Aubrey de Grey Talks SENS & Challenges to Longevity at EARD 2021
Channel: Lifespan News
Date: 2021-09-23

New talk! Dr. Aubrey de Grey discussed the future of the SENS Research Foundation, theTAME metformin trial, investment, and much more at Lifespan.io’s Ending Age Related Diseases Conference (EARD).

Dr. de Grey is best known for discussing the end of aging on the TED stage as well as on 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report, The Joe Rogan Experience, and many other popular programs. Inside of the longevity community, Dr. de Grey is known for co-founding SENS and the Methuselah Foundation. In recent weeks, Dr. de Grey has once again been in the news, but not for his efforts in longevity science. Despite this, or perhaps in part because of it, Dr. de Grey’s recent talk at the 2021 EARD conference got quite a bit of attention.

On August 19, 2021, Dr. Aubrey de Grey addressed the attendees with a talk focused on the continuing work and changing priorities within the field of longevity. This talk was given during the independent investigation, while Dr. de Grey was on administrative leave from SENS but while he was still affiliated with the foundation.

Dr. de Grey then got on to the main content of his talk, in which he detailed 5 “Emerging Challenges” in longevity science.

Challenge #1 is short-termism, and the pressure to go after low-hanging fruit. This exists in the business world as a focus on achieving profits as soon as possible and in the academic world in the “publish or perish” mentality.

Challenge #2 is that there’s no incentive for researchers to do the difficult work of studying the effects of combined therapies when that work isn’t the interest of the high-profile publishers

According to Dr. de Grey, some of the reportedly $27 million worth of cryptocurrency donated to SENS through the PulseChain Airdrop will fund work on combining therapies.

Challenge #3 is that more money means less mission. Dr. de Grey explained that he sees that many angel and seed investors supporting companies in the longevity field are mission focused. They have the goal of seeing longevity science succeed and enabling people to live longer, healthier lives. However, when companies in this space prematurely seek to go public or be acquired, additional money, likely tied to less mission-driven motivations and incentives, comes into play.

Challenge #4 deals with the clinical trial for metformin against aging, or TAME. According to Dr. de Grey, this trial faced considerable challenges within the FDA and NIH. Even once those hurdles seem to have been cleared, which was no small feat, the trial still faced funding concerns as metformin was off-patent and industry had no financial incentive to fund a trial. Instead, donors and foundations had to fill the void. Dr. de Grey believes that the TAME trial will be groundbreaking, and could encourage big pharma to invest in longevity therapies if there can be a demonstrated path to market.

Challenge #5 is that policy-makers and governments have short attention spans. This is particularly relevant now because COVID-19 disproportionately negatively affects elderly people (and the economy), so aging and the health concerns accompanying it have been front of mind.

Overall, the crusade against aging is accelerating, but there’s still much work to be done. And to avoid regressing, we need to address some of the emerging challenges we are facing. Timing is critical, and now is the time to act.


SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
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YouTube video of Aubrey’s full talk - https://youtu.be/u5n6PQme4Jc

Talk transcript on Lifespan.io - https://www.lifespan.io/news/aubrey-de-grey-on-rejuvenation-policy-at-eard2021/

Lifespan.io: Dr. Aubrey de Grey Faces Allegations of Sexual Harassment - https://www.lifespan.io/news/dr-aubrey-de-grey-faces-allegations-of-sexual-harassment/

AFAR TAME Trial - https://www.afar.org/tame-trial

Nature: The Economic Value of Targeting Aging (Andrew J. Scott, Martin Ellison & David Sinclair) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-021-00080-0

Additional Sources:
https://www.sens.org/
https://pulsechain.com/
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/49636855/pursuit-of-the-longevity-dividend-s-jay-olshansky

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