A pill that could extend your dog’s life? Here’s how the medicine close to approval works
A San Francisco-based start-up has cleared a key hurdle to earning conditional approval from the FDA for a daily pill that could extend the life of dogs.
Loyal, a biotech company, is working on developing pharmaceutical treatments to extend the longevity of canines. In 2023, it became the first-ever company to get formal acceptance from the FDA for reasonable expectation of efficacy for its LOY-001 drug to extend the lifespan of dogs.
The San Francisco-based start-up recently announced that another of its treatments, LOY-002, has also crossed that milestone. Whereas LOY-001 is for large dog lifespan extension, LOY-002 can bring longevity to dogs of almost all sizes.
New longevity pill for dogs could be available by the end of 2025
The new longevity pill from Loyal is targeted for use in dogs at least 10 years old and that weight 14 pounds or more. “LOY-002 is a caloric restriction mimetic,” states the biotech company. It delivers the benefits of caloric restriction, which has been shown to help extend the lifespan of dog by around 2 years compared to their littermates, without weight loss or appetite suppression.
“Dramatic, lifelong caloric restriction isn’t a practical or safe method of extending lifespan and healthspan in dogs long-term,” explains Loyal, which has led them to find this alternate solution.
Loyal still has to meet two more primary FDA requirements to get conditional approval, manufacturing and safety, before the treatment can be made available to canines across the nation. The biotech company says that it has extensive data for both and hope to have completed the regulatory process by the end of 2025.
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