Meet The AI Full Body- MRI Startup That Raised $21 Million

Forbes

Bryan Johnson is the self-proclaimed “most measured person in human history.”  Johnson, who became a millionaire selling his online payments startup to PayPal for $800 million, is the new poster boy for an old Silicon Valley obsession: “biohacking” your body to extend your lifespan. He takes routine measurements of everything from his blood to his stool as part of his anti-aging quest.  But Johnson told Forbes he believes there is one “gold standard” measurement tool to rule them all: the full-body MRI.  While startup Ezra and biohackers are trying to make MRIs mainstream, medical experts are concerned the full-body scans could do more harm than good — setting up people who have no specific risk of cancer or another illness for overtreatment and overdiagnosis.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2024/02/10/meet-the-bryan-johnson-approved-ai-full-body-mri-startup-that-just-raised-21-million/?sh=5021668145b2  Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, February 14.

00:05 Today on Forbes, meet the Brian Johnson-approved AI full-body MRI startup that just raised

00:12 $21 million.

00:15 Brian Johnson is the self-proclaimed "most measured person in human history."

00:20 Johnson, who became a millionaire selling his online payments startup to PayPal for

00:26 $800 million, is the new poster boy for an old Silicon Valley obsession, so-called "biohacking"

00:33 your body to extend your lifespan.

00:36 He takes routine measurements of everything from his blood to his stool as part of his

00:40 anti-aging quest.

00:43 But Johnson told Forbes he believes there is one "gold standard" measurement tool to

00:47 rule them all—the full-body MRI.

00:51 The medical imaging technique uses powerful magnets to generate highly detailed pictures

00:56 of your insides, including organs, bones, joints, and blood vessels.

01:01 Johnson loves them.

01:02 He said, "I just did an MRI on every joint in my body in preparation for stem cell therapy.

01:08 I'm doing one on my brain.

01:09 I'm using it to quantify my body muscle and fat.

01:12 In the next month, I'll be doing six MRIs."

01:17 One of his go-to providers of the service is New York-based startup Ezra, which uses

01:22 artificial intelligence to speed up the process, with the goal of making full-body scans accessible

01:27 enough that people get them regularly.

01:31 Usually MRIs are done for a specific reason—targeting a specific area of the body.

01:36 But for Ezra's founder and CEO, Ami Ghal—a biohacker and longevity enthusiast himself—regular

01:43 full-body scans should be a universal pre-screening tool—a way to catch any potential condition

01:47 you might have—from cancer to bladder stones—early enough to treat it.

01:52 Now, Ezra has announced a fresh $21 million in venture funding to take full-body scans

01:58 mainstream.

01:59 With $41 million in total funding, Ezra is now valued between $100 million and $150 million,

02:06 according to a person in a position to know.

02:09 Ghal said that since Ezra was founded in 2018, 7,000 people have done its full-body scans,

02:15 which cost $2,500 a pop and aren't covered by insurance.

02:20 About one-third of them are "the Brian Johnsons of the world"—wealthy biohackers who work

02:25 in tech.

02:26 The rest are what he calls the "cancer conscious."

02:30 But medical experts are concerned that full-body MRI scans could do more harm than good for

02:35 the majority of patients, setting up people who have no specific risk of cancer or another

02:40 illness for over-treatment and over-diagnosis.

02:44 Not to mention the skyrocketing costs of a bunch of unnecessary follow-up procedures.

02:49 Ghal said Ezra offers a "screening" full-body scan, and if it shows any indication of cancer

02:54 or one of 500 conditions Ezra looks for, it would be a follow-up diagnostic exam outsourced

03:00 to the patient's regular doctor.

03:02 He said, "If you ask 10 people on the street, 'Would you like to do a scan that might require

03:07 you to do a follow-up scan?' or 'Would you like to die of cancer?'

03:11 pretty much all of them will say, 'Give me the follow-up scan.'"

03:15 While this argument is logical and appeals to the average person, it's not grounded in

03:19 science, according to Matthew Davenport, a radiologist and professor at the University

03:24 of Michigan.

03:26 Professor Davenport told Forbes, "Not all cancer is the same.

03:30 Depending on the organ, anywhere from 15 to 75 percent of cancers are indolent."

03:36 Indolent is a medical term meaning that the cancer has a very low likelihood of spreading

03:40 or shortening their life expectancy.

03:44 This is why medical guidelines around screening for cancer always take into account the patient's

03:47 probability of getting cancer in the first place.

03:50 For example, does this person have a family history of cancer, or live or work in an environment

03:55 where they might be exposed to toxins?

03:58 Otherwise, this leads to what Davenport calls a "cascade of care," meaning work-ups, diagnoses,

04:05 biopsies and treatments that the patient might not even need in the first place.

04:10 He said, "It makes me sad, because I think these companies are preying on people's vulnerabilities

04:15 and fears.

04:16 Now they start living with this idea that they have something lurking in their body,

04:19 which never would have harmed them in the first place if it hadn't been detected."

04:25 For full coverage, check out Rashi Srivastava and Katie Jennings' piece on Forbes.com.

04:31 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:33 Thanks for tuning in.

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