The founder of David Protein, maker of popular high protein nutrition bars, was announced at X on Monday, longevity guru Dr. Peter Attia has “stepped down from his role as Chief Science Officer at David”.
The announcement comes after Attia’s name appeared in more than 1,700 documents, including email correspondence, released Friday as part of a massive dump of records related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. according to the New York Times. Attia served on the executive team of the food startup and was also one early investor.
For those unfamiliar, Attia is a Canadian-American physician who has become one of the most prominent voices in longevity and preventative health. He is best known for his bestselling book, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, and his now seven-year-old podcast, where he explores optimization strategies. He was also hired just last month as an associate at CBS.
Three-year-old New York-based David Protein raised a $75 million Series A funding round in May last year led by Greenoaks, with participation from Valor Equity Partners. The company has seen significant growth since launching its flagship protein bar in September 2024, a product it describes as having 28 grams of protein, zero sugar and 150 calories.
In a long posting on XAttia wrote that he was “ashamed” of some of the crude content in his emails with Epstein, but also said he was not involved in criminal activity and never visited Epstein’s island or traveled on his plane. Attia also discussed at length how he met Epstein and why he stayed with him even after Epstein. conviction 2008.
The implications seem to extend beyond David Protein. It also appears that Biograph, the health care and longevity testing startup Attia co-founded with entrepreneur John Hering, may be moving away from the doctor. The company declined to comment on Attia’s continued involvement with the startup or about pages on its website that mentioned him but now omit his name or return a “file not found” error.
Biograph came out of stealth a year ago, TechCrunch previously reported, with backing from investors including Vy Capital, Human Capital, Alpha Wave and WndrCo, along with angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan. Like a growing number of medical concierge companies, Biograph offers premium preventive health services to subscribers who pay between $7,500 and $15,000 a year. Attia was formerly called at company press release and site as a co-founder.
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