» Ask Congress to Fund the First FDA-Approved Drug Trial to Prevent Cancer and Other Diseases of Aging

Edwina Rogers
Global Healthspan Policy Institute

Aging brings illness. All of our major diseases get worse as we age, including heart disease, cancer, arthritis, dementia, cataract, osteoporosis, diabetes, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Now for the first time in history, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved human testing of a drug to slow human aging that would decrease the risk for all of these illnesses, dramatically lowering healthcare costs and boosting quality of life for the elderly.

Named “one of the most innovative projects of the year” by the Washington Post and the subject of the hit Ron Howard documentary “The Age of Aging”, the TAME/Metformin study would take place in research centers nationwide.

Unfortunately, this study will not be funded by drug companies. Metformin has a long history treating diabetes, so it is known to be safe, but its also past the early phase where a drug company will invest in a drug because it can own it and profit by it.

So the only way for this landmark drug trial to move forward is to be funded by Congress, much like they have funded thousands of other studies. The Global Healthspan Policy Institute is leading this charge. We are a non-profit think tank and policy institute that does not represent any government agency, corporation, or medical center.

We have many allies in Congress who love the project, but we need your help with specific members of Congress whose position on appropriations committees can make or break this movement.

Every year Congress sets the Department of Defense’s budget, which contains a “Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program” just for research like this drug trial. Join us in asking Congress to allocate funds. To get started they need $13 million per year  for the first two years for the TAME/Metformin study that will span 6 years for a total cost of $64 million. Funding will be given to 14 university locations around the country — including possibly in your state — that will study a total of 3,000 people.

Here’s how you can help:

• Email Daniel Carver at dcarver@healthspanpolicy.org to add your organization’s name to our open letter.
• Contact your members of Congress by phone, and send the below email. As a representative of many local constituents, you have powerful influence — a lot more than you might think.

I would be glad to hear from you at erogers@healthspanpolicy.org to answer your questions and get to know you as we push for this watershed moment. Thank you for supporting the reduction of a “risk factor” for healthy senior living that affects everyone!

Edwina Rogers
Global Healthspan Policy Institute

Targeted Members of Congress

Sample Email

Dear  ____________,

We represent many of your constituents who support Congressional funding for the TAME/Metformin study, the first ever FDA-approval drug trial to slow human aging.

When people age more slowly, they live healthier lives with less risk of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and dozens of other age-related diseases. Addressing this root cause of the major killers will dramatically reduce US healthcare costs and increase Americans’ quality of life and productivity.

Called “one of the most innovative projects of the year” by the Washington Post and the subject of the hit Ron Howard documentary “The Age of Aging”, this study will will test the use of a drug, Metformin,  that’s been long-approved by the FDA to treat diabetes. Because it is an established drug, no corporation has a profit motive to fund this trial. It can only be funded by Congress.

We urge you to make funding appropriations through the “Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program” in the Department of Defense’s budget to fund the study of 3,000 people. To get started they need $13 million a year for the first two years of a six-year plan that comes to $64 million. Research funding would be sent to 14 universities across the country that could include research facilities in your own state.

If successful, TAME has strong potential to serve as a template for regulators to open the door to a new class of medications that protect and restore the healthy function and productivity of the human healthspan – our years of health.

Please support research into the underlying causes of age-related disease so that our state’s universities can continue to be leaders in this new and cutting-edge field.

Sincerely,

Your Group Name
Your Group Address