'Energy saver' drug helped yeast, worms and flies live longer in lab tests

Scientists in the UK and Germany report that an experimental drug which flips on a cell’s built-in “energy saver” switch made three very different lab species live longer, in some cases by more than 25%.¹ The study, published in the journal Aging Cell, tested the drug in yeast, worms and fruit flies.¹ It was announced on September 30, 2026, by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences in London.¹ No mammals and no people were part of the work.

What happened

The team, from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS), Imperial College London, the University of Cologne and partner institutions, used a drug called 991 to switch on a protein called AMPK.¹ Scientists at Queen Mary University of London, the Francis Crick Institute and the University of Lyon also took part.¹ The paper, led by Eliano dos Santos, is titled “Direct Pharmacological Activation of AMPK Extends Lifespan in Yeast, Worms and Flies.”¹

The drug was given to fission yeast, tiny nematode worms and fruit flies.¹ The researchers said they saw anti-aging effects in all three.¹ The Daily Mail reported that the drug made yeast, worms and flies live “up to 25 per cent” longer.² The institute’s own release describes the gain as “in some cases by more than 25%.”¹ The sources available to Biohack do not break the results down species by species, so it is not clear from them which organism showed the largest effect.

What the “energy saver” switch is

AMPK is an enzyme inside cells that tracks energy levels in real time.¹ When energy runs low, for example during exercise, fasting or stress, it shuts down energy-hungry jobs like building new proteins or storing fat, and turns on processes that burn existing fat and sugar for fuel.¹ The Daily Mail described it as the body’s “fuel gauge.”²

Dr. Helena Cochemé, who leads the Redox Metabolism Group at MRC LMS, compared it to a phone setting:

“AMPK is effectively the body’s equivalent to the ‘energy saving mode’ on a mobile phone.”

¹

Several existing medicines already switch on AMPK, including the diabetes drug metformin and weight-loss drugs like semaglutide (sold as Ozempic and Wegovy).¹ But many of them act indirectly, which makes it harder to tell in the lab or clinic which effects come from AMPK itself.¹ The point of this study was to hit AMPK directly with a drug and see what happened to lifespan.¹ Cochemé said the study is “the first demonstration that directly targeting AMPK using a drug can have longevity benefits in living organisms.”¹

What it does not show yet

The results come from simple, short-lived organisms. Lab worms live about three weeks and flies about three months, compared with roughly three years for mice, which is why researchers use them to get answers quickly.¹ Yeast is a single-celled fungus, not an animal at all.

That speed comes with limits. Results in these species do not show whether the drug is safe in mammals, what dose would matter, or whether a longer life would also be a healthier one. The sources do not describe side effects seen in the study or any measures of health beyond lifespan.

The researchers themselves frame the findings as an early step. Cochemé said that if a treatment works in three distantly related species, “these results give us more confidence that in the longer term, the effects could translate to mammals and eventually perhaps humans.”¹ Filipe Cabreiro, who leads a group at MRC LMS and a lab at the University of Cologne, said: “The field is still a long way from anti-aging clinical trials in humans.”¹ He pointed out that aging is not formally classed as a disease, which complicates trials.¹

Media framing varied. The Daily Mail’s headline called the drug an “anti-aging holy grail” and its story said scientists were “a step closer to unlocking eternal youth.”² The study itself, as described by the institute, reports lifespan in yeast, worms and flies only.¹

Who is behind it

The work was led from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, part of the UK’s Medical Research Council, a public research funder.¹² The main account of the results comes from the institute’s own press release, republished by Medical Xpress.¹ The sources do not list specific grants, company involvement or conflicts of interest, and they do not say whether drug 991 is being developed by any company.

David Carling, who leads the Cellular Stress Group at MRC LMS, said that using a direct activator gives “a much cleaner result, avoiding potential side effects.”¹ He also said direct AMPK activators “have already been used safely in clinical trials for the treatment of specific metabolic diseases.”¹ The sources do not name those trials or say whether 991 was one of the drugs tested in them.

How it fits the field

Many of the drugs shown to extend life in lab animals work by copying some effects of eating much less.³ Calorie restriction has been studied for more than 80 years as a way to delay aging in animals.³ AMPK is switched on by fasting and exercise, which is one reason scientists have long suspected it could slow some of the changes of aging.²

The best-known drug in this space is rapamycin, a transplant medicine that blocks a different nutrient sensor called mTOR.³ It extends life in worms, fruit flies and mice.³ In one study in genetically mixed mice, it raised median lifespan by 23% in males and 26% in females.⁴ Its downside in transplant use is a weakened immune system.³ Metformin, one of the indirect AMPK activators, is the focus of a proposed trial called TAME, led by a group headed by Nir Barzilai, which has struggled to raise money because the drug is off patent.⁴

Queen Mary University of London, one of the contributors to the AMPK paper, has separately reported yeast lifespan work on a newer mTOR-blocking drug, rapalink-1.¹⁵ Taken together, the new study adds a direct AMPK switch to a list of compounds that lengthen life in simple organisms, a list that so far has far fewer results in mammals and almost none for aging in people.

What to watch next

The researchers say the next step is to test whether direct AMPK activation improves health and extends lifespan in mice.¹ Carling said he hopes AMPK activators could one day treat “a range of human diseases.”¹ Cabreiro said that making people “healthier for longer” by targeting energy balance through AMPK “would be a major biomedical breakthrough,” while noting that aging itself is a major risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia.¹

Points to look for in future reports:

• Whether mouse studies show longer life, better health in old age, or both.
• Any side effects of long-term AMPK activation in mammals.
• Whether independent labs repeat the yeast, worm and fly results.
• Whether direct AMPK activators already tested for metabolic diseases are ever studied for aging-related outcomes in people.

For now, the evidence is limited to three lab species, and the researchers who did the work describe human anti-aging trials as a distant prospect.¹