Joe Harker
A pill which could make your dog live a longer life has passed another hurdle to becoming a reality.
Our faithful canine companions may be wonderful treasures who can spend their whole lives with us, but given how much longer humans live than dogs, we can't spend the rest of our lives with them.
What would it take, then, to be able to spend a little more time with your beloved dog in your life?
That's the question an American biotech firm called Loyal is hoping to answer in the form of a new pill that could expand the lifespan of some dogs.
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They've created a drug called LOY-001 which they hope can give larger dogs a longer lifespan.
Research done by the company indicates that larger dogs tend to live shorter lives than smaller ones, estimating that bigger dogs live for between seven and 10 years on average whereas the smaller breeds could live for between 14 and 16 years.
According to The Times, Loyal recently passed a major milestone as last month they got the nod in the US from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their canine life-extending pill.
This green light means that dogs more than 10 years old and weighing over 6kg would be eligible for the treatment.
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Getting the thumbs up is a vote of confidence that the dog drug does work in extending canine lifespans and Loyal founder Celine Halioua thinks 'the quality of life improvement will actually be even more striking to dog owners'.
This pill works by copying the benefits to metabolism that come from fasting, meaning that the body works more efficiently if someone is eating less.
It won't actually suppress the appetite for dogs, but instead is just meant to boost the animal's metabolism as metabolic health is connected with getting older.
Halioua has dismissed suggestions that her drug is 'Ozempic for dogs', and there's currently a trial on its effectiveness with 1,000 dogs which is a year in and plans to run longer.
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However, it's possible that the potentially life extending drug could be available as early as next year if it gets fast-tracked for approval.
Extending the lifespan of dogs is just the beginning for Halioua, who reckons that if the concept and be shown to work on dogs then it could also be used for humans too.
"My contrarian take is going dogs-first is the fastest way to develop lifespan-extension drugs," she told The Times.
"The biology is extremely similar. I think people being able to go to their veterinarian and buy a drug to extend their dog’s lifespan, they’re inevitably going to ask the question, 'Why does this exist for my dog and not my grandma?'
"It’s that cultural normalisation."