Precision Medicine and Anti-Aging
As the U.S. population continues to age, there has been growing interest in both lifestyle and medical interventions to slow aging. While the demand for anti-aging agents has spawned a lot of bogus products and unsubstantiated claims, there has also been major progress in understanding the mechanisms of aging and potential interventions to slow this process. Many chronic diseases associated with aging, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, sarcopenia (muscle loss), cardiovascular illness, and stroke are affected by some common metabolic pathways and cellular processes. Scientists at leading research institutes around the world are making significant progress in understanding these processes and identifying potential interventions that can extend both life quantity and quality (sometimes referred to as “healthspan”).
These exciting new research advances were recently presented at the 6th Annual Alliance for Healthy Aging Conference in Newscatle UK, on Oct. 1-3, 2015, co-sponsored by the Mayo Clinic, the Newcastle University Institute for Ageing, and the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. Gary Marchant, Director of the Center’s Law & Technology program, was invited to speak at the conference on the topic of Precision Medicine and Anti-Aging. A copy of his presentation, entitled, “Right Person, Right Drug, Right Time: Challenges and Opportunities” is available here: Marchant PGX aging.
In one sense, anti-aging research and precision medicine are moving in opposite directions. Precision medicine is shifting the focus from broad disease categories such as lung cancer or cystic fibrosis to more precise molecularly-defined disease subcategories, whereas anti-aging science is moving the emphasis from those same broad disease categories to even more general basic biological processes. Notwithstanding this difference, Marchant identified a number of specific ways that precision medicine will contribute to the search for effective anti-aging interventions.
One of the major themes coming out of the conference was that the new science of anti-aging interventions that can extend healthspan by preventing or delaying multiple chronic disease processes is inconsistent with FDA’s traditional approach of approving drugs for a single indication at a time. While the FDA has shown some flexibility on this topic lately, there still need to be some major changes to reconcile the growing gap between the scientific evidence and the regulatory frameworks.
The Center is planning on addressing the regulatory challenges and hurdles for anti-aging interventions over the next year, including convening a workshop on this issue in the Spring of 2016. Stay tuned here for future updates, and if you are interested in participating in this endeavor, please contact Gary Marchant at gary.marchant@asu.edu.