Abstract
The past three decades have seen the identification of a range of interventions that extend lifespan and Healthspan in animal models. A critical next step is to validate these interventions in humans, demonstrating that ageing is indeed malleable. Several drugs and supplements, including metformin, rapamycin, acarbose and nicotinamide riboside have been identified as candidates and acarbose is of particular interest given its wider use as a diabetes drug in Asia. The NIA intervention testing program demonstrated that acarbose conferred robust lifespan extension specifically in males. A key next step is to determine whether the drug can affect a range of emergent biomarkers of human aging, providing evidence that it might alter human Healthspan. Strategies and progress toward intervention testing by the Centre for Healthy Ageing at National University of Singapore will be discussed.