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A new study led by Varun Dwaraka of the TruDiagnostic aging lab in Kentucky suggests that semaglutide — the active ingredient in diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy — may do more than regulate blood sugar and aid weight loss. The research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that once-weekly semaglutide injections could reduce a person’s “biological age” by up to three years. Unlike chronological age, which is fixed, biological age reflects how old the body’s systems functionally are and can be measured using “epigenetic clocks” that track chemical modifications to DNA over time.
The trial involved 184 participants with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy, a condition linked to excess fat accumulation, chronic inflammation, and accelerated aging. For 32 weeks, half the participants received weekly placebo injections, while the other half were given semaglutide. Blood tests taken before and after the treatment showed that those on semaglutide became, on average, 3.1 years biologically younger. Some participants even showed signs of age reversal in specific organs, including up to five years’ reversal in brain aging markers.
Beyond the overall reduction in biological age, the semaglutide group exhibited slower aging signals in key systems such as the heart, kidneys, inflammatory pathways, and brain. Although the study was conducted in people living with HIV, the researchers believe the results could extend to the general population due to semaglutide’s known effects on improving metabolic health and redistributing fat — processes that influence molecular aging mechanisms.
While the findings add to growing evidence of GLP-1 drugs’ potential in longevity science, Dwaraka stresses that it’s too soon to prescribe semaglutide purely for anti-aging. Still, the results hint at a future where medications originally developed for metabolic diseases could play a role in slowing, and perhaps even reversing, the biological aging process.
