The tech entrepreneur who once had his son’s plasma infused with his blood in an attempt to extend his own life now claims that he successfully slowed the aging process by undergoing an untested DNA editing procedure on a Honduran island, in September 2023.
Bryan Johnson, the founder and CEO of the neurotechnology company Kernal, has gained increasing prominence due to his highly publicized efforts to live forever — or at the very least slow the aging process. He only eats between 4:30 and 11 a.m., consistently goes to bed at 8:30 p.m. and takes more than 100 pills each day.
Johnson’s latest foray into anti-aging science took him to the Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras, where he received follistatin gene therapy in the form of two injections. The entrepreneur says that he spent $20,000 on reversible gene therapy developed by the method development company Minicircle.
“Humans currently have a max lifespan of roughly 120 years. However gene therapies have the potential to help break through that barrier,” Johnson wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Follistatin gene therapy ranks 7th among lifespan studies, extending mouse lifespan by over 30%.”
Johnson explained that he had previously considered gene therapy, but dismissed the idea due to safety concerns. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved DNA editing — which is why Johnson traveled to Roatan to receive two gene therapy injections.
“If a therapy caused, say, cancer in my body, there’d be nothing I could do to reverse the process,” Johnson explained in a video about the gene editing process. “What makes Minicircle therapy different is that it has a built-in kill switch. If my body reacts badly I can take the antibiotic tetracycline, instantly killing and deactivating the DNA molecules I’ve been injected with.”
Johnson claims that the gene editing injections, coupled with his other lifestyle choices, has slowed the speed of his aging to the point of only celebrating his birthday every 19 months.
“Sleep, diet, and exercise remain foundational,” he wrote on X. “These next-generation therapies further bolster our chances of being the first generation that has the choice of saying yes to continuous tomorrows.”