A daily pill to extend Fido's lifespan could soon be on the market. An anti-aging pill created by biotech startup Loyal has been certified by the Food and Drug Administration as having a "reasonable expectation of effectiveness," the Washington Post reports. Loyal CEO Celine Halioua says the recognition is a "key step" toward extending dogs' lives. She believes the FDA will certify the drug as being safe before the end of the year, clearing the way for vets to prescribe it for dogs 10 years or older that weigh at least 14 pounds.
Loyal says the drug is the result of research on how to deliver the life-extending effects of caloric restriction without having to give dogs restricted diets. Halioua says the findings could also extend human lives, though it's harder to win approval for human treatments. "If we can successfully delay the onset and severity of age-related diseases in dogs, it's extremely compelling evidence that it will also do that in humans," she tells the Post. She says she wants to keep the cost below $100 a month to encourage widespread use instead of "jacking up the price and getting the millionaire dogs on the drug."
"These are definitely not immortality or radical life-span-extension drugs," Halioua told the New York Times in 2023, when Loyal received similar certification for an injection for large breeds. "Nothing we are developing could make a dog live forever." Deborah Kado, co-director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, tells the Post that while the drug will certainly appeal to pet owners, unforeseen problems can occur with new drugs and it might be best to let nature take its course. "When they get close to the end, they accept it," Kado says. "And in a way, that I think makes it easier for humans, actually. Endings are going to happen." (More dogs stories.)
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