AIM: Who We Are
The Aging in Motion (AIM) Coalition is a diverse group of patient, caregiver, health, and aging groups working together to press for greater levels of research and innovation to develop treatments in the area of sarcopenia and age-related functional decline.
Initiated by the Alliance for Aging Research, the AIM Coalition members and sponsors are leading ongoing interactions with clinicians, regulators, and policy influencers to overcome obstacles that impede the development and evaluation of promising treatments for sarcopenia and associated functional decline in people as they age.
AIM members and sponsors represent patients, providers, caregivers, consumers, aging Americans, researchers, employers, and the health care industry. Learn more about AIM’s members and sponsors.
AIM: What We Are Doing
With its diverse constituency groups and credible scientific guidance from clinical experts, AIM interacts with the scientific community, physicians who treat older patients, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Congressional policymakers to help improve functional strength and independence for a growing number of aging people.
Pressing for Research and Innovation
To date, no drug for the treatment or prevention of sarcopenia and functional decline has been registered or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, a ‘Guidance for Industry’ released by the FDA offers the possibility of a path for the pre-approval of outcome measures that could be used across a variety of treatments and therapies to establish clinically relevant indicators of functional decline or disability. Pursuing the opportunity to collaborate with the scientific community and regulators under this qualification process is one of the primary objectives of the AIM Coalition to help establish a path to safe and effective new therapies.
Coalition activities center around raising awareness of sarcopenia, its prevalence and economic burden, and the possibilities of treatment to improve the quality of life and independence of millions of older Americans living with the condition.
AIM: Our Goals
- Press for greater levels of research and innovation around sarcopenia and age-related functional decline;
- Raise awareness of sarcopenia and its impact in the community;
- Increase awareness of potential for behavioral or pharmacologic interventions to improve physical function and quality of life for America’s elderly;
- Advance consensus among clinicians and regulators on measures and outcomes to determine the efficacy of therapies specifically to treat sarcopenia and to slow functional decline;
- Organize, lead, and support a collaborative group of scientific experts to pursue the prescribed FDA qualification process for approval of outcome measures relevant for use in clinical trials of therapies that can intervene on sarcopenia and functional decline; and,
- Mobilize health care stakeholders to support the acceptance and criteria of these outcome measures for clinical use of behavioral or pharmacologic interventions, and to reimburse for such treatment.