The pitch is irresistible: Pay enough money, take enough doses, get enough whole-body MRIs, and you can stave off death indefinitely.
A wave of clinics, drugs and techno-bro experiments now promise exactly that. Marketing has become so clever that it is difficult to explain the science behind it.
I’ve been writing about money for over 40 years. Every decade brings a new “you can buy your way to better results” pitch. Most of them don’t come out.
Before you sign up for the Executive Longevity Package, here are five things you should know.
1. The longevity industry is now a huge business
SNS Insider researchers weigh in on global longevity market $27.61 billion in 2025With a forecast of $67 billion by 2035.
That’s a lot of customers by the firm’s numbers, about 120 million of them in 2025.
What’s driving it? A massive aging population, an obsession with biological-age testing, and a flood of venture money. Mordor Intelligence reports that a single cellular-reprogramming funding round has now begun top $3 billion.
The longevity boom is no longer a fringe wellness fad. This is a healthcare megatrend. And like every megatrend before it, marketing has far outstripped the evidence.
2. The FDA does not consider aging a disease – so there are no approved anti-aging drugs
Here’s the part that brochures suppress. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves drugs to treat specific diseases. For now, aging isn’t one of them.
Translation: Every longevity drug you’ve heard of — rapamycin, metformin, peptides — is being used off-label. None have been approved to slow human aging.
This matters for two reasons. First, your insurance won’t pay. Second, there is little safety data for using these drugs as longevity tools rather than for the conditions they were originally approved to treat.
The American Federation for Aging Research has spent years leading a landmark trial TAME – targeting aging with metformin. The goal is to persuade the FDA to recognize aging as something treatable. Even after years of fundraising, it is still partially funded and incomplete.
So when a clinic tells you they’re prescribing the latest longevity protocol, remember that no regulator has signed off on it yet.
3. Even the most promising drug comes with serious strings attached
In July 2025, researchers at UT Health San Antonio published the first comprehensive review from the NIH National Institute on Aging. 20-year intervention trial program. Unusual compound? Rapamycin, which extended the lifespan of animals by 28%.
Feels amazing. This is the catch.
Rapamycin is an immunosuppressant. Its known side effects include impaired wound healing, elevated blood sugar, and higher infection risk. Long-term human safety data at low oral doses do not yet exist.
Brian Johnson – the tech millionaire who spends $2 million a year on his Blueprint anti-aging protocol – actually gave up rapamycin. He cited those exact side effects himself.
If the guy who turned his body into a science experiment can’t make it work, the rest of us should stop.
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4. The cost of doing everything is out of control – and out of pocket
When most people hear “longevity” they imagine a $50 supplement bottle. The reality looks something like this.
A Prenuvo Whole Body MRI Subscription Starts at $1,199 per year. Its Executive membership is $3,999 – or $4,499 if you’re in New York City.
Executive Health Checkup of Human Longevity That’s about $8,000 a pop. The Cleveland Clinic executive physical costs approximately $25,000. Mayo Clinic’s program isn’t cheap, either.
Do you want to copy Brian Johnson’s Blueprint supplement stack? Their main monthly bill is about $360. Layer on his entire protocol — every test, drug and monitoring device — and he says he spends $2 million a year.
And here’s the key thing: Practically none of this is covered by insurance. This is all out of pocket.
Now keep in mind, you are already facing huge medical bills. Fidelity estimates that a 65-year-old retiring in 2025 will spend an average of $172,500 on health care during retirement. Throw a $20,000 a year longevity habit on top of that and you’re trading the retirement you’re trying to grow for an unproven shot at increasing it.
5. Boring things still win
Now for the punch line. Decades of research – the kind paid for by NIH, not supplement companies – lies in the same boring spot.
A study published in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine in early 2026 tracked 59,000 UK adults. All it took was 15 extra minutes of sleep, 1.6 extra minutes of moderate exercise, and half the vegetables per day. Associated with a 10% decline in all-cause mortality.
Fifteen minutes. Not $20,000 per year.
Other research links a small set of basic habits — moving more, not smoking, managing stress, limiting alcohol, eating well, sleeping well, social connections — to about 20 more extra years of life for people who practice all of these by middle age. Add in proven daily practices like learning something new and staying socially connected, and the picture gets even better.
I’m not saying that every longevity tool is snake oil. Whole body MRI can catch real problems. Biomarker testing is really useful for some people. Knowing your numbers matters.
But if you’re an ordinary person with a normal income trying to maximize healthy years, the order of operations is simple: Consider the cheap, proven fundamentals first. Then, if you have money left, look at the fancy stuff.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that US life expectancy at birth has been affected by 79 years in 2024The highest in our history. We’re already living longer, and almost none of it has anything to do with $4,000 MRIs.
bottom line
The longevity industry will continue to gain momentum. The promises will keep getting bigger.
But until aging becomes officially curable and science catches up to marketing, even the smartest money game is the dullest: move more, sleep better, eat your vegetables, quit cigarettes and keep your friends closer.
If you do all this and still want to drop $1,200 on an annual MRI? go ahead. Just don’t exchange your retirement savings for an unproven pursuit of immortality.
This is a transaction in which the salesman wins every time.