A drug designed to mimic the effects of a compound in red wine believed to help prolong life was shown to extend the lives of obese mice significantly, a new study says.

The drug SRT-1720 was created to mimic resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine thought to activate sirtuins, proteins that have been shown to extend the lives of mice and rats kept on low-calorie diets, the New York Times reports.

In the study, the drug protected the mice from obesity-related diseases by increasing their sensitivity to insulin and reducing the amount of fat in their livers. Obese mice given the drug lived 44 percent longer than obese mice that were not, the newspaper reports.

The research findings “demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of designing novel molecules that are safe and effective in promoting longevity and preventing multiple age-related diseases in mammals,” National Institute on Aging gerontologist Rafael de Cabo and his colleagues wrote in the journal Scientific Reports. The work was published Thursday.

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