&lt;From my position telomere length looks a lot a measure of aging rather than a cause&gt;<p>Sure, so they need to just keep in mind that the goal is not to lengthen (or protect) telomeres for their own sake.  But telomeres could at least help serve as a metric or proxy for therapies that <i>do</i> slow or arrest aging overall.<p>Meanwhile, Metformin is crazy cheap.