The United States is facing a critical inflection point in public health and biomedical innovation. Advances in longevity science and biotechnology offer unparalleled opportunities to extend healthy human lifespan, combat age-related diseases, and secure our nation’s global leadership in innovation. However, declining U.S. life expectancy, systemic inefficiencies, and outdated policies threaten to undermine these breakthroughs and the well-being of millions of Americans.

We, the undersigned, call for bold action to modernize healthcare, prioritize longevity science, and position the United States as the global leader in health, innovation, and prosperity.

Key Actions
1. Declare a National Emergency on Healthy Life Expectancy

Recognize the decline in U.S. life expectancy and the growing demographic and healthcare crises as a national emergency. Mobilize federal resources to address these challenges and set measurable goals for reversing these trends.

2. Transform Federal Health Biomedical Research Agencies

• Revitalize NIH Leadership: Appoint leaders to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) committed to prioritizing aging biology, chronic disease prevention, and healthspan extension.
• Increase Federal Funding for Longevity Research: By establishing the National Institute for Healthy Longevity and Aging Research (NIHLAR) or augmenting the budget of the NIA’s Division of Aging Biology, we can create a dedicated funding for research on the biology of aging, advance longevity-focused biotechnologies, and accelerate biomedical breakthroughs. NIHLAR would consolidate existing National Institute on Aging (NIA) programs and subdivisions under one umbrella while creating new subdivisions to address emerging areas of aging science. In this realignment, the Alzheimer’s research division would be spun out to operate within the broader neurosciences field, ensuring that both dementia research and healthy aging initiatives receive the focused support and resources they require.
• Expand ARPA-H Funding: Increase the budget for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), prioritizing innovations in aging, regenerative medicine gene editing, tissue engineering, organ replacement, and fertility technologies.

3. Modernize and Streamline the FDA

• Recognize Aging as a Treatable Condition: Approve the use of surrogate biomarkers for aging-related trials and update them biennially.
• Establish an Accelerated Approval Pathway for Longevity Medicine: Similar to RMAT Pathway, establish an accelerated approval pathway for companies focused on increasing healthspan through targeting aging. This will help breakthroughs get from bench to bedside quicker, and encourage more private investment into aging biotechnology.
• Simplify Gene Therapy Approvals: Introduce accelerated pathways for therapies involving minor genetic modifications, eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic delays.
• Streamline Clinical Trials: Conduct independent audits to reduce clinical trial costs by 50% and halve response times for regulatory reviews.
• Redesign Regulations for Regenerative Medicine: Develop frameworks for cell- and tissue-based therapies modeled after organ transplantation policies, replacing outdated drug and device regulations.

4. Expand Patient Access to Life-Saving Innovations

• National Expansion of Right to Try Laws: National adoption with similar provisions to Montana’s SB 422– Expansion of Right to Try. Enhance privacy and legal protections for experimental therapies, empowering patients to access cutting-edge treatments.

5. Address Market Failures with Strategic Public Investment

• Federal Support for Unfunded Research: Direct the NIH to run clinical trials on promising but underfunded interventions to ensure equitable access to transformative solutions, like the TAME trial.
• Encourage Domestic Manufacturing: Provide tax incentives and grants to expand U.S. production of essential drugs and biotechnology components.
• Leverage Global Data: Accept clinical trial results from nations with rigorous regulatory standards to speed up approvals.

