The promise of eternal youth has captivated humanity for millennia, but today’s longevity industry has transformed ancient dreams into a booming commercial enterprise.
From peptide injections to biological age testing, Australians are increasingly experimenting with their bodies in pursuit of extended healthspans.
But as Four Corners investigative reporter Norman Swan discovered, the gap between scientific promise and commercial reality reveals a troubling landscape where profit often outpaces proof.
What happens when fear of aging collides with an largely unregulated industry?
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Inside the Biohacking Empire
At New York’s Biohackers World Conference, vendors peddle everything from capillary circulation devices to peptide suppositories. Their claims range from reducing brain inflammation to reversing aging by decades.
One exhibitor confidently declared that Brown’s gas helps the body heal from “virtually every ailment known to mankind.” Another promoted “Kiss Pepin” for sexual wellness, while a nearly 70-year-old vendor insisted she now looks as she did 20 years ago.
Los Angeles has become the natural home for longevity clinics, with chains like Next Health offering extensive menus of interventions. Their promises include early disease detection, mitochondrial recharging, and slowing the aging process itself.
The Commercial Model
Next Health founder Darren Shaw, a former surgeon, outlined his approach with remarkable candor.
The market is everybody, right? People are sick and tired of being sick and tired. What our promise there is that we will do everything possible to make your health span match your lifespan.
The business model relies on extensive blood testing, full-body MRI scans, and tailored supplement plans. Services include IV nutrient infusions, NAD+ therapy, cryotherapy chambers at negative 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and even plasma exchange—filtering blood through a machine.
When confronted about limited evidence supporting many treatments, Shaw dismissed concerns as “massively antiquated.” He defended full-body MRI screening despite major medical colleges not endorsing the practice.
Australia’s Peptide Problem
Australia’s longevity industry has exploded, with Four Corners identifying nearly 100 operators ranging from clinics to IV drip bars. Most concerning is the proliferation of unapproved peptides promoted by social media influencers with no medical expertise.
Dr. Tim Pianovski from the University of Queensland has been tracking this phenomenon. Needle and syringe programs on the Gold Coast have witnessed a staggering 600% increase in sterile equipment requests.
We don’t really know what the human side effects are. And so there’s just people experimenting and waiting for something to happen.
What Laboratory Testing Revealed
Four Corners sent three black market peptide samples to a Melbourne testing facility. Analytical chemist Grace Hammond discovered shocking results.
One sample labeled as containing 100mg of GHK-copper actually contained only 47.73mg—roughly 40% of the claimed amount. More alarmingly, it contained 7% free copper, typically used as an algicide for cleaning bathtubs and concrete.
Generally, it’s there as a marketing gimmick. The 7% copper that’s in there is there to make it appear blue. And essentially, it’s a marketing or a packaging gimmick. A dangerous one.
Most shocking was the TB500 sample, which contained no TB500 whatsoever despite being labeled as a 10mg dose.
Medical Clinics Operating in Gray Zones
Four Corners researcher Rachel Carbonell underwent a telehealth consultation to test how easily peptides could be prescribed. Despite blood tests showing a clean bill of health, she received prescriptions for four different peptides totaling nearly $1,200 for a month’s supply.
Professor Katherine Samaris, an endocrinologist who reviewed the treatment plan, expressed grave concerns.
It reads like a legal document that has been written to protect the company. Some of the peptides being prescribed will promote fluid retention, osteoarthritis inflammation, deranged glucose metabolism and increased diabetes risk. And the big question for me is cancer. We know that they act on cancer pathways.
The Regulatory Gap
Australia has two main regulators: the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Both agencies acknowledged concerns but essentially pointed fingers at each other regarding oversight.
Professor Robin Langham, the TGA’s chief medical adviser, insisted the agency works “extremely hard” to disrupt illegal advertising and importation. However, when pressed about doctors prescribing unapproved products, he deflected responsibility to AHPRA.
AHPRA acknowledged that practitioners may be “seeking to exploit the latest health trends by putting profits ahead of patients” but offered little concrete action.
Legitimate Longevity Science
Not everything in longevity research is snake oil. Serious scientists in places like San Francisco and Boston are pursuing groundbreaking work on aging mechanisms.
Longevity investor Carl Fleger explained the sector’s explosive growth.
The field has probably raised on the order of about 10 maybe 12 billion over the past 10 to 15 years. What’s special about aging and longevity biotech is that if it works it’s not only going to mitigate one age-related disease but it’s going to mitigate multiple age-related diseases.
Promising Research Directions
Companies like Retrobio Sciences are exploring cellular autophagy—the body’s ability to recycle cellular garbage that accumulates with age. They’re already conducting first-in-human safety trials for an Alzheimer’s drug.
Harvard Medical School’s David Sinclair, despite controversy surrounding some past claims, is pioneering partial epigenetic reprogramming. His company Life Biosciences recently began phase one trials attempting to reverse vision loss from glaucoma.
We believe we can treat every tissue, eventually do a whole body reset of the body to be able to be young again, and it takes about 6 weeks.
Dr. Greg Fay’s research focuses on regenerating the thymus gland, which produces critical T-cells for immune function but degenerates with age. His small human trial showed promising results, with participants experiencing strength improvements equivalent to reversing 10 years of aging.
Measuring Biological Age
Dan Belsky at Columbia University helped develop the Dunedin Pace test, which measures how quickly someone is aging rather than their biological age at a single point in time.
The test functions like a speedometer, with normal aging set at one year of biological change per calendar year. Values above one indicate faster aging; below one indicates slower aging.
We need measurements that we can take at the beginning of a trial and again after 3, 6, 12 months of intervention to tell us whether whatever we’re doing is moving our biology in the direction that would be consistent with slowing aging and extending healthy lifespan.
However, different epigenetic clocks don’t necessarily agree with one another, raising questions about their reliability.
What Actually Works
Professor Luigi Fontana at the University of Sydney argues that proven interventions already exist—they’re just not profitable for the longevity industry.
Calorie restriction with optimal nutrition can prevent multiple chronic diseases: cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, less neurodegeneration, less sarcopenia, less frailty, and therefore increasing your probability of living a long and healthy life.
The prescription includes:
- Primarily pescatarian diet rich in plants
- Regular exercise including muscle strengthening
- Calorie restriction with optimal nutrition
- Mediterranean-style eating patterns
Research dietician Dr. Tanya Thoris emphasizes that traditional diets like those from the Greek Peloponnese contain compounds unavailable in supplement shops. Cultural practices like periodic fasting and eating with family provide benefits beyond simple nutrition.
The Bottom Line
Popular interventions like NAD+ infusions lack human evidence despite widespread marketing. Professor Fontana was blunt in his assessment.
I think the NAD boosters are a complete waste of money. You can optimize your mitochondrial function by cutting back on what you’re eating, by not drinking too much alcohol.
While legitimate aging research holds genuine promise for preventing multiple diseases simultaneously, the commercial longevity industry largely operates in a regulatory twilight zone. Patients are vulnerable, spending thousands on unproven treatments with unknown safety profiles.
The irony is stark: proven interventions like proper nutrition and exercise remain underutilized while expensive, unproven treatments flourish. As one researcher noted, some patients take 30 to 40 supplements daily based on promises rather than data.
Norman Swan’s investigation revealed an industry where the distance between scientific frontier and commercial exploitation has never been shorter—or more profitable for those willing to make promises their products can’t keep.
