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RichardKennaway comments on Personal Psychiatric Analysis - Less Wrong
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The basic question to ask is: did he live to 110 because of the drug, or was he going to be unusually long-lived anyway and happened to be enrolled in the trial?
If the drug was developed to combat some mechanism of senescence, one might reasonably entertain the possibility of a causal effect, but if it was for an unrelated matter, I don't see a reason to expect it. Either way, one would want the scientists to do a lot more tests on that individual to discover the mechanisms of his longevity.
("Personally, young man, I attribute my years to a diet of whisky, cigars, and strictly fried food.")
That is one basic question to ask. The fact that it was not developed to combat a mechanism of senescence does not mean that it fails to inadverdently combat a mechanism of senescence. I agree that more study of the individual is in order. However, personally I'd probably still try the stuff in the interim- I wouldn't want to lose years waiting on papers to be published, and i feel that the chance is worth it.
The previous sentence is really the point of the prompt- what level of evidence do you need to strike out on your own, against the frequentist stats saying it doesn't happen for most people? What amount of upside?