Like Resveratrol, the thinking is that Rapamycin mimics caloric restriction. Here’s the summary from Nature:
“On the basis of age at 90% mortality, rapamycin led to an increase of 14% for females and 9% for males….To our knowledge, these are the first results to demonstrate a role for mTOR signalling in the regulation of mammalian lifespan, as well as pharmacological extension of lifespan in both genders.
Here’s the story from the WSJ:
“A study published Wednesday found that rapamycin, a drug used in organ transplants, increased the life span of mice by 9% to 14%, the first definitive case in which a chemical has been shown to extend the life span of normal mammals.
Anti-aging researchers also expect a second study, to be released this week, will show that sharply cutting the calorie intake of monkeys extends their lives substantially. The experiment is said to be the first technique shown to retard aging in primates…”
And the BBC, although they seem to misunderstand the difference between lifespan and life expectancy in their report (it is life *expectancy* that is up to 38% according to the results, not lifespan), managed to get this interesting quote from a researcher not affiliated with the study:
“Researcher Dr Arlan Richardson, of the Barshop Institute, said: “I’ve been in ageing research for 35 years and there have been many so-called ‘anti-ageing’ interventions over those years that were never successful.
“I never thought we would find an anti-ageing pill for people in my lifetime; however, rapamycin shows a great deal of promise to do just that.”