December 2022 Update
Geroscience included in Report Language guiding Federal Agencies
AFAR, through the Amplifying Geroscience Initiative, urged Congress throughout 2022 to direct the NIH and FDA to prioritize geroscience. We are delighted to announce that our efforts were successful.
On December 23, 2022, Congress passed a $1.7 trillion fiscal year 2023 spending package that funds the federal government through September 2023. As part of the funding bill, Congress included report language that provides guidance to the federal agencies. At AFAR’s request, Congress included the following language for the NIH and FDA. This is an excellent capstone to AFAR’s first year educating members of Congress on the promise and power of geroscience. The Amplifying Geroscience Initiative now looks forward to 2023 and the FY 2024 appropriations process.
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill
Office of the NIH Director:
“Geroscience—The Committee applauds NIH for recognizing the importance of geroscience to a wide range of chronic conditions and diseases by creating the Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet), an effort to identify and characterize the differences in senescent cells across the body, within the Common Fund. While NIA serves as the lead Institute for geroscience, programs such as SenNet demonstrate how all Institutes and Centers benefit from a greater understanding of this field, given the wide range of chronic conditions and diseases that are influenced by the biology of aging. To date, however, NIH has not analyzed which topics in geroscience are currently being addressed across the Institutes and Centers or how much funding the Institutes and Centers are using to support this research. The lack of this information limits NIH’s ability to address research gaps in a strategic way. Therefore, the Committee encourages NIH to submit a report within 180 days of enactment of this Act that describes current NIH research focused on geroscience and future plans in this area. The Committee would also welcome exploration of a trans-NIH initiative. Such an initiative might include increased funding for basic, translational, and clinical research, research infrastructure, workforce development, the development of platform technologies for geroscience, and collaboration with the FDA, industry, and academia on the discovery and validation of biomarkers.”
NIA Language:
“Geroscience.—The Committee commends NIA for its support of geroscience, which seeks to understand the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that make aging a major risk factor and driver of numerous chronic conditions and diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and many others. A growing body of research suggests it is possible to develop treatments that would address many late-life diseases, as opposed to solely tackling each disease individually, as under the current prevailing model. Significant advances in recent years highlight the need to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing research gaps and opportunities. Therefore, the Committee urges NIA to convene a meeting of experts across NIH, other relevant Federal agencies, academic researchers, and the private sector to identify gaps and opportunities for this research field. The Committee also recognizes that there is a shortage of investigators who combine clinical, social, and behavioral research skills with a knowledge of aging biology and experience in the care of older adults and the processes of aging at the individual and societal level. The Committee encourages NIA to expand its translational geroscience training programs to support the pipeline of such investigators. The Committee requests an update on these topics in the fiscal year 2024 Congressional Justification.”
Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Bill
FDA Language
“The agreement urges the FDA to develop clearer regulatory pathways for emerging aging treatments and to provide an update on its progress in the fiscal year 2024 congressional budget justification. The agreement also urges the FDA to increase support for regulatory science that can inform these pathways, including collaborations with the National Institutes of Health, industry, and academia on the discovery and validation of biomarkers.”