Last week, ANH’s founder, Rob Verkerk, Ph.D., and General Counsel, Jonathan Emord, took the stage at this year’s RAADFest in “the largest and most immersive event in the world focused on super-longevity for a general audience.” In a session, headed by Liz Parrish, the first person in the world to undergo gene therapy to reverse aging, Dr. Verkerk and Jonathan Emord explained the nature of the ever greater regulatory threats the natural products sector faces and zoned in on how we at ANH will defend our rights from FDA overreach.
In a separate presentation, Dr. Verkerk discussed the incredible power of natural peptide bioregulators for healing, regeneration, and disease prevention. See our separate story on the FDA’s plan to ban compounded peptides to reserve them for its friends in Big Pharma. We’re going to do everything in our power to reverse these bans.
Rob Verkerk, Ph.D. speaking at RAADfest ’24 about natural peptide bioregulators
RAADFest (RAAD is an acronym for “Revolution Against Aging and Death”) is organized by the Coalition for Radical Life Extension, headed by James Strole, including Liz Parrish, Bill Falloon and Dr. Bill Andrews on its board. The conference is dedicated to looking at the cutting edge of anti-aging research.
FDA overreach
Dr. Verkerk opened by explaining how Big Pharma had changed tack in recent years and moved strongly into the biologics, biosimilars, and synthetic biology areas. This means Big Pharma and Big Biotech are converging on the same patch that has been the domain of natural medicine. It may sound like a David and Goliath battle—but we’ve got many things on our side: the US Constitution, the best constitutional lawyer in America who has now had an historic 13 victories against the FDA, and, hopefully, justice. However, we’re likely to have to dig deeper than ever before in our efforts to protect our right to access the diversity of natural products and medicines we need to keep healthy, heal, and regenerate!
“It was important to remind the RAADfest audience that we don’t just encounter problems with the FDA because of the obstacle course the agency creates for all things natural that compete with drugs”, said Dr. Verkerk after the meeting. “In reality,” he continued, “ the agency is so deeply captured that it just acts in the interests of those who fund it, and with whom it has revolving doors. This means if you’re a Big Biotech player wanting to put CRISPR edited foods on the US market, expect minimal hurdles with no requirement to prove your products are safe. The same goes for any new drug based on the mRNA platform. The playing field is totally uneven and is purpose built for the industries that have captured the FDA.”
Dr. Verkerk then was joined by Emord to discuss the opportunities of the post-Chevron era that we reported on in July in this newsletter.
Jonathan Emord said, “It was my distinct privilege to follow Dr. Verkerk in speaking to the audience at RAADfest. I explained the importance of the Loper Bright Enterprises and Axon Enterprises decisions. The one overrules Chevron’s doctrine of deference to federal agencies. The other allows parties to challenge agency proceedings on constitutional grounds in federal court without first exhausting administrative remedies. Relying on those decisions, ANH shall open the market to health information and innovative products.”
Robert Verkerk, PhD (left) and Jonathan Emord, Esq. (right)
We reported recently about Jonathan Emord’s latest win against the FDA that will allow greater consumer access to healthier sugar alternatives. ANH will continue to leverage these important court victories to attain even more victories for natural health consumers, producers and suppliers.
We are raising funds now to fuel our legal actions. Please donate now to our lobbying and litigation fund so you can help us to help you. We are hugely grateful to individuals, companies and organizations who have already donated.
More images from RAADFest 2024:
