Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health\u00a0has received an award\u00a0as part of the\u00a0PROactive\u00a0Solutions for Prolonging\u00a0Resilience (PROSPR)\u00a0program within the\u00a0Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)\u00a0to accelerate research on the biological hallmarks of aging. The project led by\u00a0Daniel Belsky,\u00a0PhD, associate professor of\u00a0Epidemiology, will help identify\u00a0interventions that can extend healthy years of life in humans.<\/p>\n
While life expectancy has increased dramatically, the number of years people spend in good health-has not kept pace. Chronic diseases now affect more Americans, particularly as they age, driving rising healthcare costs and reducing quality of life. The ARPA-H\u2013funded project seeks to shift medicine from treating age-related disease after it appears to preventing decline before it begins.<\/p>\n
“Current treatments focus on managing diseases after they emerge,” said Belsky, who is also affiliated with the\u00a0Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center.\u00a0“Our goal is to identify measurable biological signals that show when interventions are slowing the aging process itself-so we can preserve health, independence, and quality of life as people grow older.”<\/p>\n
The award supports\u00a0the five-year ARPA-H-funded PROSPR program, designed to transform geriatric medicine into a personalized, preventive model. Rather than launching new trials, the\u00a0FAST\u00a0project will analyze data and biospecimens from already-completed clinical trials to discover\u00a0novel biomarkers\u00a0that reveal how certain drugs affect the biology of aging.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Central to the effort is\u00a0FAST, a large-scale initiative that integrates clinical and biological data from multiple trials testing drugs that modify fundamental aging processes and reduce the risk of multiple chronic diseases. To date, FAST, to be run out of Columbia, has incorporated trials involving four of five priority drug classes identified by the research team:\u00a0metformin, SGLT-2 inhibitors, GLP-1 agonists, and rapamycin. These drugs target many of the core biological drivers of aging and have extended lifespan in animal models. Although originally approved for specific conditions they have shown broader benefits across multiple diseases in humans and will inform efforts by other PROSPR for\u00a0future clinical trials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early findings underscore the promise of this approach. For example, preliminary results suggest rapamycin may slow ovarian aging<\/a> by approximately 20 percent, potentially extending fertility by up to five years. Other trials show improvements in cardiovascular biomarkers, patient-reported health status, and reduced progression to diabetes.<\/p>\n “PROSPR was designed to allow the first clinical trials for aging to be possible,” says Andrew Brack, ARPA-H Program Manager and creator of the PROSPR program. He adds, “To make clinical trials shorter than aging itself, we need biomarkers that change early in response to health-promoting interventions, which is why the FAST project is so important to the success of PROSPR as a whole.”<\/p>\n