The average lifespan of a dog is 10-13 years, but that number can go up or down depending on the breed and size of the dog. The average lifespan of a human is about 7-8 times that of a dog’s. A biotech firm has taken up the cause to close the lifespan gap between our species. A company called Loyal is developing a drug aimed at prolonging the life of dogs, and the FDA has just approved the drug for clinical trials:
A melodramatic opener: “When you adopt a dog, you’re adopting future heartbreak,” Emilie Adams, a New York resident who owns three Rhodesian Ridgebacks, tells Emily Anthes of the New York Times. “It’s worth it over time, because you just have so much love between now and when they go. But their life spans are shorter than ours.” Now, the San Francisco-based biotech company Loyal has announced its anti-aging drug for canines cleared the first of several hurdles needed for approval by the Food and Drug Administration. While the drug still must undergo clinical trials, this marks the first time the FDA has indicated a willingness to endorse longevity drugs, writes Hilary Brueck for Business Insider.
Dogs—the data bridge between humans and roundworms: Scientists have long been interested in ways to slow the aging process and extend life. Previous research on roundworms edited two cell pathways to extend their lifespans by 500 percent… But aging in more complex and longer-lived organisms such as humans has proved more difficult to hack. For one, clinical trials would need to span decades before researchers could collect any data, which would get very pricey. However, Loyal CEO Celine Halioua thinks dogs, which face similar age-related ailments at roughly the same time in their life as humans do, might be a good model for our own longevity. “If a big dog is, you know, getting sick and dying from age-related diseases at age seven, eight, nine, he’s going gray at age four. He’s getting a limp at age five… The rate of aging is so high that you can tell if a drug is impacting that in about 6 to 12 months. In 6 to 12 months, you’re not going to see anything in a person.”
Size matters: Loyal’s drug, called LOY-001, is an injection-based treatment that targets a growth and metabolism hormone called IGF-1. This hormone seems to be size-related — it appears in higher levels in larger dogs and in lower levels in smaller dogs. Research has shown that inhibiting IGF-1 in flies, worms and rodents can increase their lifespans, per Wired’s Emily Mullin… LOY-001 is designed for healthy dogs over the age of seven and above 40 pounds, and it would be administered every three to six months by a veterinarian. The company is also simultaneously working to develop a daily pill called LOY-003.
Warning! The drug does not offer immortality: “We’re not making immortal dogs, to be clear, but that rate of aging will be slower, hopefully, which means the pet will be in a healthier state for longer,” Halioua tells Megan Rose Dickey of Axios. “And that’s fundamental to all of the biology of what we’re doing.”
Loyal’s next steps: The company plans to begin a large clinical trial for LOY-001 with about 1,000 large and giant dogs in either 2024 or 2025, with the goal of having a product on the market by 2026, reports Wired.
Was anyone else giggling each time they used the term “anti-aging,” imagining a body lotion to give your pup a youthful glow? Olay regenerist, for your retriever. I’m of two minds on this one. On the one hand, I’m in favor of scientific research and investigating how the world works (you know, before we finish destroying it). But really, how much money is being raised and spent on this endeavor, that ultimately sounds like a reluctance to deal with reality — the fact that our beloved dogs will die before us. Curiously absent from this reporting is any indication of how much time this drug may add to Fido’s life.
So in an effort to relay some currently vital canine news, an update on our PSA from before Thanksgiving: the mysterious respiratory illness has now spread to 14 states. Symptoms include coughing, sneezing, rapid breathing, wheezing, fever, nasal or eye discharge, weight loss, loss of appetite, lethargy. Veterinarians are still trying to identify the cause. It’s recommended to keep your pup up-to-date on all vaccinations, and to keep them away from other dogs. ‘Twill be the season of doggie social isolation.
Note by Celebitchy: There are anecdotal stories about dogs with the mystery illness being successfully treated with human inhalers.
Photos credit: Pawtography Perth, Nathan Mullet, Kanashi, Katja Rooke, Berkay Gumustekin and Rebecca Chandler on Unsplash
The kicker to this, and included in various articles about this, is the next step is using this on humans to delay natural degeneration.
I used to have dogs, and was heartbroken when they passed away at 15 and 13 respectively. I didn’t realize they were longer-lived tbh. If this drug keeps them healthier, that is the most important thing—it’s not the length of the life so much as the quality of life. Less ailments, arthritis (my one dog got arthritis of her spine), and pain would be wonderful!