6. Modernize Insurance Coverage for Preventative and Longevity Interventions

• Expand Medicare Coverage for Longevity-Focused Therapies: Update Medicare and Medicare Advantage policies to include evidence-based interventions that target the aging process, such as advanced diagnostics, nutritional programs, physical therapy, and emerging longevity therapies that show efficacy in extending healthspan.
• Implement Tax Credits for Preventative Health Measures: Encourage individuals and families to invest in recognized preventative strategies—routine screenings, nutritional counseling, mental health support, and other medically endorsed measures—by offering targeted tax credits and deductions.
• Incentivize Private Insurance to Cover Prevention and Longevity: Provide regulatory and financial incentives for private insurers to adopt coverage expansions, ensuring a uniform standard of care for preventive measures and innovative age-related treatments across all populations.
• Enhance Coverage for Diagnostic Biomarkers: Recognize the role of specialized biomarker testing in early detection of age-related decline, ensuring coverage for advanced diagnostic tools that enable proactive, preventative healthcare strategies.
• Optimize Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs): Allow expanded HSA/FSA use for new prevention-based treatments, screenings, and other preventative health services, lowering out-of-pocket costs for early interventions.
• Promote Value-Based Insurance Designs: Align insurance benefits with the proven value of preventative care, reducing or eliminating copays and deductibles for interventions that significantly lower the risk of future chronic disease and disability.

Why This Matters

Americans are living shorter and less healthy lives than in previous generations, leading to unsustainable healthcare costs, lost productivity, and significant personal suffering. Yet recent breakthroughs in biotechnology and longevity science offer a real chance to extend healthy lifespans while reducing the burdens faced by families, communities, and the nation as a whole. By adopting these reforms, the United States can dramatically improve health outcomes, boost its global competitiveness, and fulfill a moral obligation to give every American the best opportunity for a long, healthy life.

Declaring a National Emergency on Healthy Life Expectancy focuses resources on prevention, early intervention, and practical solutions for at-risk communities. Elevating the urgency of rising mortality rates creates a mandate to reverse the decline in U.S. life expectancy and to target the factors fueling chronic disease. At the same time, transforming federal health and biomedical research agencies can revitalize leadership at the National Institutes of Health, placing the biology of aging, chronic disease prevention, and healthspan extension at the forefront of research priorities. A newly established National Institute for Healthy Longevity and Aging Research would facilitate breakthroughs in how and why we age, enabling treatments that slow or reverse the aging process. Expanding ARPA-H funding would also fast-track cutting-edge technologies such as gene editing and tissue engineering, helping those suffering from debilitating, age-related conditions sooner rather than later.

Modernizing and streamlining the FDA is essential to ensuring these advances reach patients quickly and affordably. Reducing the cost and duration of clinical trials puts promising therapies on a faster track to approval, making them both more accessible and more financially viable for those in need. Recognizing aging as a treatable condition further encourages research aimed at preventing age-related diseases, while simplified pathways for gene therapy and regenerative medicine remove unnecessary barriers to innovations that could one day help repair or replace damaged tissues and organs.

Expanding patient access to life-saving innovations through national adoption of Montana’s SB 422 “Right to Try” policies empowers families dealing with life-threatening illnesses to explore groundbreaking treatments under strengthened privacy and legal protections. This not only offers hope for individuals facing serious conditions but also accelerates data collection and scientific progress, benefiting everyone in the long run.

Addressing market failures through strategic public investment ensures that crucial research does not languish due to a lack of private funding. By supporting domestic manufacturing through tax incentives and grants, America strengthens its supply chains, keeps down costs, and creates high-value jobs in critical biotech industries. Accepting global clinical trial data from trusted regulatory environments additionally speeds up the timeline for approvals and cements the United States’ position as a world leader in health innovation.

Finally, modernizing insurance coverage for preventative and longevity interventions ensures that groundbreaking treatments and early detection methods are not limited to the wealthy or well-connected. By expanding Medicare to cover age-targeting therapies, providing tax credits for preventative health measures, and incentivizing private insurers, we can create a healthcare landscape that focuses on proactive, lifelong wellness instead of reactive treatment.

These combined measures will help reverse the alarming trend of declining life expectancy, enable older adults to stay healthier and more independent, and catalyze economic growth rooted in cutting-edge biomedical science. The cost of doing nothing is measured in lives lost and opportunities missed. With bold, coordinated efforts, we can usher in an era of unprecedented health, productivity, and well-being for every American.