Magic pills or pixie dust?

Several drugs are being studied as possible boosters of longevity:

Rapamycin (Rapamune)

What it is: The drug is taken by organ recipients to inhibit rejection, allowing patients to take lower doses of cyclosporin, a more toxic immune suppressant.

Research: It was discovered by Suren Sehgal, who worked for Ayerst labs in Montreal, in soil from Easter Island in Polynesia. When Ayerst moved its labs to Princeton, N.J., and Sehgal moved with them, the researcher was supposed to throw away the samples of the bacterium but he kept them in his freezer, next to his ice cream, according to a Bloomberg story. He continued his research at Ayerst in the U.S. and the drug Rapamune was approved.

Aging: Tests are being done on the drug in dogs. Testing on mice showed they lived longer and were healthier — “impressively so,” Judith Campisi says. But they also suffered serious side-effects such as cataracts and, in males, testicular atrophy. “And I bet half the population would be very alarmed by that,” she says.

Metformin

What it is: The drug helps control blood sugar levels in Type 2 diabetics.

Research: Oncologist Michael Pollak set out to study metformin in his McGill lab eight years ago because he didn’t believe U.K. studies that found diabetics on the drug had a lower risk of dying from cancer. “We made cancer cells grow more slowly by using metformin. It’s true,” he says, noting that in controlled studies in petri dishes, “it always works.” But Pollak says only half of the human studies done after the U.K. research found the same results.

Aging: Metformin is fairly safe, says Pollak, who sees it as a good candidate for a clinical trial. “You have to be very careful if you’re recommending long-term use of a brand new compound that’s never been given to anyone. If you’re a healthy 60-yearold, are you going to start taking it?” he asks. “Absolutely not. The only reason metformin is interesting to date is because we have millions of patient-years (of) experience.” There are rare serious side-effects.

Resveratrol

What it is: A chemical found in red wine, the skin of red grapes and dark chocolate.

Research: The drug was shown to extend the life of lab mice after they had been genetically manipulated and fattened up so that they would get clogged arteries. There is no evidence the chemical does anything in people, says Campisi.

Aging: “It got a lot of press, that this was the longevity drug,” Campisi says. And of course the French loved it because it’s present in red wine — except you’d destroy your liver if you ever drank enough red wine to give you a therapeutic dose. “But that’s OK,” she says wryly. “We can transplant your liver and give you rapamycin and you’ll be fine. “There is a lot of hype about drugs like resveratrol,” Campisi notes. “A lot of work needs to be done.”