Compounds·metabolic other·hGH(176-191) fragment; lipolytic activity claimed, GH-receptor independent

AOD-9604 (HGH fragment 176-191): what six trials in 900 people found, why development stopped, and where it stands now

What 25 indexed publications and 0 randomized trials actually state about aod-9604, sentence by sentence, each tied to its source and labeled by the kind of evidence it is.

Human clinical trial Reviewed 25 Sep 2026 15 sources Updated 29 Sep 2026

At a glance

Evidence availability

Human clinical evidence

Strongest tier in the indexed literature

Indexed publications

Europe PMC, title or abstract, 2026-09-14

Human studies in ledger

3 randomized; study count, not efficacy proof

Approval

not approved

ChEMBL phase 2

Routes reported

inhaled, intraperitoneal, intravenous; oral, oral

from studies in this ledger

Studied in

Humans, Mice, Rabbits, Rats

10 primary studies in the evidence table

Reviewed by Adam Mirando, PharmD, on 25 Sep 2026. What changed

What AOD-9604 is, and what the six trials found

AOD-9604 is a peptide in the metabolic other class (hGH(176-191) fragment; lipolytic activity claimed, GH-receptor independent). Europe PMC indexes 25 publications naming it or a listed alias in a title or abstract, including 0 randomized controlled trials and 0 clinical trials of any design, as of 14 Sep 2026. The strongest evidence tier in that literature is animal studies only, with no indexed human study.

This page reports what those studies state, sentence by sentence, with each statement tied to its source and labeled by the kind of evidence it is. It does not recommend use, and it does not translate study doses into anything personal.

What the evidence level means

Publication counts show what is indexed, not how strong the evidence is. The ledger below separates human clinical records from preclinical, analytical, and in-vitro work.

Human clinical studies in this ledger33 randomized · 0 other human clinical

Evidence strengthNot yet assessedSeparate from evidence availability

Efficacy signalNot yet assessedRead the study result, not the tier alone

Interpretation boundary: An indexed publication count is a discovery measure. It does not establish efficacy, safety, approval, or a personal treatment plan.

AOD-9604 in two minutes

What it is. The fat-mobilising tail of human growth hormone, residues 177 to 191 plus a stabilising tyrosine, designed at Monash University so that the fat effect could be had without growth hormone's effects on IGF-1, blood sugar and growth. Also sold as 'HGH fragment 176-191'.

What the research actually shows. Six randomized placebo-controlled trials in 893 adults between 2001 and 2006, pooled in one sponsor paper: safety and tolerability indistinguishable from placebo, no IGF-1 rise, no effect on glucose tolerance, no antibodies. The two trials built to show weight loss, 300 people for 12 weeks and 502 people for 24 weeks on oral capsules and tablets, did not beat placebo, and the sponsor stopped in 2007.

The catch for the product people buy. Every trial gave it by mouth or by intravenous infusion. No trial has injected it under the skin, which is the only way it is sold.

Status. Not approved as a drug. GRAS as a food ingredient since 2014, which is not approval. Listed by WADA under S2. On and then off FDA's compounding category 2 list (2023 to 2024). Being redeveloped as LAT8881 for pain.

Where the evidence is thinnest. Efficacy by any route, and anything at all by the injected route.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

How it works

Written from general pharmacology and the development record, and marked as editorial synthesis; the measurements behind it are quoted in the biomarker section.

AOD-9604 is the last sixteen amino acids of human growth hormone (residues 177 to 191) with a tyrosine added at the front for stability, sequence YLRIVQCRSVEGSCGF, designed by Frank Ng's group at Monash University in the 1990s. The idea was that growth hormone's fat-mobilising action lives in this C-terminal region while its growth, IGF-1 and blood-sugar effects live elsewhere, so the fragment alone would burn fat without growth hormone's harms. The name is Metabolic Pharmaceuticals' code: Anti-Obesity Drug 9604.Editorial synthesis

Editorial synthesis from general knowledge
In rodents the fragment behaved as designed: it raised lipolysis in fat tissue, reduced weight gain in obese rats by half at 500 micrograms per kilogram a day by mouth, restored the repressed beta-3 adrenergic receptor in obese mice, and did nothing in mice lacking that receptor, which pins the mechanism to beta-3 signalling in fat cells. It did not raise IGF-1 or impair insulin sensitivity in any species tested, and that half of the design held up in people too.Editorial synthesis

Editorial synthesis from general knowledge
The other half did not. In about 900 adults across six trials, AOD-9604 was as safe as placebo and, in the two trials built to measure weight, no more effective than placebo. Why a mechanism that works in obese rodents failed in obese people is not explained in the literature; the sponsor moved the molecule to its successor company, Lateral Pharma, which is developing it as LAT8881 for neuropathic pain and joint disease on the strength of the rabbit cartilage study and in vitro nerve work, a different mechanism the abstracts in the ledger do not describe.Editorial synthesis

Editorial synthesis from general knowledge

What happened in the human studies?

