A new randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial published in Nature Communications provides the first evidence that semaglutide, a widely used GLP-1 weight loss drug (sold as Ozempic or Wegovy), slows biological aging. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and partner institutions analyzed data from 108 adults with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy. Half received weekly semaglutide injections; the other half received placebos.
Using epigenetic clocks that measure DNA methylation, the team tracked cellular aging over 32 weeks. Participants on semaglutide showed a broad pattern of slower biological aging across clocks linked to inflammation and blood, brain, heart, kidney, liver, and metabolic health. The drug slowed the pace of biological aging by 9% as measured by the Dunedin PACE clock and significantly reduced markers of all-cause mortality risk per the PCGrim Age clock.
People with HIV often experience accelerated aging due to chronic immune activation. Semaglutide may counter this by reducing inflammation, metabolic stress, and visceral fat. First author Michael Corley, Ph.
D., notes the findings may apply beyond HIV: "Many of the biological processes we study in HIV are also central to aging in the general population." A related pilot study in npj Aging found that 42% of participants with HIV and fatty liver disease showed reduced biological aging after 24 weeks of semaglutide. The drug does not reverse aging but may slow key biological processes associated with it.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing