In the U.S. healthcare system, aging makes for a disproportionate share of healthcare spending. Chronic disease is a crisis that represents the difficulty the U.S health system has in establishing preventative health to assuage the incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegeneration. Roughly 85–90% of U.S. healthcare spending is tied to chronic and mental health conditions, and spending rises steeply with age (CDC, 2023; CMS, 2022). Older adults represent a minority of the population, yet account for a majority of healthcare utilization, hospital days, and pharmaceutical spending (CMS, 2022). This is but a piece of a broader set of talking points surrounding health systems transformation, in which we seek to improve healthcare quality, access, and affordability in the United States.
As a student interested in healthcare, I am curious about how the private sector has a unique angle for pushing the pedestal of what can be done in health systems (See: well.co, ParetoHealth). For this blogpost, a parallel principle is being explored in a parallel case, that represents a non-intuitively large portion of U.S economic output: the sector of pets, specifically dogs.
The U.S. pet industry is projected to reach $157 billion in spending in 2025, continuing a decade-long upward trajectory (American Pet Products Association, 2025). Veterinary care and products alone represent a rapidly growing portion of that total, now exceeding $40 billion annually (APPA, 2025). Similar to human healthcare, the distribution of that spending matters is heavily skewed toward a dog’s senior years. Surveys summarized by the American Veterinary Medical Association show that cost is a leading reason owners delay or forgo recommended care, particularly for older pets (AVMA, 2022). A large Synchrony study found that while most dog owners expect total lifetime care to cost under $10,000, actual 15-year lifetime costs can reach $50,000–$60,000, especially when chronic disease management is involved (Synchrony, 2022).
This is the same structural problem we see in humans:
- Care is reactive, not preventative
- The system concentrates costs late, when biology is less forgiving, making “sick” care more lucrative.
- The difference is that dogs age 7–10× faster, so the consequences appear sooner and have more significant presentations.
Problems like this have long prompted prominent thinkers to posit the economic and social value of slowing/reversing biological aging itself. An analysis in Nature Aging estimated that delaying aging enough to extend average life expectancy by just one year would be worth $38 trillion in economic value, largely by reducing late-life disease burden (Scott et al., 2021).
Veterinary medicine, it turns out, may be the first place where this idea becomes a regulated reality.
Loyal: A Different Bet on Aging
Loyal is a biotech firm that has endeavored to target age-associated biological dysfunction to extend healthy lifespan in dogs (Loyal, 2024). They tap into dog owners who really want this product, people who are excited to contribute to their trials. Their lead program, LOY-002, is designed for senior dogs (10+ years old, ≥14 lbs) and is intended to mitigate age-related metabolic dysfunction, a common upstream contributor to chronic disease (Loyal, 2024).
Another centerpiece of Loyal’s effort is the STAY study, a nationwide, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial enrolling 1,300 senior dogs across ~70 veterinary clinics in the U.S. (Loyal, 2024). The study will assess effectiveness of LOY-002 in an unprecedentedly large patient set that captures real-world diversity across breeds, geographies, and health baselines, with longitudinal data over a lifespan. From a regulatory perspective, these longevity insights are important, helping to show to the FDA the biological validity but also the meaningfulness of the intervention outcomes. (FDA CVM, 2023).
Loyal is pursuing Expanded Conditional Approval (XCA) through the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. This pathway would allow for earlier market access if a drug demonstrates safety, effectiveness, and commitment to fully rolling out a study to wholly investigate effectiveness post-approval.
Preventative drugs face a particularly high safety bar, because they are given to animals that are otherwise stable (FDA CVM, 2023). Loyal has publicly announced that the FDA has accepted the Target Animal Safety (TAS) portion of LOY-002’s application and previously concurred with its clinical trial protocol — milestones that are difficult and time-consuming to clear (Loyal, 2025). Next comes manufacturing and scale (proving that a drug can be produced consistently, safely, and reproducibly at commercial volume, a mammoth task.
In February 2026, Loyal announced a $100 million Series C, led by age1, bringing total funding to over $250 million (Business Wire, 2026). If STAY demonstrates clear benefit and manufacturing hurdles are cleared, LOY-002 could become the first FDA-approved longevity drug in any species. If not, it joins a laundry list of biologically promising ideas that failed under regulatory scrutiny.
Human healthcare has taught us a hard lesson: waiting for health systems to fail the patient is the most expensive way to uphold a health system. Dogs, aging faster and sharing our environments, may be the first place we learn whether reframing priorities of care can thrive in the real world. If it works, I think it can change how we think about aging, preventative health, and the way that we conduct human health itself.
References
- American Pet Products Association. (2025). State of the Industry Report.
https://americanpetproducts.org - American Veterinary Medical Association. (2022). Survey results highlight pet owner price sensitivity.
https://www.avma.org - Business Wire. (2026). Loyal Raises $100M Series C Led by age1.
https://www.businesswire.com - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). (2022). National Health Expenditure Data.
https://www.cms.gov - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2023). Chronic Disease Overview.
https://www.cdc.gov - Dog Aging Project. (2023). TRIAD Rapamycin Trial.
https://dogagingproject.org - FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine. (2023). Expanded Conditional Approval Guidance.
https://www.fda.gov - Loyal. (2024–2025). Product Briefs, Clinical Trial Announcements.
https://loyal.com - Scott, A. J., Ellison, M., & Sinclair, D. A. (2021). The economic value of targeting aging. Nature Aging.
https://www.nature.com - Synchrony. (2022). Lifetime of Care Study.
https://www.synchrony.com
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