Blood business: anti-aging transfusions are growing in popularity in the United States. But is it of any use to them?

The secret of preserving youth has troubled people for many centuries, and the best minds have struggled with its solution at different times. Despite serious progress in medical technologies, the question remains open today, and rejuvenation of the body has become a field of activity not only for scientists, but also for many scammers and charlatans who line their pockets at the expense of the gullibility of citizens.

“Scientific” ways to restore strength and youth appear in the world with enviable regularity, and one can only envy the resourcefulness of their inventors. Some of them, such as anti-aging pills and potions, can interest only the most naive, while others can mislead anyone who is far from medicine.

The latest, pseudoscientific, but very plausible methods include anti-aging blood transfusions, which over the past couple of years have become a leading medical trend in the United States and some other countries. The life-giving substance is taken from young donors and transfused to those who need rejuvenation. The procedure, on average, costs $8,000 (more than half a million rubles), but to obtain a guaranteed effect, it is recommended to carry out the manipulation regularly.

The people offering such a service make the case for rejuvenating transfusion so convincingly that not only ordinary people, but also businessmen from Silicon Valley who want, and most importantly, have the financial ability, to carry out such “biohacking” became interested in it.

What does official medical science say about this? Doctors warn those wishing to make such an unusual modification of the body. In their opinion, this is not only useless, but also dangerous for the body. Blood transfusion is a responsible medical procedure, the inept or negligent performance of which can lead to serious health problems and even death of the patient.

In 2019, an active campaign began in the United States to expose startups that rejuvenate using blood transfusions from young donors, which involved scientists, the media and even government regulators.

Where did the hype around the return of youth through blood begin and who was the pioneer in this dubious matter? The first such service was offered by the startup Ambrosia from California, owned by 34-year-old doctor Jesse Karmazin. Having received his education at Stanford Medical School, Karmazin did not bother to acquire a license to practice medicine, but he discovered that he had a good entrepreneurial gift.

In 2017, Karmazin founded his own company, which was immediately called “vampire” in the press. Jesse offered everyone a transfusion of plasma—the liquid component of human blood that is responsible for feeding cells with the components that ensure their vital functions.

The theory of rejuvenation is thus based on an experiment that was conducted by Harvard scientists. In a university laboratory, plasma from young mice was transfused into old mice, after which an improvement in memory and ability to cope with assigned tasks was recorded. Karmazin decided that the difference between mice and people could be neglected and founded his company Ambrosia.

The startup owner calls the proposed procedure a “reboot” and convinces everyone around him that after the first procedure the aging process is reversed. Over two years, the company performed 150 plasma transfusions for clients ranging in age from 35 to 92 years. For this purpose, plasma from the blood of donors 16-25 years old was used. One liter of plasma with transfusion costs Ambrosia clients $8,000, and when ordering two liters, promotional prices begin to apply and the amount is only $12,000.

Branches of Karmazin’s company have opened in several cities in the United States, and in addition, the businessman’s immediate plans include opening a specialized clinic. The project has serious investors, one of whom is American billionaire Peter Thiel. Before investing in Karmazin’s business, the rich man spent up to 40 thousand dollars a quarter on blood transfusions from 18-year-old donors. At the same time, Thiel denies that he was ever a client of Ambrosia.

It should be noted that the Ambrosia startup is not unique. Another company, Alkahest, is engaged in similar activities. True, they do not provide paid services there yet, since their technology is at the research stage. Alkahest does not set a goal to rejuvenate the human body - they are looking for a way to effectively treat Alzheimer's disease.

Jesse Karmazin no longer researches or checks anything - he assures that his procedure is effective and speaks about it like this:

Agree, it sounds quite absurd, but despite this, there is no end to those who want to transfuse the plasma of a young man into Ambrosia. At the same time, Jesse himself, when communicating with the press, avoids in every possible way a direct answer to the question of whether he himself uses his development to preserve his youth.

The most interesting thing is that at this stage it is not possible to stop Ambrosia’s activities legally. The plasma transfusion procedure is a standard medical procedure and is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, it should be noted that the documents for this service do not indicate in what cases it is recommended to perform it.

In traditional modern medicine, plasma transfusion is widely used for extensive and deep burns, as well as for bleeding disorders. The rejuvenating effect of such a transfusion has not been proven by any serious scientific research, which calls into question the effectiveness and safety of such “anti-aging therapy.”

The first scientific experiments are now being carried out to test the validity of the transfusion, but the results will have to wait a little longer. The Ambrosia company also carried out its research, while the volunteers who participated in it still paid 8,000 per procedure. And this despite the fact that all over the world experiments of this kind are carried out free of charge, and often their participants are also paid extra for the risk.

Karmazin also claims that all experimental subjects were transfused with high-quality plasma, and the placebo composition, which is designed to correct subjective sensations, was not used at all. According to the doctor, it would be dishonest to infuse useless liquids into patients who paid $8,000. It is absolutely clear what the result of research at Ambrosia will be; you don’t even have to wait until the end of the experiment.

Meanwhile, more and more calls are appearing in the media not to take the bait of scammers and, if you have an extra 8,000, spend it to greater benefit for yourself and your loved ones. The University of California expressed itself more categorically - they are confident that there is no benefit from the transfusion, but the harm from poor quality of its implementation or as a result of certain force majeure is quite real.

Professors of medicine Irina and Michael Conboy, having conducted experiments on mice in California, did not see any rejuvenating or simply improving the condition of the animals. The real threat, according to these authoritative scientists, is the threat of donor cells being rejected by the body, which can lead to death. The position of the scientist spouses is clear:

On February 19, 2019, anti-transfusion fighters won their first serious victory - FDA chief Scott Gottlieb openly called for the abolition of blood transfusions in order to regain youth. The government official expressed concern about the growing demand for such "anti-aging therapy" and admitted that he was upset by the increase in the number of clinics providing such a service. However, in his speech the company owned by Jesse Karmazin was not mentioned.

The owner of Ambrosia refused to comment on Gottlieb's statement, but the effect of the FDA head's speech was not long in coming. Just a few hours after the speech was published, advertisements for the service disappeared from Ambrosia-owned websites, and in their place short advertisements appeared in which the company announced that it would cease performing the procedures indefinitely “in accordance with the FDA’s statement dated February 19, 2019.”

It is doubtful that Karmazin and his wealthy curators will abandon their idea, so there is a possibility that transfusions will be carried out without noisy advertising or Ambrosia will pop up in some other country where they are not so concerned about the health and contents of the wallets of their citizens.