The controversial tech millionaire obsessed with anti-aging is undergoing $25K gene therapy not approved by the FDA

• Bryan Johnson travels to a remote Caribbean Island for one of his anti-aging treatments, he says.
• The gene therapy costs $25,000 a treatment; it's not FDA-approved.

Bryan Johnson has added another expensive treatment to the routine he hopes will turn back his biological clock.

The 46-year-old tech millionaire has said he spends about $2 million a year on his efforts to live longer and reverse his so-called biological age. He calls the program Project Blueprint — and it's now led him to a remote Caribbean island for injectable gene therapy.

Johnson had his first round of follistatin therapy offered by biotech startup Minicircle in September, he said on Instagram.

Follistatin is a protein in the human body that is said to help increase muscle mass and reduce inflammation. It would cost the average customer $25,000 a dose.

It's important to note that it's not approved by the FDA — and some scientists have said they aren't sure it even works. Minicircle is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Bloomberg reported. The company hasn't yet published data on medical trials, the report said.

"Received my first gene therapy yesterday: follistatin. I am now a genetically enhanced human (GEH)," Johnson wrote. He didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Although Johnson is apparently spending millions of dollars on antiaging, Minicircle's co-founder told Bloomberg the company isn't charging the multimillionaire. The startup didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

"He's by far the most high-profile person to come down here," Mac Davis, the co-founder of Minicircle, told Bloomberg. "Bryan is giving us something worth more than what we would charge him."

Johnson has said his team of doctors at Project Blueprint has helped him have the skin of a 28-year-old, the heart of a 37-year-old, and the lung capacity of an 18-year-old. These claims of course haven't been independently verified — and there's fierce debate on what exactly "biological age" even is.

In 2020, the entrepreneur decided to try to live forever, and it has meant trading in junk food and late nights for dozens of supplements and a vegan diet.

Johnson amassed most of his fortune by founding the payments processing company Braintree and selling it to eBay for $800 million in 2013.