Longevity & cellular aging peptides

One compound in this category changed status recently. On 19 September 2025 the FDA granted accelerated approval to elamipretide, formerly SS-31, for Barth syndrome. It is the first FDA-approved mitochondria-targeted therapeutic. That approval covers one rare disease. It does not make elamipretide a longevity treatment.

The rest of the category is preclinical. Humanin has a robust preclinical record. Its human data are observational. The level decreases with age. It sits lower in Alzheimer's disease and in MELAS. It sits higher in the offspring of centenarians. An association is not an effect. FOXO4-DRI produced clear results in aged and progeroid mice in a 2017 Cell paper, and a 2025 NMR study confirmed its binding target. It has no human trial.

One replication problem to understand. Epithalon is the most-searched compound in this category, and its search volume grew 235% year over year. Its evidence comes largely from one research group and appears in Russian-language sources. Independent Western replication is limited. That is not the same as a negative result. It means the claim is unconfirmed, and an unconfirmed claim should not carry the weight of a tested one.

How we grade this category. A mechanism can be elegant and still be untested. Telomerase activation, senescent-cell clearance, and cardiolipin stabilization are all real biology. Each profile below states which part of that biology a human trial has actually measured.