Two Women Fall Ill After Shots at Anti-Aging Forum

Two women who received injections aimed at slowing the aging process at a Las Vegas conference this month ended up on ventilators in the hospital, reports ProPublica. Public health authorities are investigating what went wrong at the Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival. The women—a 38-year-old from California and a 51-year-old from Nevada—are recuperating. Both received peptide injections, an alternative health therapy that has grown in popularity "thanks in part to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s promotion of the amino acid chains as a way to fight aging and chronic disease." Kennedy has vowed to end what he calls the FDA's "war on peptides," per the story.

However, the doctor who oversees the booth that injected the women insists that peptides are not to blame. "Of course, I want to get to the bottom of it," said Kent Holtorf. "But almost assuredly it will come out that it was not the peptides." Holtorf is licensed in California, not Nevada, and he said he therefore hired a practitioner to operate the booth. The story notes that the FDA approves certain "peptide-based medications" for issues including cancer, diabetes, and obesity. But the ones in anti-aging therapies are formulated by what are known as compounding pharmacies, and compounded drugs are not sanctioned by the FDA. "The agency also has found 'significant safety risks' with at least 18 of the most popular peptide compounding components," per ProPublica. Read the full story.