NFX General Partner Omri Drory discusses why longevity science is the most important national strategy no one’s talking about.
I’ve just come back from Washington, DC, where I spoke to members of Congress as part of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives – the first bipartisan lobbying group focused exclusively on aging and longevity science. What we told lawmakers was clear: the United States is facing an accelerating crisis – one rooted not just in debt, healthcare, and demographics, but in biology. And unless we act, the pressure will only mount.
The good news? Longevity science offers a powerful way out. Not through marginal cost-cutting or incremental reform, but through a reframing of aging itself – from inevitability to opportunity. If we can add years of healthy, productive life, we don’t just reduce suffering – we reignite growth, rebalance fiscal systems, and open up new decades of contribution, innovation, and purpose.
The silver tsunami is already crashing
America is growing older, sicker, and slower – both economically and biologically. The national debt has surpassed $35 trillion, and mandatory spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and debt interest is projected to overwhelm the federal budget in the coming decades.
Older Americans – those 65 and up – now account for 18% of the population, but 36% of all healthcare spending. Meanwhile, adults between 19 and 34 make up a larger share of the population (21%) but only 12% of healthcare costs. The system isn’t just out of balance – it’s structurally unsustainable.
This isn’t just about entitlement design – it’s about biology. Aging dramatically increases the risk of chronic diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These diseases account for the majority of healthcare spending and productivity loss. Without biological intervention, costs and dependency will continue to spiral.
Social Security wasn’t built for 25-year retirements
When Social Security was introduced in the 1930s, average life expectancy was 61 years – and retirement benefits kicked in at 65. Today, people routinely live well into their 80s and 90s. What was once a short end-of-life buffer has become a full third act – often accompanied by rising medical costs and declining health.
This extended period of dependency is hammering government budgets and exhausting working-age families. But what if we changed the equation? Imagine a future where a 70-year-old could be as healthy, focused, and energetic as someone in their 40s. No longer dependent – but still contributing: building businesses, mentoring younger generations, and staying engaged in the economy.
That’s not just good for the individual – it’s transformative for the economy.
Healthy longevity is a growth strategy
Too often, longevity is framed as a way to save on healthcare. But the bigger prize is economic acceleration. If we can reduce the biological burden of aging – not just treat disease reactively – we can keep people productive for far longer.
The numbers are eye-popping. Economists estimate that increasing average healthy lifespan by one year would add $38 trillion to the US economy. A ten-year increase? That’s worth $367 trillion – more than ten times current US GDP.
Every additional year of healthy life expectancy adds 4–5% to GDP annually. It’s not just a public health breakthrough – it’s a national growth engine.
Fertility is falling – Longevity can help there, too
The US fertility rate has declined to 1.62 births per woman – far below replacement level (2.1). This trend mirrors patterns across the developed world, where education, career priorities, and high living costs make early childbearing difficult or unappealing.
But fertility is also biological – and the biological window is closing earlier than many realize. Longevity science is starting to offer solutions: new techniques to generate eggs from stem cells, extend ovarian function, and preserve fertility longer.
Giving people more time to choose when and how to have children could help reverse demographic decline, support family formation, and create more agency for individuals – especially women.
The science is real – and advancing fast
We’re not speculating. We’re translating lab breakthroughs into clinical trials:
- Cellular Reprogramming – restoring youthful gene expression and cell function
- Senolytics – clearing senescent cells that fuel inflammation and tissue damage
- Gene Therapy & Editing – correcting aging-related mutations and bolstering resilience
- Regenerative Medicine – rebuilding organs using stem cells and engineered tissues
- Advanced Diagnostics – catching disease earlier through AI and precision biomarkers
Dozens of these technologies are already in human trials. Aging is no longer a passive process – it’s a modifiable variable. The bottleneck now isn’t biology – it’s policy, funding, and public imagination.
Four levers for a longevity-driven America
If we want to seize this opportunity, we need coordinated action across government, private capital, regulatory reform, and culture.
1. Government investment and policy leadership
Agencies like NIH, FDA, and ARPA-H should make aging research a core priority. Funding needs to match the scale of the challenge. Medicare and Medicaid should be empowered to cover interventions that delay or prevent age-related disease – not just treat the aftermath.
2. Private capital with long-term vision
Longevity biotech is not a slow play – it’s an inevitable one. Private equity, venture firms, and philanthropists should back startups focused on healthy aging and biology-first solutions. The TAM (total addressable market) is not a subset of wellness – it’s everyone over 30.
3. Regulatory innovation
Aging isn’t recognized as a disease – so there’s no clear path for approval of therapies that target the aging process itself. We need new frameworks, endpoints, and risk-benefit models to bring these technologies to market.
4. Cultural infrastructure
Our schools, cities, and workplaces were built for 70-year lifespans. It’s time to reimagine them for 100-year lives: education that supports lifelong learning, flexible work that respects older talent, and urban design that enables mobility and social engagement across age groups.
Scientist-founders are leading the charge
Many of today’s most important longevity companies are being built not by legacy CEOs, but by scientists – people who understand the cellular mechanics of aging and are racing to apply them. But this new wave of scientist-entrepreneurs needs allies: investors who understand the timeline, regulators who are willing to rethink endpoints, and governments ready to partner.
As someone who has spent years in biotech and now sits on the board of A4LI, I’ve seen firsthand how quickly things can shift when the right coalitions form. But time matters – and right now, we’re behind.
The new social contract
The old model – retire at 65, fade into dependency, strain your family and your country’s finances – no longer serves anyone. A longevity-first model asks something different: how can we enable more years of vitality, productivity, and purpose?
It’s not about living forever. It’s about mattering longer.
America has the tools – Will it lead?
Other countries aren’t waiting. China has declared healthy aging a national priority. Saudi Arabia launched a $1 billion longevity initiative. The UK is integrating longevity into its national life sciences strategy.
The US has the talent, capital, and entrepreneurial ecosystem to lead – but it must act decisively and systemically. Waiting means falling behind.
This isn’t incremental – It’s foundational
The future of American prosperity depends not on balancing a few budget lines, but on rewriting the terms of human aging. That means investing in science, scaling biotech, and updating the architecture of society to reflect a radically new possibility: that the second half of life can be as full as the first.
The silver tsunami is real. But if we act now, it doesn’t have to drown us – it can lift all boats.
About Omri Amirav-Drory
Omri Amirav-Drory, PhD is the General Partner at NFX Bio. He is a scientist and an operator who has founded, scaled, and invested in some of today’s most important techbio companies.
Before becoming an investor, Omri was the Founding CEO of Genome Compiler, which developed software for genetic engineers and molecular and synthetic biologists. He led the company to a successful acquisition by Twist Bioscience, a next-generation DNA synthesis company currently valued at ~$2.5 billion. Omri stayed at Twist for almost three years after the acquisition as the Head of Corporate Development.
After leaving Twist, Omri became the Founding Partner at Tech.Bio where he invested and advised in companies like Mammoth Biosciences, immunai, C2i Genomics, and more. Now as an investor, Omri understands what it means to be a Scientist-CEO and is committed to a future where this is the norm, not the exception.
Adapted from a post originally published on NFX.com. Article graphics and photograph of Omri Drory courtesy of NFX.
The post Reimagining America’s Future appeared first on Longevity.Technology – Latest News, Opinions, Analysis and Research.
