Column: As age-obsessed billionaires turn to ‘vampire’ therapies, the FDA takes a stand
There’s nothing new about wanting to cheat death. What’s different now is the combination of enormous wealth being focused on such endeavors and technological breakthroughs that promise a shot at longevity.
There’s nothing new about wanting to cheat death. What’s different now is the combination of enormous wealth being focused on such endeavors and technological breakthroughs that promise a shot at longevity.
By David LazarusBusiness Columnist
Feb. 20, 2019
10:20 AM
The federal government finally took a stand this week on vampires feasting on the blood of the young.
It’s against the practice.
Actually, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about older people injecting themselves with the blood plasma of young donors — a fringe therapy that’s marketed as a way to fight aging and a variety of illnesses, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Simply put, we’re concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors touting treatments of plasma from young donors as cures and remedies,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. “Such treatments have no proven clinical benefits for the uses for which these clinics are advertising them and are potentially harmful.”
https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-fda-vampires-using-the-blood-of-the-young-20190219-story.html