Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary is big on prevention of chronic diseases and has long called for US healthcare reform and cost reduction.
US president-elect Donald Trump has revealed his nomination for FDA Commissioner is Johns Hopkins University surgeon and researcher Dr Martin A Makary. Widely regarded as one of the incoming president’s less controversial selections, the appointment also has potential implications for those working on solutions targeting aging and age-related diseases.
Makary is said to be supportive of Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee for Health Secretary, and his mission to “end the chronic disease epidemic” – a message that will resonate well in the aging field. In September, Makary joined Kennedy in a roundtable on health and nutrition, where he criticized the US government for not prioritizing chronic diseases and food industry reform, saying that the country has “the most overmedicated, sickest population in the world and no one is talking about root causes.”
Makary is also the author of the best-selling book The Price We Pay, in which he discusses the need for healthcare reform and cost reduction – both key tenets of the longevity movement. In a statement about the nomination, Trump said that the FDA had “lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator” before going on to say that Makary would “restore FDA to the gold standard of scientific research, and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the agency to make sure Americans get the medical cures and treatments they deserve.”
The appointment has created excitment in longevity circles, with some hoping that it could spell the beginning of a shift in regulatory perspective on aging. Scientist and investor Dr Alex Colville, general partner at the Longevity Fund, suggested the appointment could “reshape the aging field dramatically.”
The nomination is, of course, not without some controversy. A fierce critic of the FDA’s COVID-19 response and broad vaccine mandates, Makary has also criticized the overprescribing of drugs and the influence of pharmaceutical companies on regulators, particularly when it comes to ‘orphan’ diseases. While this could have implications for longevity companies taking a rare disease approach, it may also raise hopes for those working on therapeutics targeting healthspan and major age-related diseases.
Ultimately, whether Makary’s views translate into FDA policies and whether his potential appointment will have any bearing on longevity remains to be seen. Could we see aging classified as a disease under the Trump presidency? It seems unlikely, but it’s something we’ll be keeping a close eye on.
