FDA Cracks Down on Unauthorized Use of Plasma Treatments for Aging, Other Illnesses

In the seventeenth century, Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory bathed in the blood of young women she murdered in order to sustain her beauty. Blood, albeit more freely given, continues to be an attractive tool for some who want to stave off the effects of age. Individuals have been using plasma infusions from young donors as a way to maintain a young and healthy look, but now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning against the practice. On Tuesday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency has become aware of some medical practices in several states offering infusions of plasma from young donors to stave off aging effects, as well as other conditions, such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Gottlieb said there is no evidence that supports the use of plasma for these conditions and warned that there is no regulatory safety oversight of these infusions being offered. Gottlieb said people are falling prey to “unscrupulous actors touting treatments of plasma from young donors as cures and remedies”