‘We could make a lot of money’: The health app saying no to peptides

Marc Hermann says about 10 people a day come to Everlab wanting peptides, the anti-ageing compounds favoured by biohackers, looksmaxxers and longevity influencers. The health start-up turns them all away.

“We could make a lot of money with peptides today, but we just think it isn’t safe,” the health program provider’s chief executive said. “We still have very limited medical studies concerning this topic, and therefore we just err on the side of caution.”

It is the kind of stance the Melbourne start-up wants to be known for as it tries to move from a service for the wealthy and the health-obsessed into something ordinary Australians might buy.

Everlab members pay for year-round diagnostic testing – blood panels, scans and the like, carried out at pathology and radiology clinics – along with doctor consultations, many done by telehealth, and AI-built health plans accessed through its app. The flagship program costs about $3000 a year.

When this masthead spoke to Hermann last July, it was widely viewed as a luxury, with a customer base skewed heavily towards affluent men.

Hermann said that has changed. Everlab now has more than 20,000 members, and the share of men has fallen from about 80 per cent to a roughly even split. Older Australians are signing up in greater numbers, he said, many less interested in a “bio-age” score than in having someone help them make sense of their health and act on it. “My main competitor is the GP,” he said.

Some health experts are sceptical. Extensive health screening can throw up incidental findings that lead to repeat tests, referrals, anxiety and cost, said Luigi Fontana, a University of Sydney professor and leading longevity researcher.

But it was too early to judge Everlab, he said. A service built around proper risk assessment and evidence-based prevention was worthwhile; however, one that became a gateway to unproven treatments such as peptides or biological-age testing was “not evidence-based medicine and may be useless, costly, and potentially harmful”.

On the peptides and unproven treatments, at least, Hermann agrees. The company operates as a GP practice and deals with Medicare, he said, and that shapes what it will and won’t offer.

The pitch to patients is now backed by serious money. Everlab has raised $65 million in a fundraising round led by Airtree Ventures, with backing from London tech investor Plural, existing US and European investors, and angel investors including Australian Test cricket captain Pat Cummins.

Hermann said the funding round valued the company at just under $500 million, up from a