[Reporter's Note] Plasma exchange touted to slow aging — but Korea's market barriers remain high

Aug 03, 2026, 09:55 am

There is a person who spends around 3 billion won every year to slow down aging. He is Bryan Johnson, a wealthy entrepreneur from Silicon Valley in the U.S. To reverse his biological age, he conducted an experiment in 2023 in which he injected himself with plasma from his 17-year-old son. When it showed no effect, the following year he underwent therapeutic plasma exchange, where plasma was separated from his own blood to remove harmful substances and then reinfused. This is the background behind therapeutic plasma exchange emerging as a new rejuvenation therapy among the U.S. wealthy.

Therapeutic plasma exchange is originally a medical procedure performed to treat autoimmune diseases or nervous system disorders. However, as study results suggested that it brings positive effects such as reducing aging-inducing factors and strengthening immune function, regions including the U.S. and Europe began utilizing it as an anti-aging procedure. Demand expanded further as famous figures, including Hollywood actors and athletes, were known to have received the treatment.

There was a recent attempt in South Korea to commercialize therapeutic plasma exchange for anti-aging purposes, which had drawn attention overseas. ID Hospital's Exo Balance Center launched a full-scale premium anti-aging business centered around therapeutic plasma exchange last year. It actively engaged in promotion by recruiting Dr. Oh Han-jin, a family medicine specialist widely known to the public, as its center director.

However, interest overseas did not lead directly to domestic demand. The hospital is reported to have been operating in a direction that effectively suspended the related business since last month due to reasons such as a lack of demand. Although it secured some overseas VIP clients, it judged that maintaining operations was difficult because domestic demand fell short of expectations. Dr. Oh Han-jin, who served as center director, is also understood to have left the hospital recently.

High costs reaching tens of millions of won and medical evidence that has not yet been sufficiently accumulated are analyzed to have acted as entry barriers. Although there are some papers reporting that therapeutic plasma exchange lowered biological age, the participant size was small and the study period was short, making it difficult to view it as having proven actual life extension or age-related disease prevention effects. Since it is an invasive medical procedure that circulates blood outside the body, the risk is high, and the fact that it is difficult to feel the effects after the procedure is also cited as a limitation.

This also serves as an example showing that even if the domestic anti-aging market is growing, high-cost and high-risk medical technology does not immediately lead to public demand. The market threshold still appears high for opening the wallets of domestic consumers based solely on the expectation that aging can be slowed down.

The medical community believes that more sufficient verification is necessary to expand therapeutic plasma exchange, which has been used for disease treatment, to anti-aging purposes. Because aging is a process in which various factors act complexly, it is difficult to judge efficacy based on changes in only some biomarkers. While new medical services are emerging alongside the growth of the anti-aging market, the process of building trust in clinical evidence and safety will likely need to precede successful market settlement.

Bae Da-hyun

#Plasma exchange