--- title: "Women Take Peptide Injections at “Age Reversal” Event, End Up Leaving in Ambulances" description: "Two women, who attended the \"Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival\" in Las Vegas, received peptide injections, had to be hospitalized." date: "2025-08-02" modified: "2025-08-02" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/women-injections-age-reversal-event-ambulances" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Treatments" --- # Women Take Peptide Injections at “Age Reversal” Event, End Up Leaving in Ambulances ![Two women, who attended the "Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival" in Las Vegas, received peptide injections, had to be hospitalized.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Two women who attended an event in Las Vegas called "Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival" — please bask in the red flags that have already appeared in this sentence — received peptide injections at a booth organized by an unlicensed physician specializing in "age reversal" therapies. As [*ProPublica* reports](), not long after receiving the shots at a conference booth, they both fell ill and had to be wheeled off in ambulances. They were hospitalized and left in critical condition, highlighting the severe dangers of unlicensed therapies. Their tongues reportedly started swelling up, and one had to be intubated. The other woman lost control of the muscles in her neck and couldn't open her eyes, per a police report. Public health investigators are now looking to determine if anybody else at the festival experienced a similar fate. Local law enforcement determined that up to seven people at the conference had been hospitalized as well. The news comes as noted anti-vaxxer and Health and Human Services secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has promoted the amino acid chains known as peptides as a way to stave off aging. Last year, Kennedy [vowed]() to end the Food and Drug Administration's purported "war on public health," accusing it of "aggressive suppression" of various potentially dangerous substances, including peptides. Kent Holtorf, the doctor overseeing the booth, has similarly called for looser regulations for alternative therapies, *ProPublica* reports. He had to hire a practitioner to carry out one of the injections, since he's not licensed in Nevada. A second contracted practitioner, who administered the injection to the second woman, also didn't have the necessary Nevada licenses. Holtorf — whose practice was [chastized by the Federal Trade Commission]() for claiming that its peptide therapies could prevent COVID-19 — told *ProPublic* that he doesn't think "it was the peptides, but I don’t want to try and push the blame and say it wasn’t us." Investigators have yet to determine the exact cause of the illness or whether it was indeed related to the injections. Holtorf told *ProPublica* that he's not sure where the peptides that were used in his booth came from. Peptides are already approved in dozens of medications for the treatment of various health problems, including cancer and diabetes. However, its use for age reversal or regenerative health by compounding it into new formulations remains unreviewed by the FDA. At least 18 of the most popular compounding components of popular peptide treatments have been deemed to have "significant safety risks" by the agency. At least one component in one of the peptide concoctions one of the two women received is on that list. The so-called "Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival" in Las Vegas is part of a much broader network of for-profit entities claiming to have discovered the fountain of youth, helping people achieve "immortality." But given the latest news, these unorthodox approaches, especially when deemed as unsafe by regulators, come with plenty of risk. Considering the current political climate — and the fact that an anti-vaxxer who champions the use of potentially dangerous alternative medicines is in charge of the HHS — it's unlikely to be the last time we hear of such incidents. **More on anti-aging:** *[Evidence Grows That Tripping on Shrooms Might Increase Your Lifespan]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()