Is the Biology of Aging Underfunded?

In today's episode, Chris is joined by two leaders of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, A4LI, the first and only 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization founded with the goal of creating social and political action around the issues of combating age-related chronic conditions and increasing our number of healthy, disease-free years.  Sonia Arrison is a best-selling author, analyst, entrepreneur, and investor who is founder of 100 Plus Capital, Chair of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, co-founder of Unsugarcoat Media (acquired by Medium), and an associate founder of Singularity University. Dylan Livingston, the founder and president of A4LI, has a background in political organizing at the state and national levels.

The conversation begins with our guests reviewing their journey to the world of longevity science and ultimately A4LI. They then explore many aspects of their organization including the needs it will address, the obstacles it will encounter and how it will overcome them, and its plan for succeeding in its mission. They go on to share what they have already accomplished, their ties on both sides of the aisle in Congress, Silicon Valley's current perspective on their work, and how listeners can help them achieve their mission. Drawing the episode to a close, Sonia and Dylan share their vision for what success would look like for A4LI five years down the road.

In this episode, you will learn about the need for an organization such as A4LI to create social and political action around age-related conditions, and how our guests plan to fill this need both  now and into the future.

Episode Highlights:

• Sonia and Dylan's journey to the area of longevity and longevity science
• How they both came to be involved with A4LI
• The unmet needs that A4LI will address
• The obstacles it will meet in pursuing its mission and how it will overcome them
• The sense in which biology of aging is underfunded
• A4LI's plan for succeeding in its mission
• The Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation
• What it has accomplished already
• The ties it has made with both Democrats and Republicans
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• Silicon Valley's perspective on their work
• How researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors can help A4LI
• Sonia and Dylan's vision of success for A4LI in 5 years
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Quotes:

“Sonia has been intimately involved since the organization's inception. And I'm really happy that she is able to be the chair of the board because her leadership and guidance has been absolutely crucial.”

“Essentially A4LI will be establishing a line of communication between the longevity industry and elected officials.”

“There's a lot of longevity companies out there who are doing some really cool things that are going to extend our health spans. And, and so we need to make sure that the atmosphere is right for that.”

“We look to kind of educate, you know, not only politicians, but also the voting public on what's possible.”

“What we're saying here is, what I hear you saying is, it should be okay for a company to say we're a longevity company.”

“You'd think that the government would want to fund that more, and they should, because of the e massive impact that a drug that treats aging could have.”

“Even if funding is coming in from the private sector, biotech companies still stand to gain from formalized efforts, because they're going to get a smoother regulatory environment and potentially greater legitimacy for the products and ideas that they're developing. “

“By simply doing what other advocacy efforts do - that is public persuasion campaigns, their advertising - I think we can really open some ears up and get people focused on this space a little more.”

“One of the things that was really important to me about getting involved in this is that it remained bipartisan, and so far, we've managed to do a really good job of having people on both sides of the aisle.”

“I think people in Silicon Valley are interested and excited, and are just sort of waiting to see what's going to happen, and, you know, just how interested Congress might be.”

“Everything is going to change with the introduction of an effective longevity drug. So, you know, we need to help the government and institutions prepare for that.”

“Once somebody starts stealing your idea, you know that it's gold.”

Links:

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A4LI Homepage