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The Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Bill, 202 The Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Bill, 2024 is a comprehensive legislative framework introduced in The Bahamas to regulate the research, approval, administration, and oversight of advanced longevity, regenerative, stem-cell, gene-therapy, immunotherapy, and related biomedical treatments. Its purpose is both protective—ensuring safety, ethics, and scientific rigor—and strategic, positioning The Bahamas as a global leader in medical and wellness tourism, particularly in next-generation health and longevity innovations.
The Bill establishes a multi-layered governance system, including a National Longevity and Regenerative Therapy Board, a rigorous Ethics Review Committee, a Nomination Committee, and a Monitoring Body—each with clearly defined roles in standard-setting, approvals, inspections, compliance, and reporting. It outlines the criteria for evaluating therapies, including requirements for safety, efficacy, documented scientific evidence, funding transparency, qualified personnel, and facility standards.
Crucially, the Bill grants the Ethics Committee authority to issue full, provisional, or research approvals, and requires an additional authorization from the Board before any therapy can be administered or research can begin. It also mandates a national registry of approved therapies, introduces strict prohibited acts—such as germline modification, embryo genetic editing for reproduction, unconsented gene-therapy testing, and certain uses of replicative viruses—and establishes strong enforcement powers, including substantial fines, imprisonment, and corporate liability.
The legislation integrates existing health-facility licensing laws, provides the Minister with explicit powers to suspend unsafe operations, and outlines a wide range of regulation-making authorities related to research, facility standards, manufacturing, advertising, data handling, pharmacovigilance, and more. It repeals the earlier Stem Cell Research and Therapy Act, but preserves previously granted approvals if in good standing.
Ultimately, the Bill signals The Bahamas’ intention to create a high-integrity, innovation-friendly ecosystem for cutting-edge longevity science—balancing scientific opportunity, public safety, ethical safeguards, and economic development.
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