As to keeping dogs separate to keep them safe. That’s apparently necessary right now while vets are trying to figure out what is going on. However, I just want to remind people that lots of pets were acquired during Covid, and to this day there are problems acclimating dogs born and adopted during that period. Dogs need socialization with a wide range of humans and other dogs. Otherwise the chance that they develop anxiety, aggressiveness or problematic behaviors increases. I hope they find out what’s going on soon.
I assume they didn’t give an amount of time because they don’t know. That’s why they are still in the research phase. They mentioned that in simpler organisms life span was extended by 500%.
And, I don’t think this is silly? The hope is that if they can figure out how to prolong life in dogs, it will help on the road to figuring it out in humans. It’s all right there in the article.
I’m not a dog owner so I have no skin in the game. I just don’t think their work is dumb or trying to escape reality.
my question is – are they just living longer? because I wouldn’t want my dog to live in the painful old age stage longer, but i would be very happy to have them with me longer.
Arizona = I agree! I want my angel muffin dog to be healthy and happy, not just 20 and in pain. Dogs rock adopt don’t shop.
Every time I feed my dog a chip (the only thing she ever begs for), I remind her that she will have to live as long as that Portuguese dog whose alleged secret to longevity was eating people food. She’s 12 and getting gray in the face, but not slowing down. I don’t think I would medically prolong her life though—dogs don’t always communicate their pain and I would hate to inflict any on her.
I am all for advancing our understanding of how the world works through science, but this is one of those times when they really need a liberal arts major on the team to consider possibilities outside the scope of scientific advancement. There are a host of issues with this. Dogs can’t consent. This would further insulate humans from dealing with death, making it even more difficult to deal with our own inevitable deaths and that of loved ones. As ML said above, dogs don’t always communicate their pain, so we may not know the quality of life. How does a drug like this get applied to other animals, including humans, and who decides on the ethics of that?
I get weepy when I think about my beloved beagle and Pyrenees moving on, so I understand the impulse to make their lives longer. But something like this requires deep thought from many different perspectives.
Dogs don’t consent to anything we do to them…
I don’t know…my dogs definitely do not consent to baths and do consent to getting petted by every stranger we meet.
My point is that there are a host of ethical issues to consider with this. Just because we’ve decided that our pets should get the rabies shot with or without their consent doesn’t mean we can now do whatever we want without consideration.
I almost never comment anywhere but I need to get this off my chest and out of my head. My beloved Flora had her last day yesterday. We adopted her 16 months ago. She was at the SPCA shelter. 11 years old, had had half of her teeth removed, going blind, mass on her spleen, level 4 heart murmur, and kidney disease from being overfed with way too much people food. Her previous owners loved her very much. She was beautifully trained and incredibly sweet. But all the fancy food and meds and exercise we could give her couldn’t undo the damage to her kidneys.
She was the opposite of any preferences I might have had about what kind of dog I wanted. A small, white, fluffy dog with the eye crusts? Yech. But it turns out that didn’t matter and she was my tiny fox face. My little lamby. She was a whole person the size of a loaf of bread and it was amazing. She never forgot her first family. The only strangers she was interested in were Hispanic men in road crew day glo so I’m guessing that’s what her first dad looked like. But she loved us too and we were very lucky. Thank you for the space to talk about her.
Sorry for your loss and sending a virtual hug.
So sorry for your loss, may you meet again one day on the Rainbow Bridge
I’m so very sorry for your loss, I share your pain 💔 but I’m so very glad you were fortunate to share your love with her – and she with you – for her last years.
Sending you so much love
Only for larger dogs at the moment? Damnit, mine is a 13 lb killer! I’m very curious about this and will be watching this with great interest. In the meantime, I’m still working on perfecting that immortality serum for for my furry bestie 🙂
I have mixed feelings about this. I am all for prolonging their lives if the quality of life is still there. But, for how long? If this is approved and becomes widely available, then twenty years from now will people who choose NOT to use this medication going be shamed for not loving their pets enough? The pet wellness industry is huge, and that’s fine. I want people to take good care of their furry friends and be responsible and loving owners. At the same time, I wouldn’t want people to be deterred from adopting a dog because they were afraid they couldn’t live up to unreasonable expectations.