Comments like this aren't helpful.

Literally nobody is claiming the results are solid evidence for anything other than that one small study had an interesting and unexpected result.

And the results aren't "nearly meaningless" - they're an indicator that maybe a larger study should be done. I doubt anybody gets funded for big studies shooting into the dark, so smaller "what if..." studies like this are valuable.

There is more to the sample size than the number 9. Every time unit before the experiment where the effects were not seen is a form of sample. For example, suppose nine old people took an unusual drug and then grew 1-3 inches over the next two years. The fact that it happened right after they took the drug, and not some other point in their life, would be one heck of a coincidence, the probability of which depends on the absolute rarity of that sort of event.

If 9 people took a substance and died that would be a compelling enough sample size for me not to take thing. Likewise, 9 people reporting a positive result seems meaningful enough to encourage further study (provided effect size is large enough)..