We should consider testing Ozempic on healthy people

Author Mark Twain once noted that “life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18”. The pursuit of youth has inspired legends and literature for centuries, but what if we are finally getting somewhere with it?

A recent study suggests that taking the GLP-1 drug Ozempic, whose active ingredient is semaglutide, could knock three years off people’s biological age. One place where this effect was most pronounced was the brain, which raises the possibility that drugs like Ozempic could help stave off conditions like dementia. It also seemed to de-age the inflammatory system, which is linked to health issues including heart disease, chronic pain, depression and more.

Semaglutide was developed for type 2 diabetes and has also transformed how we treat obesity. But it should be noted that its effects on ageing were seen specifically for those with a condition called HIV- associated lipohypertrophy, which causes excess fat and accelerated cellular ageing. Still, the study authors are confident the effects will apply to other people, too.

It is tempting to think we should all now be taking these drugs to reap their age-reversing, disease-defying benefits. But without robust evidence from large, placebo-controlled trials in healthy people, we can’t be sure that’s a good idea. To carry these out would be controversial: there is a risk of side effects, so we would need to be confident the benefits outweigh this. And if supplies dwindle, priority should always go to those who are most in need.

Even so, many healthy people seem – at least anecdotally – to already be taking these drugs for weight loss “off label” without knowing if that is safe. Trials would give us a clearer picture of the risks of this, and tell us other things, like how rapid weight loss affects lean muscle mass.

As the list of health benefits of these drugs grows, perhaps it is now time to consider testing them in people without medical conditions, so we can finally see whether ageing can be slowed, and stop speculating about the elixir of youth.