Raising the profile of ageing research in Westminster - Healthy ageing research to transform the lives of older people

14-18 November 2022 was Evidence Week in Westminster – UK SPINE took this as an opportunity to take ageing research, and its potential to transform the lives of older people, to those at the heart of Parliament.

Organised by Sense about Science, Evidence Week is an opportunity for parliamentarians, researchers and the public to come together to share knowledge and insights that will help politicians scrutinise evidence. MPs debate issues and make legislation and policy that affect us all. Their work is challenging and varied, it is not possible for them to be experts in all subjects, or for every parliamentarian to have a science degree.

Worrying about whether politicians have science backgrounds is a mistake. What we should ask is, what are the insights and resources from research that would help politicians? That’s what Evidence Week is for.” – Tracey Brown, director, Sense about Science

By attending Evidence Week, UK SPINE wanted to help MPs understand how research into the biological pathways of ageing can contribute towards improving health in later life, through the treatment of multiple long-term conditions.

The UK SPINE team focused on presenting the challenge of the health ageing crisis, and how ageing research could alleviate this. We were asking for their help in increasing funding, changes to policy, and support for research and public awareness.

We spoke to George Freeman, Minister of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds NE, Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, Dr Caroline Johnson MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, Caroline Nokes, Panel of Chairs, Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest, Steve McCabe, MP for Selly Oak, and Deb Cohen, ITV News Science Editor.

The problem we outlined is that by 2050 1 in 4 people in the UK will be aged 65 or older, and that, despite this increased life span, on average each person spends the last 14 years of their life in poor health. It is our healthy life span we want to increase, not our longevity. By 2035 it is predicted that 65% of over 65s will be living with multiple long-term conditions. What ageing researchers are hoping to achieve with its drug discovery programme is a drug that treats more than one condition simultaneously.

This is not only possible, but likely.

We already have drugs that are used to treat one condition that patients, in trials, have reported as having a beneficial effect on other conditions. Treating multiple long-term conditions and increasing a healthy lifespan would bring about resilience to future health shocks, such as the Covid19 pandemic which disproportionately affected the ageing population.

The challenges are in translating the research into useful therapeutics. Funding is needed in early drug discovery, regulation and patient involvement in clinical trials needs debating and policy changing to allow patients with multiple conditions to take part in clinical trials. Currently they are actively excluded, as are elderly patients. Adverse drug events cause approximately 1.3 million hospital visits a year. Not so surprising if a drug is given to an elderly patient with multiple conditions, and that drug has been tested on a 35-year-old with a single condition.

We know the UK government see this as a priority area. In November 2018 it set a goal of an additional 5 healthy years by 2035, this focus was re-iterated in the 2021 Life Sciences Vision, when ageing was highlighted as one of the seven great healthcare challenges of focus.

How did we ask the MPs to help?

• Funding – in particular early stage drug discovery, biomarkers and targets, focused on overcoming multiple long-term conditions in ageing biology.
• System reform – influence clinical trials and medicines approval regulations to treat multiple long-term conditions and make it easier to use old patients with multiple long-term conditions in clinical trials.
• Equitable access to therapeutics – set pricing structures and healthcare provision for medicine and treatment across the country, feeding into the levelling up agenda and eliminating the ‘post code lottery’.
• Support research and innovation – ensure that the UK is a great place to do innovative research. Raise the public awareness of geroscience and how it can be used. Set up a national institution on Ageing, as they have in the USA.

There was a great, supportive atmosphere in the room and the politicians we spoke to were thoughtful and interested. The hope is by bringing ground-breaking research such as this, to the attention of parliamentarians will contribute towards increasing support for it and thereby the ultimate end of bringing more medicines to improve the health of older people.