Why Your Peptide Vendor Cannot Show You the Study | Elias Arjan | The Owner Seat

Get your tickets for the Healthspan Summit October 1st - 3rd in Los Angeles, CA PROMO LINK is live - https://www.accelevents.com/e/the-2026-healthspan-summit?discount=Stratego Code "Stratego" 10% offYour vendor says clinically proven. Ask what the phrase actually means and most of the time the answer falls apart in under two minutes. This episode gives fitness, wellness, and longevity operators the exact questions to ask before a supplement, a device, or a peptide program goes in front of a single member. Because when an operator repeats a vendor's claim, the operator owns it.Today on The Owner Seat Podcast, host Albert Ramos sits down with Elias Arjan, Founder of the Healthspan Collective and Co-Founder and CEO of PRUVN Research, the company wellness brands hire to generate the actual scientific evidence behind their health claims, and goes behind the evidence problem in longevity:What "clinically proven" really means, and the ways it can be technically true and functionally meaninglessWhere the 90 percent bioavailability claim usually comes from, and what to ask to find outWho carries the liability when a studio owner repeats a claim a vendor handed themElias Arjan runs two businesses at the center of this industry. PRUVN Research, based in Los Angeles, builds the studies behind wellness health claims, including at-home virtual trials with no site visits. The Healthspan Collective convenes the clinicians, founders, and investors building longevity, including the Healthspan Summit, now in year four, October 1 through 3 in Los Angeles. His path there is the strangest resume Albert has read all year: fitness trainer, a decade as a circus performer and ringmaster, years as a principal art auctioneer running million-dollar rooms, then first executive hire at Biostrap, the clinical-grade wearables company. Ten thousand hours on a stage before he ever ran a research company. The reason underneath all of it is older than any of it. When Elias was nine, his mother nearly died and he watched the hospital system fail her. His stated mission is to move this industry from hype to evidence.This episode is for fitness, wellness, and longevity owners, franchisees, and multi-unit operators who are tired of:Vendors who say clinically proven and cannot produce the studyBioavailability and efficacy numbers with nothing behind themNot knowing whether a peptide offering is something they can responsibly sell todayCarrying the substantiation risk for a claim someone else wroteTop topics we coverThe evidence tiers, weakest to strongest. Ingredient studies, animal data, presale customer feedback, open-label pilots, randomized controlled trials, and where most of what is sold in wellness actually sits.Structure and function claims versus disease claims. The exact line between a supplement and a drug, and what happens to the brand and the retailer that crosses it.Inside a PRUVN engagement. What it takes, what it costs, and what percentage of companies find out their product does not do what they hoped.The operator's diligence checklist. The questions to ask a vendor, in order, and which answer means walk away.Peptides and the regulatory moment. What a clinic or studio can responsibly do today, what to wait on, and the risk of moving early.The Healthspan Summit and the conflict question. Elias curates the stage and sells exhibitor space to the same brands PRUVN sells validation services to. Albert asks him how he keeps that honest.How this episode helps you winIf you're a single-studio owner: You get a vendor script you can use this week, so retail and program revenue is not built on a claim you cannot defend to a member.If you're a multi-unit operator: You get the standard to write into vendor contracts once and apply across every location, instead of relitigating it site by site.If you're weighing acquisitions or outside capital: Unsubstantiated product claims are a diligence finding. This episode tells you where that risk hides before a buyer or an investor finds it for you.If you're a franchisor or emerging brand: You learn what evidence your own claims need to survive contact with a regulator, a franchisee, and a lawyer.Work with Albert, Fractional CFO for Fitness and WellnessI'm Albert Ramos, Founder of STRATEGO Intel Consulting and host of The Owner Seat. 16+ years of P&L ownership at Life Time Inc. (NYSE: LTH), Gold's Gym, and 24 Hour Fitness. I help fitness, wellness, and longevity brands ($500K to $30M) build cash visibility, unit economics, pricing and utilization models, and capital planning so every decision is clean and defensible.Book a CFO Strategy Call: https://calendly.com/albertramosjr-strategointel/youtube-podcastSubscribe to The Owner Seat newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7288029005239267328Website: https://www.StrategoIntel.comConnect with Albert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertramosjr/More from The Owner SeatNew episodes every Monday and Friday at 8:00am CST.Full library: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOwnerSeatPodcastSTRATEGO Intel: https://www.StrategoIntel.com