Travel to the Bahamas and—for the meager sum of $16,500—you could have stem cells injected into your joints. The in-vogue-but-uproven treatments are popular with celebrities and wealthy longevity advocates, including Bryan Johnson, who had stem cells produced by Swedish startup Cellcolabs injected into his shoulders, hips, and joints.
Stem cells sourced from healthy donors are the key ingredient for these lucrative treatments. But the donors who supply them don’t see much of that money. Those who supply stem cells for Cellcolabs’ treatments are compensated $200 per donation—for enough cells to provide 200 doses of therapy.
“We’re here to make