Katie Couric and Eric Topol: On the State of US Life Science and Extending Healthspan
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But anyway, you guys, welcome to the Substack Live. I'm thrilled to be talking to Dr. Eric Topol. I'm gonna give you a little background on Dr. Topol. He's a renowned cardiologist and founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. And he's got a new book out That is getting a lot of attention. And he's going to teach us all how to live to 100 plus, but also live well, which is the most important part. And his book is called Super Agers, an evidence-based approach to longevity. And it cuts through the hype around biohacking and anti-aging fats. to offer a clear science-driven path to living longer and, as I mentioned, living well. Hey, before we talk about how you're going to help us all live to be 100 plus, I wanted to ask you, if I could, Dr. Topol, a little bit about this assault on science that we've seen that happened really, I think, it was happening before COVID.
I think it was kind of supercharged during COVID and after COVID. And now with RFK Jr. in charge, I think we're seeing it on steroids. And I'm curious if you can comment on that as somebody who has so much expertise in science and medicine about some of the things that have been happening. For example, I know he dismissed the entire CDC program. vaccine panel. Sean O'Leary, I don't know if you know Sean O'Leary, but he's a pediatrician and infectious disease researcher. He described it as an unmitigated public health disaster. We've seen massive cuts to NIH. And as a result, these massive cuts to NIH mean massive cuts to research universities. What do you think about everything that's going on?
Well, it's horrifying, Katie. The NIH part is especially a problem because we're seeing a budget being dropped down from $47 billion by 40%, almost $20 billion less. And one could argue that it would be good to have made it more efficient and take some of the cost of doing biomedical research in this country, the crown jewel of the world, sure, but not in a reckless, indiscriminate, and profound way. So this is one of the big devastating parts. But as you say, it cuts across all parts of the HHS, RFK Jr. 's history. stewardship, and the vaccine panel is just one more. It seems like every day there's something else to add to this that's challenging the ongoing science research in this country. And there doesn't appear to be any good rationale, reason,
Methods are being used here. So it's horrible. The main question, of course, is will we still be able to go forward or are we going to basically go even backwards in terms of all the advances? I mean, this is such a momentous time in medicine.
Right.
Of all times for this to occur, we're making such remarkable strides and it's going to set us back. It's also going to give an advantage to other countries around the world who are not going through this.
That's right, Dr. Tobel. And we, you know, I interviewed Francis Collins. I've talked to, you know, I'm very, I have so much respect for people who are scientists and in the medical community through my cancer advocacy work. And Francis Collins was saying how incredibly devastating this is. And as you said, we're at such a critical time. And I think for people who don't follow this regularly, it's this confluence of artificial intelligence and technology, engineering, kind of bringing all these disciplines together, but particularly AI in terms of what it can do in science and medical research. You're the expert. What does AI promise in terms of scientific breakthroughs, and why is it so critical to marshal the power of it right now?
Yeah, so this is really the reason why we're moving into this hyper-accelerated phase of discovery and transforming medicine. For one, we're seeing the discovery of new drugs. In fact, a drug for a very severe lung condition that we don't have a good treatment for, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This is the first AI-discovered drug that is now passed a phase two trial, so it's pretty far along and it looks great, discovered by AI. So that's one part of the story. Another is that the way we practice in medicine is getting so much more efficient by just having our conversations made into synthetic notes that are far better than the notes that are in our...
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