A company spokesperson provided a spreadsheet describing the effects participants reportedly experienced after using the treatment. The claims included improved vision in a 64-year-old woman, the ability to complete extended landscaping sessions in a 59-year-old man, longer badminton games, increased hand-grip strength, erections described as stronger than those achieved with Viagra, and even “increased bowel movements.”
An effective age-reversal drug could become one of the best-selling medicines in history. However, no treatment has yet been conclusively shown to reverse human aging. Questions have also been raised about Generation Lab’s approach to clinical evidence. Su said the company plans to launch a large-scale study involving more than 100 participants, although some people have already been offered the drug before robust evidence has established whether it is safe and effective.
The planned trial will reportedly be led by longevity physicians who also practice alternative medicine. One of them is Matt Cook, founder of BioReset Medical, a network of clinics that offers treatments critics describe as unproven, including stem cell injections. A 2021 report said Cook recommended a COVID-19 treatment that the FDA characterized as “deceptive,” including the use of nebulized amniotic fluid.
Cook said by phone that he initially agreed to prescribe the drug combination to Conboy and several other insiders. He said all of them were part of the same Silicon Valley “happening” focused on life extension. “My confidence that this would work was zero. Similarly, I had no faith that it would actually work,” Cook said, noting that the combination consisted of two commonly used generic drugs rather than an established longevity treatment.
However, Cook, who also took the combination, said he experienced significant effects. “I have to say this was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me,” he said. After receiving weekly injections, he reported a sense of mental clarity that initially lasted for one day and later continued for several days. Other participants described feelings of euphoria and the disappearance of longstanding pain.
“There was a wide range of symptoms that were pretty significant and didn’t really correspond to the effects of either drug,” Cook said. “That’s why it’s interesting. There are more questions than answers. I feel like we still don’t understand exactly what the mechanism is.”
Before joining Generation Lab full time in 2025, Irina Conboy spent many years at the University of California, Berkeley. She became known for widely cited experiments investigating whether characteristics associated with youth and aging could be transmitted between animals through the bloodstream. In a 2005 study, researchers surgically connected young and old mice. They found that the older animals’ ability to repair injuries improved significantly.
The findings suggested that young blood may contain molecular signals capable of restoring some regenerative functions in older animals. As researchers investigate potential biological signals, several startups have emerged, including Elevian, a Harvard spinout, and Alkahest, a company associated with scientists at Stanford University. These companies have raised millions of dollars to develop treatments for conditions such as stroke and Alzheimer’s disease, although their research has not yet produced significant commercial revenue.
Source: www.technologyreview.com