The Cocktail Report (sounds really smart around your friends):
More than 25 scientists from the University of Oslo, Harvard Medical School, the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, and a dozen other institutions published a landmark expert review in Nature Aging concluding that NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a molecule central to cellular energy and DNA repair) is one of the most promising targets in aging science.
NAD+ levels decline by roughly 50% between young adulthood and middle age, a drop now linked to memory loss, muscle weakness, metabolic decline, and higher risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Two supplements, NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) and NR (nicotinamide riboside), both precursors that the body converts into NAD+, have shown early improvements in memory, physical function, and metabolic health in clinical trials.
The review was co-authored by David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School and Eric Verdin of the Buck Institute, two of the most prominent longevity researchers in the world, lending the consensus significant scientific weight.
The researchers are clear that optimal dosing and long-term safety still require larger trials. But they describe the current moment as the right time to consolidate the evidence and provide a scientific roadmap for clinical use.
Here is a development that puts longevity science on a new level: the U.S. federal government has committed $38 million to test whether drugs already sitting in pharmacies can measurably extend the healthy years of human life. The trial, called VITAL-H (Validation and Intervention Testing for Aging, Longevity and Healthspan), will be led by the Barshop Institute at UT Health San Antonio and is funded by ARPA-H, a federal agency designed to pursue high-impact health breakthroughs.
This is directly relevant to you, because the drugs being tested are not experimental compounds years away from approval. They are medications already cleared by the FDA, being repurposed based on emerging evidence that they target the biological mechanisms of aging itself.
The trial will test three drugs in adults in their 60s: rapamycin, which at low doses shows consistent effects on inflammation and aging biomarkers; dapagliflozin, a diabetes drug with cardiovascular and metabolic benefits; and semaglutide, the GLP-1 receptor agonist (a class of drug that mimics a gut hormone to regulate blood sugar and appetite) known commercially as Ozempic. Each will be compared against a placebo to isolate its impact on healthy aging.
The underlying theory comes from geroscience, the field that studies aging as a single modifiable biological process rather than a collection of separate diseases. The concept is that targeting a small number of core aging mechanisms with one drug could influence many health outcomes at once.
One of the trial's most ambitious goals goes beyond the drugs themselves: researchers want the FDA to formally recognize intrinsic capacity (a composite measure of physical and mental function across five domains) as a valid regulatory endpoint. That designation would make it far easier to approve future longevity therapies, potentially changing the regulatory landscape for the entire field.
Participants will take one pill daily, wear a smart ring tracking activity, heart rate, and sleep, and complete assessments at sites across San Antonio. Enrollment is expected to begin in 2027.
Why Should You Care?
Most longevity research to date has lived in animal labs. This trial marks a major shift: a rigorous, federally funded, multi-site human study designed to answer the question that everyone in the field has been circling for years.
If even one of these three drugs demonstrates a measurable extension of healthspan in humans, it could reshape medical practice for an entire generation of adults currently in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. The results of VITAL-H may be among the most consequential health findings of this decade.
Sources:
UT Health San Antonio News: UT San Antonio to lead $38 million national trial testing drugs to extend healthspan, March 4, 2026
ARPA-H Proactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience (PROSPR) program, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
