Why is it difficult to get funding for anti aging studies?

Why is it difficult to get funding for anti aging studies?

Aubrey de Grey (Chairman, Methuselah Foundation) gives expert video advice on: Will life extension therapies be covered by my health insurance?; Will life extension therapies be accompanied by unknown diseases or side effects?; What is being done to raise awareness of life extension therapies? and more...

The main challenge in getting funding for serious studies to combat aging is that there are only three types of sources of such funding. And two of them are really not well placed to be putting this money in yet. One of those is public funding, the government. They're not well placed to put money into this in a big way yet because there really aren't enough votes in it. People are still too ambivalent, too scared of the idea of a post-aging world, and too sceptical about whether it can be done anyway. So they might not appreciate having their taxpayer's money spent on these blue-sky pipe dreams, so to speak. Another potential source of money is the private sector. But there the problem is the timeframes are rather long from the point of view of making serious money. People want an exit strategy. They'd like to be able to get out and have their profits within, let's say, 10 years. And it's a bit difficult to structure a much longer timeframe project in a manner that is compatible with that. But that's actually becoming more realistic as time goes on. The third main potential source of funding is private individuals, philanthropy, and that's the area that I've been focusing on, because I think it's much more realistic. People who don't have an electorate or share holders can make their own decisions. And also those people are often much more far sighted and visionary and able to understand the value of all of this. So the main funding that we've received in the Methuselah Foundation so far has been from philanthropic sources. And that is accelerating as time goes on, as people become more comfortable with this and more familiar with it.