Highlights

  • Coinciding with the purported golden age of aging research, big-name investors have started longevity-focused clinics attempting to help clients live longer.
  • Some of these clinics include Peter Attia’s Biograph, Matt Kaeberlein’s Optispan, and J. Craig Venter’s Human Longevity.

We are currently in the midst of the golden age of longevity research. Rising interest, especially among wealthy individuals, in age-related disease prevention through regular medical testing has also gained momentum. Unsurprisingly, big-name investors from places like Silicon Valley have taken notice of this phenomenon, and some have responded by creating longevity clinics. These investors have started these clinics to address the new demand for preventive medicine that emphasizes optimal aging.

Along those lines, three big names and their startup clinics stand out to illustrate this occurrence: Peter Attia’s Biograph, Matt Kaeberlein’s Optispan, and J. Craig Venter’s Human Longevity. Delving into some of the details surrounding these companies may provide a better picture of what they are all about and how much they cost.

Peter Attia’s Longevity Startup, Biograph

Biograph, one of these clinics co-founded by longevity guru Peter Attia, has a website calling it the “most advanced” preventive health and diagnostic clinic. With a location in Silicon Valley and one planned for New York City, this startup longevity clinic was also co-founded by John Hering, another prominent figure in Silicon Valley known for founding the cybersecurity firm Lookout.

According to a press release, Biograph’s service will analyze over 1,000 data points taken from more than 30 evaluations to obtain a holistic picture of clients’ health profiles and optimize lifespan. Perhaps only decently wealthy people will partake in this service, though, since it comes with a steep price tag. In that regard, Biograph’s core membership costs $7,500 per year, and its premium Black membership, which purportedly provides deeper insights, runs $15,000.

Biograph is also backed by the companies VyCapital, Human Capital, AlphaWave, and WndrCo, as well as angel investors like Balaji Srinivasan. With all of its financial backing, estimating how much funding Biograph has raised is nearly impossible, though, because the company has declined to specify how much it has raised.

Interestingly, in a statement on X, John Hering said he was inspired to co-found Biograph by the cancer diagnosis of one of his partners, VyCapital’s Alexander Tamas. Along those lines, Tamas posted on X about a check-up he had in his late 30s, where he received an early thyroid cancer diagnosis. The cancer diagnosis served as a sort of wake-up call that probably saved Tamas’s life and spurred him to recommend that Hering get checked, also.

As far as Biograph’s efficacy goes, over 15% of its clients have reported discovering “urgent or life-alerting” health information from Biograph’s services. This means that Biograph may have helped to prevent disastrous health-related outcomes in these members, possibly helping to extend their lifespans.

Whole-body imaging being performed at a Biograph location
(Whole-body imaging being performed at a Biograph location | Biograph)

Biograph’s website does not say anything about using artificial intelligence (AI) in its preventive and diagnostic practices. However, on job boards, it appears the company is looking for a founding AI engineer to build an AI-powered assistant that may utilize this technology for longevity optimization.

Matt Kaeberlein’s Optispan for Healthspan and Longevity

Another longevity-focused startup, Optispan from aging expert Matt Kaeberlein, provides a service that says its overarching goal is to recover the “Lost Decade.” Here, the Lost Decade refers to the last 10 years or so that people spend suffering from age-related disabilities due to lacking preventive care or poor life choices. Another goal of Optispan is to confer an additional extension of lifespan, referred to as a Longevity Dividend.

Optispan attempts to recover life over the Los Decade and confer an additional lifespan extension referred to as the Longevity Dividend.
(Optispan attempts to recover life over the Lost Decade [grey region] and confer an additional lifespan extension referred to as the Longevity Dividend [turquoise region]. | Optispan)

To meet these goals, Optispan clinics provide a toolkit. In the toolkit, there are key providers that clients can meet with for advice regarding their health profiles. There are also longevity biomarkers, which the company does not reveal, used to develop a baseline risk profile for age-related complications. With the toolkit, providers can also develop personalized intervention programs and have follow-up evaluations to determine whether they work. Altogether, the Optispan toolkit’s purpose is to extend healthspan—the duration of life without age-related diseases—and possibly lifespan.

It remains unclear how much becoming an Optispan client costs; however, anyone interested can fill out a form to hear back from the clinic and find out. All the same, according to a Google search, based on the company website and industry standards, the service is likely to cost several thousand dollars per year. However, it is also unclear how Google AI made this assessment based on industry standards, so interested parties can only get a definitive cost estimate from Optispan.

Precision Longevity-Focused Care with J. Craig Venter’s Human Longevity

J. Craig Venter, an American scientist who led one of the first drafts of the human genome sequence, co-founded Human Longevity in 2013. The company aims to transform lives with preventive care options tailored to individuals based on their genetic profiles.

Accordingly, the company performs genome sequencing, detailed internal imaging, and advanced biomarker evaluation for personalized longevity care. With the company’s methods, they say they can detect the most common life-threatening illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, cancer, and dementia. In doing so, they devise treatment plans to prolong clients’ lifespans.

Human Longevity's preventive strategy based on precision medicine includes genome sequencing, detailed imaging, advanced biomarker evaluations, and longevity care.
(Human Longevity’s preventive strategy based on precision medicine includes genome sequencing, detailed imaging, advanced biomarker evaluations, and longevity care. | Human Longevity)

The costs for Human Longevity’s services encompass a full-body exam for $25,000, a Core package for $7,500, and a Platinum package for $19,000. The Core package includes whole-genome sequencing and blood and metabolomic analyses. The Platinum package, on the other hand, entails the same tests as the Core package but with a more in-depth level of insight provided.

Resolving Disparities Between Wealthy People Who Undergo Longevity-Focused Care and the Rest of the Population

The quiet boom in longevity startups dedicated to helping clients live longer also includes Andreessen-Horowitz-backed Function Health, estimated to be worth a whopping $2 billion. Furthermore, OpenAI’s Sam Altman has backed another startup, albeit not a longevity clinic, called Retro Biosciences, which has been in talks to raise a cool $1 billion.

Altogether, the possibility looms that more longevity clinic startups will develop, which coincides with all the new data uncovered in the burgeoning aging research field. However, the steep prices of several thousand dollars per year make participation in memberships available to only decently wealthy people.

Perhaps future developments will make longevity-focused clinical care available to people not considered wealthy in the coming decades. On the other hand, maybe this will not happen, and disparities between the wealthy receiving personalized longevity care and the rest of the population without such interventions will continue. Only time will tell.