Thanks to advocacy efforts by AFAR's Amplifying Geroscience initiative, Congress is now directing NIH to tabulate how much money it spends each year on geroscience research. This has been one of AFAR’s top federal policy priorities.
Although several Institutes and Centers at NIH support research on geroscience, the agency does not currently track the amount of funding it provides—limiting NIH’s ability to address research gaps and monitor progress over time. But in the recently enacted fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill for NIH, Congress “directs NIH to establish a Research, Condition and Disease Categorization category for research related to geroscience.”
AFAR looks forward to providing additional information about NIH funding levels for geroscience when they become available.
In response to advocacy efforts by AFAR, Congress urged the NIH in 2022 to issue a report that describes “current NIH research focused on geroscience and future plans in this area.” We are pleased to announce that NIH submitted the report to Congress in the fall of 2023. The 16-page report provides an overview of NIH-wide efforts, examples of NIH-funded research, and a summary of future opportunities.
AFAR is pleased to announce that through the efforts and requests of its Amplifying Geroscience Initiative, the U.S. Senate recently urged the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Advanced Projects Research Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and the Defense Department (DoD) to prioritize geroscience. The Senate issued this guidance to the agencies through “report language” accompanying the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills.
Highlights of the language include recommending that the NIA increase its support for early-stage investigators in geroscience and that ARPA-H prioritize research on biomarkers related to aging and epigenetic reprogramming. The Senate also instructed DoD to add “accelerated aging processes related to military service” to its Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). If this provision is enacted into law later this year, researchers will be able to apply for geroscience grants from the PRMRP for the first time.
These victories resulted from virtual meetings that AFAR arranged in the spring of 2023 between AFAR-affiliated researchers and dozens of congressional staff from both parties.
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.”
In September 2022, AFAR Board members Laura Niedernhofer, MD, PhD, and S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, spoke before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology through the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight at a special Hearing Charter, "The Fountain of Youth? The Quest for Aging Therapies."
