Human Longevity, a medical clinic in South San Francisco’s biotech corridor, feels more like a spa than a doctor’s office.
The floors of the 8,000-square-foot space are sleek and white, the walls bamboo with moss accents. Visitors are referred to as clients, not patients, as they are ushered into private rooms equipped with Wi-Fi, snacks, full bathrooms with showers, and cameras for Zoom meetings — a feature meant to accommodate executives who fly in for the day for multi-hour batteries of tests that can lead to tailored treatments.
More than just health care for the wealthy, Human Longevity is part of a lucrative and growing industry, a mostly privately funded sector that sells customers something priceless: the hope of achieving a longer, healthier life.
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Dozens of similar upscale firms — whose services are loosely defined as longevity, anti-aging, concierge medicine, executive health or some combination of those terms — have opened in recent years all over the world, including in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles and Dubai. The global longevity market, estimated at $19 billion in 2023, is expected to reach $63 billion by 2035, according to Market Research Future, an industry research group. At Human Longevity, annual membership will cost you $8,000 to $19,000. The company currently has more than 10,000 clients.
The Bay Area, where the average age is rising at one of the fastest rates in the U.S., is uniquely situated for — and perhaps uniquely receptive to — the longevity industry. The region has long been a hub of innovation, wealth and healthy living. And in recent years, some high-profile tech executives’ preoccupations have turned to longevity, with billionaires like Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison reportedly investing millions in anti-aging research aimed at extending lifespan, and evangelizing lifestyles that, in theory, would extend human life.
Indeed, business has been good at Human Longevity’s Bay Area clinic, the company says.
But while life-extending-focused clinics like Human Longevity make lofty claims for their effectiveness, some medical professionals are skeptical. They point out that the additional medical testing that is key to their value proposition can lead to unnecessary, and potentially harmful, interventions. Though this kind of care is appealing to consumers, these experts say, more research is needed to determine whether it actually leads to long-term benefits — or longer lifespans.
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Human Longevity plans to move its headquarters to San Francisco. Gabrielle Lurie/S.F. Chronicle
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