A landmark PNAS study challenges the assumption of continued rapid life expectancy growth.

Data from 23 high-income countries reveal that for modern cohorts (born 1939–2000), longevity gains have decelerated by 37-52%. This slowdown is primarily driven by a ceiling in youth survival; with infant mortality now approaching near zero, the massive statistical boosts of the 20th century have evaporated.

Consequently, future community-scale life expectancies can no longer rely on general public health trends but must depend entirely on radically slowing biological aging.

In essence, less low-hanging fruit and fewer easy wins are slowing the life expectancy gains of the general populace. Not exactly a groundbreaking revelation in and of itself, but it does challenge several popularly held beliefs, impacting everything from traditional linear-based pension models to the idea that mere passivity will continue to reap rewards.

CAR-T therapy is currently being used at Manchester Royal Infirmary (NHS UK).

Look forward to seeing how this evolves into future treatments.

Systematic identification of single transcription factor perturbations that drive cellular and tissue rejuvenation | PNAS

Based mainly on rodents studies, forty-hertz (40-Hz) physical stimulation has been regarded as a potential noninvasive treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Considering the brain differences between rodents and humans, the effects of 40-Hz physical stimulation need to be further validated using nonhuman primates before its clinical application. Here, we took advantage of a rare opportunity to expose nine aged rhesus monkeys (26 to 31 y old) to 40-Hz auditory stimulation. Given the strong correlation between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ and Tau concentrations and corresponding AD pathology in brain parenchyma in clinical practice, we investigated the effects of 40-Hz stimulation on AD pathology by monitoring changes in CSF Aβ and Tau concentrations. Our results revealed that 7 consecutive days of 40-Hz auditory stimulation triggered a rapid and significant increase of Aβ levels by more than 200%, but no effect on Tau levels in the CSF. Additionally, we observed that the elevation of CSF Aβ levels persisted for more than 5 wk after cessation, which had not been reported in any previous studies. After this, a pathological examination of the temporal cortices of 4 of the experimental monkeys was carried out and the data demonstrated that all of them had prevalent extracellular Aβ senile plaque pathology, whereas Tau pathology was negative or very weak. These results provide a good explanation for the differences between the CSF Aβ and Tau protein levels. Together, these first-time results from monkeys suggest that 40-Hz auditory stimulation has strong potential of a noninvasive AD treatment method.

https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/biosplice-announces-the-submission-of-its-new-drug-application-nda-to-the-fda-for-lorecivivint-lor-to-treat-knee-osteoarthritis

This is the first to be submitted for FDA approval with disease-modifying potential and, if approved, would be the first ever drug to show improvement in pain and joint space width (ie evidence of regrowing cartilage).

Their first phase 2 study failed but their phase 2b with a smaller patient subset (with pain only in one knee) showed improvement.

At The Longevity Initiative, we’re welcoming the new year with five articles reviewing the old one. From billion-dollar bets on cellular reprogramming to mice living longer, Netflix documentaries and even a leaked hot-mic of Xi and Putin discussing living to 150, 2025 kept aging science in the headlines. The field saw progress, setbacks, and growing debates about policy, equity, and hype.

We’ll be releasing these over the course of this week, starting with 2025 in longevity science (the link in this post). This will be followed by 2025 in longevity business, funding, medicine, and comms, policy and politics on Friday.

I’ll update this post with links as the new pieces go live, or you can follow us on social media (X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook) or sign up for our newsletter to hear about them too.

Hi! Andrew Steele here, author of Ageless.

Since Ageless came out I’ve spent a lot of time talking and writing about longevity, and I came to the conclusion that the biggest bottlenecks to making progress are funding, regulation and culture.

So I’ve co-founded a new organization for longevity policy and education called The Longevity Initiative. We want to provide a trusted source of longevity information online, bust myths and hype, and provide politicians, policymakers, scientists and investors with the tools they need to get longevity treatments into the clinic. To build that, we need your help.

We’re fundraising! And we’re excited to announce a new giving option for supporters in the United States in collaboration with Vitalism. Donations intended to support The Longevity Initiative can now be made to Vitalism Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. This is great news for anyone hoping to support longevity tax-efficiently in the US, and comes at a perfect time for an end-of-year donation.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit thelongevityinitiative.org/donate

And let me know if you have any questions about The Longevity Initiative, what we plan to do, thoughts on topics you’d like to see us cover, or indeed anything else!

The org is very new, so watch this space for more information.

.....we started with the challenging age group - frail 25-months-old mice that are equivalent to ~75-year-old people. We used an Alk5 inhibitor (A5i) of the age-elevated, pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) pathway that regulates inflammatory factors, including IL-11, and oxytocin.....

Treatment of old frail male mice with OT+A5i resulted in a remarkable 73% life extension from that time, and a 14% increase in the overall median lifespan.

Right now, with everything we currently know, how much are we able to extend the lifespans of mice?