Blood infusion startup Ambrosia — a company that promised to slow aging with the plasma of young people — stopped patient treatments Feb. 19 following an FDA announcement that the practice had "no proven clinical benefit."
A recent Bloomberg report looks at the origins of the company. Seven takeaways:
1. Ambrosia was founded by Jesse Karmazin, MD, a graduate of Stanford (Calif.) University Medical School. Dr. Karmazin dropped out of his residency to found Ambrosia in 2016.
2. Ambrosia buys the plasma of people under age 25 from blood banks. It then sends it to partner physicians in Florida and California who perform the infusions on patients. Samples of patient blood are taken before the infusion and one month after, according to the report.
3. Ambrosia was named after the food eaten by the Greek gods, said to provide longevity or immortality.
4. Dr. Karmazin drew inspiration from "parabiosis," a practice that involves infusing the blood of a younger mouse into an older mouse. The practice has been researched for nearly 150 years, according to Bloomberg, and was recently revived with new studies that say it has made improvements in older mice. Scientists told Bloomberg there is not enough evidence yet to use the practice in humans.
5. Dr. Karmazin told Bloomberg the treatment reduced precancerous cells and Alzheimer's indicators by up to 20 percent. He said he planned to publish his results after peer review.
6. Ambrosia has treated 150 patients, according to the report. It charges $8,000 for the infusion of one liter of young plasma.
7. Though the startup halted treatments, it did not require FDA approval, as blood transfusions are already an approved procedure.
Read more here.
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