• Skip to main content
Search
  • Home
  • Services
      • Behavioral Health
      • Bloodless Medicine
      • Brain & Spine
      • Cancer Care
      • Ear, Nose and Throat
      • Emergency Care
      • Senior Health
      • Heart & Vascular Care
      • Home Health Care
      • Immediate Care
      • Medical Imaging
      • Minimally Invasive Surgery
      • Orthopedics
      • Pregnancy & Childbirth
      • Primary Care
      • Rehabilitation Services
      • Weight Loss Surgery
      • Wound Healing & Care
      • Women's Health
  • Doctors
      • Find a Primary Care Doctor
      • Find a Doctor
      • Physician Referral
      • Practices:

        Baptist Primary Care
      • Baptist AgeWell
      • Baptist Behavioral Health
      • Baptist Endocrinology
      • Baptist ENT Specialists
      • Baptist Heart Specialists
      • Baptist Infectious Diseases
      • Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Physicians
      • Baptist Neurology
      • Baptist Pediatrics
      • Baptist Pulmonary Specialists (Nassau)
      • Baptist Rheumatology
      • Baptist Urology Group (Nassau)
      • Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute
      • Lyerly Neurosurgery
  • Locations
    • Our Hospitals:

      • Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville
      • Baptist Medical Center South
      • Baptist Medical Center Beaches
      • Baptist Medical Center Nassau
      • Baptist Heart Hospital
      • Wolfson Children's Hospital

      Emergency Rooms (ER):

      • All ER Locations

      Imaging:

      • By Location

      • Imaging Center Locations
      • By Service

      • MRI
      • Bone Density
      • Screening Mammography
      • Diagnostic Mammography
      • Ultrasound
      • Vascular Ultrasound
      • CT Scan
      • PET Scan
      • Nuclear Medicine
      • X-Ray

      Urgent Care Locations:

      • Baptist Health Clinics at Walgreens
      • CareSpot Urgent Care

      Outpatient Locations:

      • AgeWell Center for Senior Health
      • Baptist Clay Medical Campus
      • Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center
      • Baptist Neurodiagnostic Center
      • Baptist North Medical Campus
      • Heart and Vascular Testing Centers
      • Hill Breast Center
      • Infusion Center
      • Pharmacy
      • Rehabilitation Centers
      • Robotic Spine Surgery
      • Sleep Centers
      • Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center
      • Surgery Centers
      • Wound Care

      Health & Wellness:

      • 4her Wellness Resources for Women
      • JCA Wellness Connexion
      • Y Healthy Living Centers
  • Patient Info
      • Billing & Insurance Information
      • Insurance Plans Accepted
      • Cost Estimate Request
      • Financial Assistance Program
      • My Baptist Connect (Patient Portal)
      • Medical Records
      • Classes and Events
      • Clinical Trials
      • Tell Us What You Think
  • Health Library
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Symptoms
      • Tests
      • Surgeries and Procedures
      • Injuries
      • Nutrition
      • Poison
      • Drug Information
      • Drug Images
      • Health News
      • Video Library
  • About Us
      • Administration
      • Awards & Honors
      • Careers
      • Provider Opportunities
      • Baptist MD Anderson Provider Opportunities
      • Spiritual Care
      • Social Responsibility
      • Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)
      • Corporate Wellness (PATH)
      • Volunteering
      • Newsroom
  • Juice
      • Health News Overview:

      • Aging Well
      • Brain, Spine & Nerve
      • Cancer
      • Child Health
      • Community Health
      • Diabetes
      • Ear, Nose & Throat
      • Heart & Vascular
      • Lungs, Breathing & Sleep
      • Mental Health
      • Orthopedics, Bones & Muscles
      • Pregnancy & Childbirth
      • Primary Care
      • Wellness
      • Women's Health
      • Men's Health
  1. Home
  2. Health Library
  3. Health News
  4. 'Miracle' Young Blood Infusion Treatments Unproven, Potentially Harmful: FDA

'Miracle' Young Blood Infusion Treatments Unproven, Potentially Harmful: FDA

TUESDAY, Feb. 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- They're often called "vampire" treatments, in which people undergo infusions of a young donor's blood plasma to treat everything from aging to Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

But these expensive "fountain of youth" therapies are unproven and potentially unsafe, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned on Tuesday.

"Simply put, we're concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors touting treatments of plasma from young donors as cures and remedies," FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in an agency news release. "Such treatments have no proven clinical benefits for the uses for which these clinics are advertising them and are potentially harmful."

According to the FDA, the use of plasma infusion therapies is on the rise across the United States, often costing thousands of dollars per treatment. The service is being offered by businesses in many states to allegedly treat conditions ranging from normal aging and memory loss to serious disorders such as dementia, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Plasma -- the liquid portion of blood -- contains proteins that help clot blood and can be used to treat bleeding and clotting problems. Plasma can benefit patients with severe injuries and those whose blood can't clot due to medications or certain illnesses.

But even under such approved uses, plasma carries risks that include allergic reactions, transfusion-associated circulatory overload, transfusion-related acute lung injury and infectious disease transmission, the FDA said.

"We have significant public health concerns about the promotion and use of plasma for these purposes," Gottlieb said. "There is no proven clinical benefit of infusion of plasma from young donors to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent these conditions, and there are risks associated with the use of any plasma product.

"Treatments using plasma from young donors have not gone through the rigorous testing that the FDA normally requires in order to confirm the therapeutic benefit of a product and to ensure its safety," he explained. "As a result, the reported uses of these products should not be assumed to be safe or effective."

In one example, HuffPost conducted its own investigation into Ambrosia, a startup company offering young plasma services it claims can ease a wide range of ailments.

Jesse Karmazin, Ambrosia's 34-year-old founder, said he was charging customers in multiple states $12,000 for treatments during which they received 2 liters of young plasma.

According to HuffPost, Karmazin said he didn't feel FDA approval of his own study of the merits of young plasma therapy was necessary -- and the results of the study have never been released.

Nevertheless, Karmazin told the U.K. newspaper The Times, "I'm not really in the camp of saying this will provide immortality, but I think it comes pretty close."

But the FDA believes that as with many experimental procedures, it's "buyer beware" when it comes to plasma infusions.

The agency's advice: Anyone considering using plasma for these unapproved uses should talk with their doctor first.

More information

The American Red Cross explains types of blood donations.

SOURCES: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, Feb. 19, 2019, HuffPost, Feb. 19, 2019; The Times (U.K.), Aug. 20, 2017

Daily Health and Medical News

  • Babies May 'See' Light While in the Womb
    December 03, 2019

  • Uncontrolled Asthma a Danger to Pregnant Women, Babies
    December 03, 2019

  • Are E-Scooters a Quick Ticket to the ER?
    December 03, 2019

  • Taking Several Prescription Drugs May Trigger Serious Side Effects
    December 03, 2019

  • AHA News: Vegan Diet May Decrease Heart Disease, Stroke Risk in African Americans
    December 03, 2019

© Copyright 2019 | All Rights Reserved

If you speak another language, assistance services
free of charge, are available to you.

Baptist Health Facebook Baptist Health Twitter Baptist Health on LinkedIn Baptist Health on Instagram Baptist Health on Youtube
Physician Login | Application Login | Employee Login
Quality Measures | Privacy | Non-Discrimination | Comments | Site Map