LIFE EXTENSION MAGAZINE
Aging is the greatest risk factor for chronic diseases and conditions.
Yet less than 1% of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget is allocated to studying aging biology.1
Enter the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI). This nonprofit organization is devoted to advancing biomedical technology and increasing its availability, with the ultimate goal of boosting healthy human lifespan.
Founded in 2022, A4LI has already made strides in getting key players from government and the longevity industry on the same page in ways that may have a major health impact.
What is the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives?
The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI) is an independent 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that advocates for legislation and policies aimed at extending human healthspan (the number of healthy, disease-free years we live) and eventually ending the threat of age-related disease.
It also focuses, according to its mission statement, "on accelerating equitable access to next-generation therapies."
Since its founding, the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives has helped foster collaboration between policy advocates and longevity scientists in academic institutions and biotechnology companies to ensure legislative action is supporting the needs of scientists and entrepreneurs.
Early Achievements
In February 2023, the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives was the driving force behind the formation of the first Longevity Science Caucus. This bipartisan group of Congressional House members is composed of members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over biomedical research in the U.S.
The caucus was formed to help Americans sustain a healthy lifespan by:
- Promoting an increase in appropriations for biology-of-aging research,
- Supporting aging and longevity biotechnology, and
- Facilitating streamlined regulations.
The A4LI also worked with Montana’s State Senate to facilitate passage of Senate Bill 422, which expands patient access to therapeutics under the existing Right to Try law.
As a result, since October 2023, all patients in Montana—not just terminally ill patients—have the right to access therapeutics that have passed Phase I safety trials, dramatically reducing the time required to go from lab to bedside.
This expansion of Montana’s Right to Try law may lead to a similar expansion across the country, ensuring that many more Americans have the right to access life-saving health and longevity therapeutics as soon as possible.
The A4LI is also working towards making longevity therapeutics that are still in the pipeline more rapidly accessible and equitable to the public. For example, the organization produced a white paper titled The Advanced Approval Pathway for Longevity Medicine. It lays out a fast-track approval process to expedite the market entry of anti-aging therapies.
The First "DC Fly-In"
In March 2024, the A4LI held its inaugural "DC Fly-In" event, attended by 80 representatives of the longevity industry and over two dozen Congressional staffers.
This two-day event kicked off with a panel with the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Featured were Arunan Skandarajah, PhD, and Geoffrey Ling, MD, PhD, who each spoke about the agency’s goals and how it should best incorporate and fund research into geroscience (how aging drives disease).
The Congressional briefing included the Longevity Science Caucus co-chairs, Congressmen Paul Tonko (NY-D) and Gus Bilirakis (FL-R), who spoke about their interests in being more supportive of this emerging field.
For the benefit of Congressional staffers in attendance, longevity industry leaders Kristen Fortney, Joe Betts-LaCroix, and Matt Kaeberlein presented ‘Longevity 101’ lectures.
The briefings also emphasized to Representatives Tonko and Bilirakis that the longevity industry is a vibrant and evolving sector that needs strong political leadership to push for pro-longevity legislative action.
In attendance were Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, and Mike Stebbins, former Assistant Director of Biotechnology in the Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and a driver of ARPA-H’s creation. Both delivered keynote addresses that highlighted the importance of A4LI’s initiatives and its political action moving forward.
Following the success of this event, the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives plans to continue hosting annual "DC Fly-Ins." This will allow the A4LI and longevity industry leaders to continue educating members of Congress and interested federal agencies about the longevity industry and the role it can play in the future of healthcare.
A4LI’s Response to Proposed NIH Reform
In August 2024, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) proposed reforms for the National Institutes of Health with the aim of enhancing clarity, transparency, and oversight.
The reforms included changing the name of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to the National Institute on Dementia. The A4LI believes that this name change would hinder progress in longevity and the biology of aging research.
Instead, the A4LI proposed the establishment of a new National Institute for Longevity and Aging Research (NILAR).
The proposed new institute would enhance the existing National Institute on Aging by:
- Further increasing support for aging biology research and geroscience,
- Acting as a collaborative institute with other NIH age-related-disease institutes to advance cures for individual diseases, and
- Working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address obstacles that companies face in bringing gerotherapeutics (drugs that target causes of aging) to market.
The A4LI gathered nearly 700 signatures in support of the proposed institute in less than two weeks. If the institute can win Congressional approval, it will mark a substantial achievement in promoting longer healthspan and lifespan for all Americans.
Looking Ahead
The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives "is very proud of what we have accomplished," says founder and CEO Dylan V. Livingston. "But the work done so far is just the tip of the iceberg."
To make a difference in the years ahead, he notes, "we must sustain and expand [our] legislative impact. We must reorient the U.S. government’s priorities, so that its main focus is keeping its citizenry as healthy as possible, for as long as possible."
To read more, visit: https://a4li.org/.
If you have any questions on the scientific content of this article, please call a Life Extension Wellness Specialist at 1-866-864-3027.
Reference
- Available at: https://a4li.org/. Accessed December 6, 2024.