OK - here is my experience from this clinical trial, which is basically over, though I’ll be going in for some more blood work over the coming months.
Sadly, I’m rather conflicted about it right now… because I haven’t noticed any difference over the past few months… if anything I feel less well than I did when I was on rapamycin (I stopped prior to the trial, and have not yet started up again).
So, the basic protocol is that you go in for a three hour plasmapheresis session. They stick one needle/draw into your left arm, and another (inbound) into my right wrist. Its all pretty simple, quick and non-eventful. You sit in a large recliner chair or tilting bed with lots of pillows and then put your headphones on and listen to a podcast or audio book for the next three hours. From the operational standpoint its actually kind of nice… when else do I ever get to sit down for three hours and listen to my favorite podcasts and audiobooks… so from that angle, it was great.
Right now the study is being run out of Dobri Kiprov’s clinic in Mill Valley, and the blood analysis is being done at the Buck Institute, which is just up the road in Novato. From talking with the doctors and others running the trial, my understanding is that the Buck institute is running all kinds of “omics” and biological clock analysis on our blood. We (sadly) won’t be able to get our individualized results (pre and post plamapheresis treatment) from the study, but they will share with us our combined group results. I did my own blood testing prior to going in, so I’m going to repeat that now that I’m out of the trial, so I can see for myself any changes (in the more basic measures that I typically look at).
There were I think 4 different arms to the study - two 3 month arms, each with two plasmapheresis sessions done in one week during the month (one arm with some special post-treatment processes that they didn’t disclose), One six month (1 monthly session), and lastly a 3 month control group.
Each time you go in for the plamapheresis treatment they did a battery of tests and a questionnaire… the tests were pretty simple, grip strength, a balance test done by standing on 1 leg (timed), a timed sit/stand/walk fast to a line about 20 feet from the chair then back to the chair session. The questionnaire was about 5 pages of general how you feel / health questionnaire on a 5 point likert scale.
My functional test results were always very good - typically 58 to 60kgs grip strength, they had a balance test where you stood for as long as you could on one leg (eyes open)… and I always maxed out at 2 minutes, at which point they stopped timing, and then the sit/walkfast test also was good and I was told I was always near or at the fastest time in the study.
And… over the three months none of the measures really changed. So - either I’m in pretty good shape already and the plasmapheresis didn’t change much, or I’m in the control group. Its hard to tell… but from what I’ve read with other people saying they are experiencing greater energy after the plasmapheresis treatments (and me not experiencing that), I suspect I may be in the “control” group, but perhaps that increase in energy experience is more placebo than fact… we’ll see.
The study was run as a “single blind” clinical study, and it was pretty effectively done. All the pipes running into your arm are covered in black flexible piping, so you can’t actually see how much blood (or if any blood at all) is running through the pipes…and they then cover your arm up with sheets, and they have a large curtain between you and the equipment, so from a patients’ standpoint its impossible to see whether you are in fact in the trial and getting the full treatment, or not. Of course, the clinicians know if you’re getting the real or the sham treatment, so it can’t be a double blind study, but still I found it interesting how they are implementing the clinical study protocol.
If it turns out that this process has some significant benefit in terms of biological age reduction & health I can definitely see this becoming a common therapy that people will use; perhaps going into the clinic for a few hours on weekends or evenings. As long as the venipuncture goes well (and my understanding is that you need an experienced person for this… ) it all seems like a pretty benign, relaxing and even enjoyable procedure.
Cost may be an issue … as I’ve heard that some clinics charge $6K to $8K for each session right now, so perhaps something like $36K+ per suite of 6 treatments. I wonder what the key cost drivers of this service are? I wonder how much the albumin costs for this process? Will albumin shortages constrain the market growth over the next few years… if they are already having shortages, what will happen when a bunch of people start doing plasmapherisis as healthcare maintenance? Can the cost be lowered via competitive startup equipment companies making cheaper plasmapheresis machines, or multi-patient, high throughput devices (or personal devices you can use at home)? Can venipuncture be more automated or systematized via digital video and AI so mistakes are rare and simpler for clinicians? Perhaps these machines and treatments will be added to these longevity clinics / spas soon…
The group doing the clinical study will be writing up the results and publishing a paper, I’m told, sometime in the next year.
Some other details I learned while talking with the clinicians:
5% albumin used, full blood volume of plasma exchanged (3 hours of circulation per visit)
Grifols is one of the major supplier of Albumin, but the clinicians told me that this past year there have been shortages of Albumin and they’ve had to try creating their own dilutions for their clinic
Albumin is derived from blood donations, but is heavily processed, to such a degree that its classfied as a pharmaceutical by the FDA
The Albumin has a 1 year lifespan (frozen)
Some photos from my visits below:
