A California-based startup company is charging volunteers aged 35 and older $8,000 to participate in a clinical trial where they will be infused with the blood of younger people to see if their age-related biomarkers improve.
Can aging be reversed through a transfusion of young blood?
This is what a California-based startup company called Ambrosia hopes to find out in its new clinical trial, notes Quartz.
According to ClinicalTrials.gov, the approximately two-year-long study is projected to involve around 600 participants aged 35 and older who “will receive an infusion of plasma derived from a young donor 16-25 years of age.”
It goes on to state that “a panel of age-associated biomarkers will be measured before and after treatment.”
These include 100 measures related to aging such as disease advancement and organ function.
The transfusion idea got a boost from a 2014 Stanford University experiment in which older mice were shown to function better after receiving blood from younger members.
Despite receiving FDA approval, the trial has been criticized for the $8,000 fee Ambrosia is charging from participants.
Experts have also pointed out that the resulting conclusions will be questionable since the research lacks a control group.