Popular anti-ageing drugs can either add years to your life or none at all – it’s a ‘biological lottery’

Findings reframe how anti-ageing breakthroughs are to be interpreted NewsSciencePopular anti-ageing drugs can either add years to your life or none at all – it’s a ‘biological lottery’Findings reframe how anti-ageing breakthroughs are to be interpretedVishwam Sankaran Wednesday 25 February 2026 05:33 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverThe Surprising Anti-Ageing Power of Dark ChocolateYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreThe longevity effects of drugs like Rapamycin are more like a “biological lottery” with their benefits varying widely between individuals, a new study finds.A key aim of such drugs is not only to work at the individual level, but also to ensure that humans live longer at a population scale with less variation among people in their age at death.To study this variation, researchers use what’s called a “survival curve” – a graph that shows how many individuals in a population are still alive at different ages.In societies facing high early mortality, this curve slopes down gradually as many die young, others at middle age, and some live longer.Previous studies anticipated that lifespan-extending treatments like Rapamycin would “square the survival curve” of the population as mortality is compressed more towards a narrower age window near the end of life.However, the new research review found that this is not the case.Metformin ER 500 mg tablets are shown on July 09, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois (Getty Images)Researchers assessed lifespan extension interventions cited in 167 studies, conducted across eight non-human species, including fish, mice, rats and rhesus monkeys.Scientists found that across datasets, the longevity benefits among individual animals were variable.“This suggests that lifespan-extending treatments do not reduce variance and ‘square the survival curve’,” researchers wrote in the study published in the journal Biology Letters. "These approaches can make animals live longer, but the benefits aren't shared equally. Without more information, the outcome looks like a biological lottery,” said biologist and study author Tahlia Fulton from The University of Sydney.The latest finding suggests that approaches like dietary restriction or drugs such as Rapamycin or Metformin may be likely beneficial for longevity, but how much benefit they offer is unclear.It also reframes how anti-ageing breakthroughs are to be interpreted, hinting that future therapies may not produce uniform outcomes.“Some individuals will be much longer lived, some will be a little longer lived, and some might not live any longer than they would have anyway,” Dr Fulton told New Science.“We're working to understand why, so future longevity science helps everyone,” she said.Researchers are yet to fully understand the relationship between lifespan extension and healthspan, which is the number of years spent in good health.While anti-ageing therapies may lead to some people living much longer, this may be accompanied by extended periods of frailty, the study suggests.More aboutLotteryDrugsaginglongevityJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesCommentsMost popularPopular videosBulletinRead next