Today is an exciting day for us with the launch of the Participatory Evaluation (of) Aging (with) Rapamycin (for) Longevity Study, or PEARL, on Lifespan.io. The PEARL trial will be the first large-scale human trial with a focus on slowing down aging.
Making clinical trials for anti-aging a reality
Progress in developing effective interventions against aging has been slow; this is mainly due to the lack of funding for robust trials to test them. The biohacking community has self experimented with many supplements and drugs over the last few decades, and while that has led to some useful insights, the related clinical trials have yet to happen.
The PEARL clinical trial aims to test rapamycin, a promising compound that may slow human aging down. There has traditionally been little interest from public money sources for funding longevity studies, so it is up to us as a community to make progress happen.
More about the rapamycin human trial
Rapamycin is a naturally occurring antifungal antibiotic produced by soil bacteria originally discovered on Easter Island. It has been shown to increase the healthspan, the period of life spent free from the diseases of aging, in many organisms, including yeast, worms, and mice. Until now, there has not been a proper clinical trial to evaluate if rapamycin can slow down aging the same way in humans.
The PEARL trial will be tracking 200 participants over the course of a year. Four different dosage groups will be included in the study in order to determine if rapamycin has a positive influence on aging in humans and if so, to establish what dose is needed to achieve this.
There will also be a placebo control group, which is essential to compare and validate data. It will be a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study and registered with clinicaltrials.gov. The principal investigator is Dr. James P Watson at UCLA, who was also a PI for the famous TRIIM trial.
To see if and how rapamycin influences human aging, PEARL will test a host of biomarkers once the study begins, 6 months into the study, and at the 12-month mark. These tests will include autonomic health, blood, body composition, fecal microbiome, immune and inflammation health, methylation age, and skeletal muscle.
Be part of scientific progress
We have a real chance with this campaign to move the needle and set the standard for clinical trials focused on slowing down or even reversing aging. If you want to be part of that change, check out the PEARL campaign and the cool rewards we offer for supporting the project.
