Teenagers' blood being sold for $6,200 a shot

A company in the United States is selling transfusions of teenage blood, promising that the blood may contain anti-aging properties. The miracle blood is going for a whopping six thousand, two hundred US dollars a pint.

Similar to reverse plastic surgery

More than hundred people have been taken through a clinical trial at Ambrosia. Ambrosia was founded by Jesse Karmazin, a doctor who was trained at Stanford. In the Ambrosia clinical trials, the patients are injected with two and a half liters of plasma, the liquid component of blood that remains after the cells are extracted.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mr. Karzamin said that the early results have been encouraging. The Ambrosia founder said that the treatment is similar to when plastic surgery is carried out inside out.

Karmazin claimed that the treatment could help deal with issues such as a person's physical appearance, diabetes, memory, or heart function. He said that such ailments are all the problems associated with aging that arise from a common cause.

The Ambrosia founder said that while he is not one of those who believes that teenagers' blood could provide immortality, he is sure that it comes close to such a miracle.

However, scientists say that the procedure is not proven. They also warned that the Ambrosia clinical trials are not likely to provide any meaningful clinical data to support Karzamin's assertions.

Karzamin's experiment has also received criticism for failing to include a placebo group, and for asking people wishing to take part in the trial to pay an eight thousand dollar fee. Karmazin, however, says that it is not unusual for scientists to ask study participants to pay to participate in a trial.

Improved physical appearance

The Ambrosia trial is based on previous studies claiming that old mice injected with blood plasma from younger mice exhibit improved memory and ability to learn. However, the author of that particular study- published in 2014- asserted that there is no clinical proof that the treatment could have any benefits.

Speaking to Science Mag last year, the author, Tony Wyss-Coray, stated the experiment was being used to exploit people's trust.

In the Ambrosia experiment, surplus blood- preferably from teenage donors- is purchased from blood banks, and then separated from its plasma. Then a two and a half liter mixture from several donors is injected into the study participants. The test subjects have a median age of sixty.

In the experiment, the subjects do not have to be suffering from any ailment or to be of an advanced age. According to Karmazin, patients exhibited improvements on their appearance after going through just one treatment.