifespan than in either of the two prior cohorts of mice treated with Rapa[mycin] only,” suggesting that this drug combination was more potent than either of its components used alone.
Matt Kaeberlin, one of the leading longevity researchers in the world, was among the researchers for this study. He’s also driving efforts to accelerate research into longevity cocktails.
Driving Progress Through Science
Kaeberlein, who co-founded Ora Biomedical, has recently partnered with the Rapamycin Longevity Lab to introduce a cutting-edge research tool known as the WormBot. Using AI-driven robot imaging machines, WormBot is capable of autonomously tracking a worm’s lifespan from birth until death, allowing thousands of drug combinations to be quickly and efficiently tested.
This would allow researchers to test tens of thousands of different drug combinations a year, accurately tracking the potential effects on the healthy lifespan of worms – an incredible prospect that would greatly accelerate progress within the field.
Rapamycin Longevity Lab in partnership with Ora Biomedical plans to test Rapamycin with 1,250 potential drugs and supplements to identify the most synergistic effects to longevity. Though the project has yet to launch, its potential can’t be understated.
What We Can Do Now
With the promise of research comes the demand for time, and even with efforts to cut research time in half, many who could benefit from this research feel there’s no time to waste.
The good news? Many of these drugs are FDA approved for other uses, with an established safety profile backed by decades of clinical use. This means that drugs like Rapamycin, Metformin, and Acarbose are all readily available at the discretion of your prescriber.
In fact, all 3 of these treatments are available through AgelessRx if one of our expert providers deems you appropriate based on your unique health history. Explore these treatments for yourself, and get started to see if any of these potentially life-changing treatments are right for you!
Note: The above statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.