Jim Greenwood urged the longevity movement to work with BIO and other biotechnology associations to shape FDA rules

Jim Greenwood urged the longevity movement to work with BIO and other biotechnology associations to shape FDA rules

On September 9, Jim Greenwood outlined a political strategy for the longevity movement in a conversation with the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI), a US nonprofit organization that advocates for policies supporting healthy longevity. He proposed working with industry associations, establishing a political action committee, and bringing patients’ families to meetings with members of Congress.

Greenwood spent twelve years in the US House of Representatives. From 2005 to 2020, he was president and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a biopharmaceutical industry association whose membership exceeded a thousand companies by the end of his tenure. In the conversation, he suggested that A4LI work with BIO and the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an industry association representing cell and gene therapy companies.

In his view, these relationships would give A4LI access to people already involved in biomedical policy. Greenwood proposed that A4LI establish its own PAC, a US political action committee, to help it repeatedly bring the same issue to elected officials. He advised bringing family members of people with dementia and other age-related diseases to meetings with members of Congress so that lawmakers hear from people who live with the consequences of these diseases.

Greenwood identified the next reauthorization of PDUFA, the law governing the user fees that drug manufacturers pay the FDA to review applications, as a practical opportunity. During the previous reauthorization, the FDA discussed proposals with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, patient and consumer organizations, medical professionals, and other stakeholders before submitting them to Congress. Greenwood suggested that A4LI develop its policy requests in advance and convey them through associations involved in those discussions.

“A4LI will not have a seat at that table… it should work closely with those who will: they have an interest in bringing its requests to the FDA,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood linked this political strategy to the development path for the therapies themselves. In his assessment, interventions targeting the biology of aging could first demonstrate benefits in specific age-related diseases for which pathways to approval and reimbursement already exist. Under his approach, A4LI could engage Congress and the FDA simultaneously on rules for future drugs and on the initial diseases in which those drugs could be tested.