Lifespan and healthspan
Interventions aimed at aging itself rather than a single disease.
A new category: drugs and protocols intended to delay the onset of age-related disease across the board. Nothing here has completed a lifespan-endpoint trial in dogs yet, so this section is mostly about what is being tested and how to read the results when they arrive.
How it is measured
Lifespan, healthspan indices, owner-reported quality of life, and biomarkers of aging. Trials are long and expensive, which is why evidence is thin.
Why this matters: canine pain and cognition trials rely heavily on owner-reported scores, and owners who know their dog is being treated tend to report improvement whether or not the drug works. Trials using objective measures such as force-plate gait analysis carry more weight here for exactly that reason.
Interventions, best evidence first
-
Untested in dogs investigational
LOY-002 (senior dog lifespan extension drug)
A daily pill in development that aims to extend healthy lifespan in senior dogs, targeting about one additional year. It is closer to market than anything comparable, but no published trial has yet shown it does this, and the approval pathway it is on does not require that proof up front.
-
Untested in dogs investigational
Rapamycin (sirolimus) for healthy aging
Rapamune
The most credible candidate for a genuine anti-aging drug in dogs, currently being tested in a real randomized trial that has not yet reported results. There is no honest basis today for giving it to a healthy dog outside that trial.