This record's ledger holds 3 primary human studies, of which 3 are trials. Few enough to show in full: each card quotes what its abstract reported about AOD-9604. Read them before any other section on this page.

Pooled safety analysis of six randomized placebo-controlled trials humans 2013 Human clinical trial
Between 2001 and 2006 six human clinical trials with the hexadecapeptide AOD9604 have been performed, 893 healthy, in all but one study, clinically obese adults participated in these studies and are the basis of this safety evaluation.
Source doi-10-4021-jem157w · quoted verbatim from the abstract
Randomized controlled trial phase 2b, humans, (METAOD006) Human clinical trial
METAOD006: A Phase IIb, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the efficacy (reduction in body weight), safety and tolerability of 24 weeks treatment with different doses of AOD9604 tablets (0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, or placebo) in 502 obese adults.
Source doi-10-4021-jem157w · quoted verbatim from the abstract
Randomized controlled trial phase 2b, humans, (METAOD005) Human clinical trial
METAOD005: A Phase IIb (randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled) study to assess the efficacy (reduction in body weight), safety and tolerability of 12 weeks treatment with daily doses (1, 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg AOD9604) administered orally (capsules) in 300 healthy, clinically obese males, and females of non-child bearing potential, with a BMI ≥ 35 kg/m 2 .
Source doi-10-4021-jem157w · quoted verbatim from the abstract

Trial by trial: what AOD-9604 did, and did not do, in people

The six trials from the sponsor's 2013 safety paper, which is their only published account, plus the animal studies that motivated them.

Human trials of AOD-9604 (METAOD001 to 006) as described by Stier, Vos and Kenley 2013.
Trial	Participants	Route and dose	Duration	Result
METAOD001	15 healthy men	IV infusion over 20 min, 25 to 400 mcg/kg; growth hormone as positive control	Three single doses, 7-day washouts	29 mild adverse events, mostly headache, spread evenly across doses and placebo; no IGF-1 or glucose change
METAOD002	23 obese men, BMI 36 to 67	IV infusion, 25, 50 or 100 mcg/kg	Four single doses, 7-day washouts	Headache in 70%; one severe chest tightness possibly related; euphoria in 5 of 23 on drug, none on placebo
METAOD003	17 obese men	Oral capsules, 9, 27 or 54 mg	Single doses	No treatment-related adverse events
METAOD004	36 obese men	Oral capsules, 9, 27 or 54 mg daily	7 days	Well tolerated; more gastrointestinal events at 54 mg
METAOD005 (phase 2b)	300 obese adults, BMI 35 or more	Oral capsules, 1, 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg daily	12 weeks	Efficacy endpoint (weight) not met per the sponsor's later decision; five cancers as serious adverse events, judged unrelated, none at the top dose
METAOD006 (phase 2b)	502 obese adults	Oral tablets, 0.25, 0.5 or 1 mg daily	24 weeks, after 4-week run-in, with 30-day follow-up	Efficacy endpoint (weight) not met; safety indistinguishable from placebo; development stopped February 2007

Animal studies in the ledger.
Study	Model	Route and dose	Duration	Result
Ng 2000	Obese Zucker rats	Oral, 500 mcg/kg daily	19 days	Weight gain cut by more than half; fat-tissue lipolysis up; insulin sensitivity unchanged
Heffernan 2001	Obese mice; beta-3 receptor knockout mice	Intraperitoneal, chronic	14 days	Weight and fat down with restored beta-3 receptor expression; no effect in knockout mice
Kwon 2015	32 rabbits with collagenase knee arthritis	Intra-articular, 0.25 mg weekly, with or without hyaluronic acid	4 to 7 weeks	Less cartilage degeneration; shortest lameness with the combination

The two phase 2b results were never published as papers. What exists is the sponsor's statement that they did not meet their weight endpoints, its decision to stop, and the pooled safety paper. The FDA advisory committee that reviewed the compound in December 2024 worked from the same six trials.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

What the evidence shows

One row per primary study in this record's ledger. Fields are read from each paper's indexing and abstract. "Analytical method" marks papers about detecting or measuring the compound rather than about its effects.

