Montana, revolutionary law passed: unlimited research for longevity

Montana is preparing to become a 'Wild West' centre for clinical trials. With the recent passage of Senate Bill 535, the state becomes the first in the US to allow patients - even non-terminal ones - access to experimental therapies that have only passed Phase I. In essence, by bypassing the more rigorous Phase II and III testing, the Montana law drastically speeds up the time it takes for patients to access new therapies compared to the traditional Fda approval process. In effect, the law authorises clinics and healthcare facilities to become experimental treatment centres, allowing the use of drugs that have passed initial safety testing. This is a radical change from federal regulation, which only allows access to such therapies for terminally ill patients, based on the Right to Try Act of 2017.

According to supporters - scientists, biotech start-ups, but above all longevity movements - this is a courageous and necessary step. The new regulatory framework has been strongly advocated by groups promoting a model of preventive medicine, centred on the individual being able to decide which therapies to try, especially when it comes to chronic diseases or the natural age-related decline. But the move is far from risk-free. Phase I involves only a few volunteers and is used to assess the safety of the compound. Only a small percentage of these drugs will reach the market: the rest fail due to side effects or ineffectiveness. This is compounded by problems related to liability, insurance coverage and the protection of patients, especially the most economically vulnerable ones. In this respect, however, the law requires that 2 per cent of clinics' profits be allocated to funds for low-income patients and strengthens informed consent, requiring supervision by a doctor and a detailed description of the risks.

The most immediate effects could be seen geographically and economically: Montana risks - or hopes - to become a new Mecca for medical tourism. Patients from all over the world, attracted by treatments that are still illegal elsewhere, could converge on the state, stimulating a parallel economy made up of start-ups, private clinics and foundations. One of the most active voices in promoting the law is in fact Niklas Anzinger, founder of the Infinita City project, who envisions Montana as a hub for decentralised medical innovation. The vision? A leaner system where therapeutic development is not hindered by excessive regulation and where the state becomes a living experiment in bioethical governance.

The new model could thus become a 'special regulation zone' for longevity. A concept familiar to the crypto philosophy, which has always sought out spaces where new rules can be experimented with. And it is precisely on this terrain that an increasingly concrete alliance is forming between the crypto and longevity communities. The former, accustomed to defying dogma and moving into regulatory frontier spaces, sees longevity as an area of strategic investment: biotechnology, applied health Ai, new decentralised insurance models. And both communities share a culture of risk, individual autonomy and radical innovation. Biohacking is, after all, the 'fintech of the human body'. So for many early blockchain millionaires, extending life has become the new horizon, and it is not just declarations of intent. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has invested millions in anti-aging research. Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, has financed an experimental clinic in Wyoming and has volunteered for a stem cell and hyperbaric chamber therapy.

A libertarian vision of health, according to which everyone should be able to choose how to experiment on his or her own body, without waiting for the medical bureaucracy. It is not surprising that several Dao (decentralised autonomous organisations) finance research and laboratories, in exchange for tokenization of the intellectual property of the results. It is a new way of conceiving scientific research: distributed, open source and accessible. Whether this new course will bring progress or collateral damage remains to be seen.