# Rewinding the Clock: Emerging Pharmacological Strategies for Human Anti-Aging Therapy

**Authors:** Charlotte Delrue, Reinhart Speeckaert, Marijn M. Speeckaert

PMC · DOI: 10.3390/ijms26199372 · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2025-09-25

## TL;DR

This paper reviews emerging drug strategies targeting aging processes to improve health and delay age-related diseases.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a classification of anti-aging pharmacotherapies based on aging hallmarks and discusses their mechanisms and translational potential.

## Key findings

- Pharmacotherapies targeting aging hallmarks can be grouped into five categories with distinct mechanisms.
- Preclinical evidence supports the efficacy of senolytics, NAD+ precursors, and mTOR inhibitors.
- Clinical trials face challenges like biomarker identification and regulatory hurdles.

## Abstract

Aging is a complex, multifactorial process characterized by progressive physiological decline and increased vulnerability to chronic diseases and syndromes. Recent studies have highlighted nine interrelated hallmarks of aging, emerging primarily from an understanding of cellular homeostasis, health, and senescence, such as genomic instability, telomere attrition, and cellular senescence. These hallmarks provide a conceptual framework for advancing pharmacotherapeutic interventions. In this review, we present an overview of old and new pharmacotherapeutic interventions that are being developed using these hallmarks of aging to enhance healthspan delay and ameliorate age-related pathologies. We classify these strategies into five broad categories, including senolytics, senomorphics, NAD+ precursors, mTOR inhibitors, and metabolic modifiers, such as metformin, and review the mechanisms by which they act, preclinical evidence for efficacy, and their translational potential to a clinical context. In addition, we consider the clinical landscape and report the important trials that are currently underway and some of the main obstacles, including key challenges such as biomarker identification, safety issues, and regulatory challenges. Overall, we discuss ahead-of-time gerotherapeutics and the important role of a collective, mechanism-focused basis for therapeutically targeting aging biology.

## Linked entities

- **Chemicals:** metformin (PubChem CID 4091)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** MTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase) [NCBI Gene 2475] {aka FRAP, FRAP1, FRAP2, RAFT1, RAPT1, SKS}
- **Chemicals:** metformin (MESH:D008687), NAD+ (MESH:D009243)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

2 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12524491/full.md

## References

101 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12524491/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12524491