The Biomedical Research & Longevity Society, formerly the Life Extension Foundation (LEF), is a company founded in 1980 to extend the healthy human lifespan by discovering methods to control aging and eradicate disease. Along with the Life Extension Buyer's Club, which sells vitamins and supplements, the Life Extension Foundation (LEF) was headquartered in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

. It also has a call center location in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. The company changed its name in 2018 to Biomedical Research & Longevity Society.

Activities

Along with the Life Extension Buyer's Club, the Life Extension Foundation (LEF) was headquartered in

. The Life Extension Foundation (LEF) was primarily funded by the sale of nutritional supplements to members of an affiliated entity, the Life Extension Buyer's Club. The Life Extension Buyer's Club was incorporated in

, and has a separate EIN employer number than the Life Extension Foundation. Its name was changed to the Biomedical Research & Longevity Society in 2018. In 1981 LEF recommended DHEA, in 1983 it recommended low-dose aspirin, and also in 1983 was the first organization in the United States to recommend coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). In 1992 it introduced melatonin into its product line.

History

The Biomedical Research & Longevity Society, which was originally named Life Extension Foundation (LEF), was founded by

Saul Kent Saul Kent is a life extension activist, and co-founder of the Life Extension Foundation, a dietary supplement vendor and promoter of anti-aging research. He is also a pioneer in the practice of cryonics, and was a board member of the cryonics organ ...

and

William Faloon William “Bill” Faloon (born 1954) is an author, life extensionist, and co-founder of the Life Extension Foundation, the Church of Perpetual Life, and the FDA Holocaust Museum. Early life Faloon was born to a Presbyterian family and at age 8, w ...

in 1980. In 1987, the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

raided the Life Extension Foundation's warehouse, and charged Kent and Faloon with 27 counts, including distributing unapproved drugs. 11 years later, all, by then, 56 FDA charges were dismissed by a federal judge. In 1994, Kent and Faloon opened the FDA Holocaust Museum to highlight millions of deaths they felt were caused by the FDA withholding or delaying approval of life-saving drugs and treatments. In a 2009 tax filing, the company declared assets of over $25 million and netted more than $3 million on revenue of more than $18 million that year. In May 2013, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the Life Extension Foundations

tax-exempt status Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

, retroactive to 2006. Forbes reported that "The IRS' problem with the Foundation is ..an entirely worldly one: it asserts the membership organization's operations seem to be too entwined with the for-profit Life Extension Buyers Club." On August 7, 2013, LEF filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment in

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District ...

challenging the IRS' allegations. In 2018, foundation's tax-exempt status was reinstated retroactive to the date it was revoked, May 2013. The Life Extension Foundation also changed its name the same year, becoming the Biomedical Research and Longevity Society, Inc., or BRLS.

References

External links

Life Extension Foundation website
Life extension organizations Medical and health organizations based in Florida Medical and health foundations in the United States Organizations established in 1980 Nutritional supplement companies of the United States {{DEFAULTSORT:Biomedical Research and Longevity Society

Activities

History

See also

References

External links