Ha! All going well so far. They tell me the third arm growing out of my forehead will eventually drop off and I’ll be back to normal in no time.
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Overall how are you feeling after the plasmapheresis treatments? better, worse, fatigued, energized?
What is the possibility that you are in the placebo group?
About 25% I think - there are 4 arms to the trial. I suspect that I am in the placebo group.
No noticeable changes after the plasmapheresis procedures.
Great! Really interested to hear about your experience!
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:
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Thanks for this post. Ive been looking forward to your report.
I’ll bet you were in the control arm. If you were, and if they offer you free actual treatments would you take them now?
As part of the study, if you are in the control arm (and the study shows positive benefit to participants getting the plasmapheresis) they promise you the 3 months of treatments (total of 6 sessions, 3 hours each).
So - if I’m in the control arm I do hope that I’ll eventually get the treatment.
The treatment itself (as far as I can tell) is not unpleasant at all, its easy and pretty convenient, and so yes, I would definitely get the actual treatments if I haven’t already gotten them.
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Great, thanks. Either way i hope you get the real treatment.
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I did a little digging and I found this, which is breaks down the cost of TPE for patients with Neurological disorders in the UK.
I think it’s interesting to compare the cost with treatment in the US. In the UK because of the NHS prices are much more tightly controlled. It should be possible for a company in the US to get the prices down to something a little more accessible to the average person.
pex-for-neurological-conditions-flyer.pdf (334.1 KB)
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Great information! Thanks for posting…
In the UK, 4 TPE (Therapeutic Plasma Exchange, also called “plasmapheresis”) per month for “only” £3,196 (or $3,850 US), suggesting that the 2 per month, for 3 months like the series that I got could reasonably cost around $6,000 for the complete set.
patient receiving TPE as an alternative therapy would require approximately four TPE sessions per month at a cost of £3,196 (£38,352 per year) + approximately five bottles of Human Albumin replacement fluid solution at a cost of £840 per month (£10,080 per annum).
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I just noticed this statement in the document:
NHSBT provides approximately 9,000 apheresis procedures per year, supporting over 1,500 patients.
I may be wrong, but from the sounds of the document this is for the UK’s entire national healthcare system… so while 9,000 apharesis proceedures sounds like a lot… its only 1,500 people… so a tiny drop in the bucket if people start using this process for aging… in which case the potential patient population quickly grows to millions of people …
If, as I’ve heard from the plamaspheresis clinicians, there are already shortages of albumin in the clinics… this seems likely to be the bottleneck for this therapy (and lower prices) for the future…
We need a way to synthetically / manufacture albumin and not rely on blood donations…
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Some neurological disorders are treated with plasmapheresis in USA, actually the same as in UK. The treatments are covered by all medical insurances. The protocol for antiageing may be different.
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Hi Rapadmin, here is an interesting video on longevity interventions that has a positive review of plasma exchange: High-Impact Rejuvenation Strategies #healthspan #rejuvenation - YouTube
Rapamycin and acarbose are also discussed as well as others.
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Did you find out if you got the real treatment?
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Not yet. I will post when I find out.
Dr. Kiprov ruled out those taking rapamycin. So, when you got in, the decision seemed a little off. But not if it had been preordained that you would be a control. Eventually, and probably soon, they’ll atone for their trickery.
Since I stopped taking rapamycin 3 weeks prior to the start of the program I wasn’t officially “on rapamycin” so didn’t mention it at all to them. And I didn’t take rapamycin during the 3 months I was in the trial.
Maybe you didn’t tell them, but there’s the picture that accompanies your posts in this forum. Very distinctive. And how many people are named RapAdmin? They knew.
I’ll stick with free plasma donation.
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