Nevada regulators have fined three people who played a role in offering peptide injections last year at a Las Vegas anti-aging conference where two women became critically ill following treatment.

Last month, the Nevada Pharmacy Board levied $10,000 fines against a doctor and a pharmacist who are licensed in California but who don’t have permission to practice in Nevada. It imposed a $5,000 fine against a third man who describes himself as an “integrative health coach” but who doesn’t appear to be a licensed health care practitioner.

The pharmacy board also imposed a $10,000 fine against a Texas-based private membership association, which authorities accused of mailing the peptides to Nevada. The group, Forgotten Formula, claims a constitutional right to conduct private transactions with its members and contends those transactions occur “outside the scope” of state commercial regulations.

The citations stem from an incident in July at the Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival, which is put on by an Arizona-based organization that promises pathways to an “unlimited lifespan.” Dr. Kent Holtorf, whose anti-aging medical practice is based in El Segundo, California, operated a booth at the festival offering alternative health therapies, including peptide injections. Peptides are short amino acid chains that have exploded in popularity thanks to claims they can fight aging and chronic disease. 

The board alleged that Forgotten Formula mailed the peptides to the casino resort hosting RAADFest, marking the package “to the attention of Dr. Kent Holtorf.” That shipment constituted “unlicensed wholesaling of drugs,” according to the board’s citation.

A trustee of Forgotten Formula told ProPublica his association was not present at the festival and did not provide peptides to be offered for public use.

After being injected with peptides at Holtorf’s booth, two women left the conference in ambulances, so ill they had to be intubated to assist them in breathing. They have since recovered. 

The pharmacy board was unable to determine why the women became ill — including whether the injections were contaminated or the women reacted to the peptides themselves. Investigators were unable to test the serums.

“We were not able to obtain the product, although attempts were made,” said David Wuest, the board’s executive secretary.

Although the Food and Drug Administration has approved many peptide-based medications to treat serious diseases such as diabetes and cancer, peptide therapies used for anti-aging and regenerative health are largely unregulated. (Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been a strong proponent of peptides.) The FDA allows compounding pharmacies to dispense some peptides, but has listed 19 of some of the most popular peptides as posing “significant safety risks.” Compounding pharmacies are prohibited from dispensing those on the list. As a result, many unsafe peptides are sold on a booming gray market, including directly to consumers by entities in the U.S. and abroad that are skirting FDA rules.

The injections administered to both women at the Las Vegas convention included at least one peptide that the FDA warns poses a safety risk, according to the pharmacy board’s citations. Kennedy said recently that the FDA plans to reclassify 14 of the peptides currently listed as unsafe, which could allow compounding pharmacies to begin dispensing them. 

Holtorf, who did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him, was fined for practicing in Nevada without a state license. Han Bao Nguyen, the pharmacist accused of mixing the peptides for both women and administering the serums to one of them, also was cited for the same violation. Nguyen works at Holtorf’s practice, according to its website. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Michael McNeal, the “integrative health coach” and director of education at Integrative Peptides, a company founded by Holtorf, was accused of prescribing or recommending a peptide cocktail to one of the women. Wuest said McNeal does not appear to hold any health care licenses. McNeal did not respond to requests for comment.

In July, Holtorf told ProPublica he didn’t believe the peptides caused the women’s illnesses, saying he’d asked an artificial intelligence app to analyze the incident. He wouldn’t share what the app had concluded was the cause. He also apologized for the situation and said he was “reassessing everything we are doing” to keep patients safe.

Wuest said the board notified the California boards that license Holtorf and Nguyen of the fines so they may consider additional discipline. The FDA also has been notified, he said.

Michael Blake Fiveash is co-founder and first trustee of Forgotten Formula, which the board accused of unlicensed wholesaling of pharmaceuticals. He said pharmacy board regulations, while necessary for regulating public commerce, don’t apply to his association because it offers services only to members who have signed a contract. He said such member-to-member activity is protected by the First and 14th amendments. In a letter to ProPublica, he said Holtorf, whose peptide company is listed as a partner on Forgotten Formula’s website, was operating at RAADFest under his public medical practice, not as an association member. Nor were the women who became ill members of the association, Fiveash said.

“Dr. Holtorf’s booth at RAADFest was a public commercial activity,” Fiveash said in a letter. The Forgotten Formula Private Member Association “did not supply materials for public commercial use or public distribution. If Dr. Holtorf utilized any materials in his public professional practice, that would represent his individual choice to apply private member resources to his separate public professional activities, which is beyond FFPMA’s control or responsibility.”

Fiveash did not directly answer questions about whether the association mailed the peptides to Holtorf. He also shared a video of testimonials from Forgotten Formula members, including children and adults, suffering serious illnesses such as cancer, Lyme disease, diabetes and cirrhosis who said they were helped by the association’s products. 

He challenged the premise that the women became ill from the peptides. “Without comprehensive toxicology, full medical histories, and analysis of all substances and treatments administered that day, attributing causation to peptides is speculation masquerading as reporting,” he said. “Any adverse event is concerning, and we hope both patients have fully recovered.”

Laura Tucker, the pharmacy board’s lawyer, said this is the board’s first encounter with a private membership association making such legal claims, but emphasized that mailing drugs to the state without a Nevada license is against state law. She added that any of the parties can appeal their citations to the board.

“Of course anyone is free to make any sort of legal argument they would like to try to make in front of the board,” she said.

EXCLUSIVE: Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding and Mark Jenkin’s Rose Of Nevada will bookend the second edition of industry-focused UK event Picturehouse Create, running from April 15-18 in London. 

Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding will open the event on Wednesday, April 15, with the director in attendance. The film, starring Josh O’Connor, debuted at Sundance 2025 and will open in UK-Ireland through Picturehouse Entertainment on April 17.

Picturehouse Create will close on Saturday, April 18, with Jenkin’s Rose Of Nevada starring George MacKay and Callum Turner. Jenkin and producer Denzil Monk will join a Q&A following the screening, hosted by UK filmmaker Ben Sharrock.

BFI Distribution will release Rose Of Nevada in the UK & Ireland on April 24.

Industry panels will include ‘Apply Here: Film Funding in the UK’, in which Mia Bays, director of the BFI Film Fund, and David Kimbangi, senior commissioning executive at Film4, will aim to demystify pathways to financial support for short films and debut features in the UK.

A Stars of Tomorrow panel will look at the impact of the annual Screen talent showcase, featuring alumni Charlotte Regan, Archie Madekwe and Naqqash Khalid. Both panels will be hosted by Screen.

Netflix has joined Picturehouse Create as a Presenting Partner, backing the 2026 programme through its Generation N work that supports UK skills and training programmes.

“The UK is home to an extraordinary community of filmmakers and storytellers, and festivals like Picturehouse Create play an important role in bringing that creative community together,” said Ollie Madden, director of UK Film, Netflix. “Opportunities like this are exactly what our Generation N work is about.”

Further panels will include a discussion on film festivals with representatives from Edinburgh, Cambridge Film Festival and the BFI, a screenwriting masterclass, a day of events on the horror genre, including a discussion with directors Prano Bailey-Bond and Alice Lowe, and a speed meeting event with talent agents.

The Short Film Showcase will offer a $10,000 in-kind services prize from post-production firm Company 3, and a £1,000 cash prize from Picturehouse.

Further screenings in the festival include Francis Lee’s 2017 title God’s Own Country and Bailey-Bond’s 2021 Censor, with both filmmakers in attendance.

Additional events will be added to the programme, featuring executives from Film4, the BFI, and agencies Sara Putt Associates and Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.

Launched last year, Picturehouse Create aims to connect the independent filmmaking sector with the wider creative community. The ticketed event welcomes attendees with no prior filmmaking experience to hear from industry representatives from distribution, finance, production and exhibition, as well as filmmakers.

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A 4-year-old Las Vegas boy is battling Niemann-Pick Type C, a fatal disease affecting just 4 children in Nevada. His family is fighting insurance barriers, traveling cross-country for care.

Jordan and Jennifer Mitchell’s home is filled with love. Their son Liam, just 4 and a half years old, is doing what kids his age do — giggling and playing. But inside his body, a race against time is underway.

VIDEO: Abel Garcia talks to the Mitchell Family about their fight for their son and rare disease

Southern Nevada family fights rare ‘childhood Alzheimer’s’ disease while pushing for a cure

Liam is one of just four children in Nevada diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, a rare neurodegenerative condition often called “childhood Alzheimer’s.” The disease slowly takes away a child’s ability to walk, talk and even swallow, and it is always fatal. Without treatment, children with Liam’s form of NPC may not live past age 5.

“When he was born, he had a lot of complications right from birth… and that helped us get to a diagnosis — as terrible as it is, we found out early,” Jordan Mitchell said.

The family says they have seen progress through a careful regimen of medications and spinal injections. But keeping Liam stable comes at an extraordinary cost — between $1.3 million and $3.1 million a year — and the Mitchells say they have already faced pushback from their insurance provider.

“Knowing that these medications do work… but if the insurance says they’re too expensive, that’s it — that’s not easy to live with,” Jennifer Mitchell said.

When I asked the Mitchells about access to healthcare in Southern Nevada, Jordan was direct.

“The healthcare in the valley is not good for preventative or trying to treat these long-term problems,” Jordan Mitchell said. “They ultimately said we couldn’t figure it out… and ultimately we had to go out of state to get him treated.”

Because Liam cannot fly due to his compromised immune system, the family makes cross-country drives to access treatment and research.

“We don’t fly… we’ve done eight or ten drives to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and now to the test sites in Chicago once a year,” Jennifer Mitchell said.

Now, the family says hope is coming from a groundbreaking gene therapy study led by University of Iowa researcher Dr. Mark Schultz, which is showing promising results.

“We were able to prove that a gene therapy can cure Niemann-Pick Type C… we’ve funded a mouse liver study and we’re in the process of publishing that work,” Jordan Mitchell said.

To help fund that research, the Mitchells created a nonprofit — the Life for Liam and Friends Foundation — and host annual fundraisers in Southern Nevada.

“Don’t give up hope. If you aren’t trying, there’s no chance you’re going to get help… I am hopeful Nevada can improve healthcare so anyone can find the treatment they need,” Mitchell said.

The Mitchells say they will keep pushing, keep driving and keep loving their son for as long as they can.

Because families like the Mitchells have struggled to find specialized care here, I reached out to find out what else is being done. A spokesperson with Intermountain Health told me their first stand-alone children’s hospital planned for Southern Nevada will include neurology, with specialists on staff, when the hospital opens in 2030.

Meanwhile, 66 members of the Class of 2028 at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV received their white coats, marking their official transition from classroom studies to direct, hands-on patient care — a milestone that represents continued investment in building the next generation of doctors here in Southern Nevada.

If there’s something you’d like me to look into, email me at abel.garcia@ktnv.com.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.