The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) recently approved the Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) trial.
Metformin is an old drug, first approved in France in 1957, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However extracts from the French liliac (Galega officinalis), the plant containing a precursor of metformin, has been used to treat frequent urination, a symptom of diabetes, since the Middle Ages. In 2012 in the US about 60 million prescriptions for metformin were written, making metformin the most used antidiabetic drug. Amazingly, every year about 37,000 metric tons of metformin are produced! Metformin is also a super-cheap drug, costing only cents per dose.
Since the last 30 years scientist have seen an increase of lifespan with rats and other rodents. Also patients that were treated with metformin for their diabetes later had a 37% lower cancer risk than patients treated with other anti diabetic medicines.
In the TAME trial roughly 3000 elderly people wit high risk of cancer, heart disease and other conditions will participate. In this trial two groups will be made one placebo and one non-placebo. Best of all the trial will be double blind meaning that neither the patients nor the researches will know who has been receiving the actual drug and who the placebo. The trial will cost a shocking amount of 50 million USD which i find a shocking amount considering that the cost of a dose of this medicine so low… But overall i find this trial to be very exciting, especially since we are going back to old methods and substances to see how we can improve them- I think that there is a lot of potential in going back and look at plants and their healing capacities. The results will be published in 5-7 years from now by then i will hopefully be ending my degree in medicine and am very excited and keen on knowing what the results will be!
Metformin is an old drug, first approved in France in 1957, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However extracts from the French liliac (Galega officinalis), the plant containing a precursor of metformin, has been used to treat frequent urination, a symptom of diabetes, since the Middle Ages. In 2012 in the US about 60 million prescriptions for metformin were written, making metformin the most used antidiabetic drug. Amazingly, every year about 37,000 metric tons of metformin are produced! Metformin is also a super-cheap drug, costing only cents per dose.
Since the last 30 years scientist have seen an increase of lifespan with rats and other rodents. Also patients that were treated with metformin for their diabetes later had a 37% lower cancer risk than patients treated with other anti diabetic medicines.
In the TAME trial roughly 3000 elderly people wit high risk of cancer, heart disease and other conditions will participate. In this trial two groups will be made one placebo and one non-placebo. Best of all the trial will be double blind meaning that neither the patients nor the researches will know who has been receiving the actual drug and who the placebo. The trial will cost a shocking amount of 50 million USD which i find a shocking amount considering that the cost of a dose of this medicine so low… But overall i find this trial to be very exciting, especially since we are going back to old methods and substances to see how we can improve them- I think that there is a lot of potential in going back and look at plants and their healing capacities. The results will be published in 5-7 years from now by then i will hopefully be ending my degree in medicine and am very excited and keen on knowing what the results will be!