10 primary studies in this record's ledger, strongest evidence first. A dash means the abstract did not state the value.
Study	Design	n	Species	Dose	Route	Duration	Reported outcome	Tier
Stier 2013	Pooled safety analysis of six randomized placebo-controlled trials	893	Humans	25 to 400 mcg/kg IV; 0.25 to 54 mg/day oral	intravenous; oral	single dose to 24 weeks	Between 2001 and 2006 six human clinical trials with the hexadecapeptide AOD9604 have been performed, 893 healthy, in all but one study, clinically obese adults participated in these studies and are the basis of this safety evaluation.	Human clinical trial
Stier 2013 (METAOD006)	Randomized controlled trial, phase 2b	502	Humans	0.25, 0.5 or 1 mg/day oral tablets	oral	24 weeks	METAOD006: A Phase IIb, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the efficacy (reduction in body weight), safety and tolerability of 24 weeks treatment with different doses of AOD9604 tablets (0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, or placebo) in 502 obese adults.	Human clinical trial
Stier 2013 (METAOD005)	Randomized controlled trial, phase 2b	300	Humans	1, 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg/day oral capsules	oral	12 weeks	METAOD005: A Phase IIb (randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled) study to assess the efficacy (reduction in body weight), safety and tolerability of 12 weeks treatment with daily doses (1, 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg AOD9604) administered orally (capsules) in 300 healthy, clinically obese males, and females of non-child bearing potential, with a BMI ≥ 35 kg/m 2 .	Human clinical trial
Kwon 2015	Animal study	32	Rabbits	—	—	7 weeks	Mean gross morphological and histopathological scores were significantly higher in Group 1 than in Groups 2, 3, and 4, and the scores were significantly lower in Group 4 than in Groups 2 and 3.	Animal, preclinical
Heffernan 2001	Animal study	—	Mice	—	intraperitoneal	—	Importantly, both hGH and AOD9604 are capable of increasing the repressed levels of beta(3)-AR RNA in obese mice to levels comparable with those in lean mice.	Animal, preclinical
Ng 2000	Animal study	—	Rats	—	oral	19 days	The adipose tissues of the AOD9604--treated animals were found to have an increase in lipolytic activity.	Animal, preclinical
Mazzarino 2026	Analytical method	—	Humans	—	—	—	Stability studies showed that all compounds were stable (variation lower than 15%) for at least two months at -20 °C in all the blood matrices considered.	Mechanistic, in vitro
Habibullah 2022	In vitro study	—	Humans	—	—	—	These dual-loaded Chitosan nanoparticles demonstrated greater anti-proliferative activity against a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) than doxorubicin-loaded Chitosan.	Mechanistic, in vitro
Thomas 2016	Analytical method	—	Humans	—	—	—	—	Mechanistic, in vitro
Bayés 2003	In vitro study	—	Humans	—	inhaled, oral	—	—	Mechanistic, in vitro

Doses reported in studies

Each entry is a sentence quoted from the study's abstract, with the study's design, sample size and year in front of it. Comparator doses in the same sentence are not attributed to aod-9604.

Intravenous doses of 25 to 400 micrograms per kilogram in the first two trials; oral doses of 0.25 to 54 mg a day in the last four.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
The 24-week phase 2b tested 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg tablets daily in 502 obese adults.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
The 12-week phase 2b tested 1 to 30 mg capsules daily in 300 obese adults.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
Single oral doses of 9, 27 and 54 mg, and seven days of the same doses, in the phase 2a studies.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
Obese Zucker rats received 500 micrograms per kilogram orally each day for 19 days and gained less than half the weight of controls.Animal, preclinical

Source pmid-11146367
Rabbits with collagenase-induced knee arthritis received weekly intra-articular injections of 0.25 mg, alone or with 6 mg hyaluronic acid.Animal, preclinical

Source pmid-26275694

Every AOD-9604 dose in the trials and studies, in one table

Every figure here was given in a trial or study. The subcutaneous microgram figures on vendor pages were never given to a person in any trial.

Doses of AOD-9604 administered in studies.
Setting	Route	Dose	Schedule	Population
Phase 1 and 2a (2001 to 2003)	Intravenous infusion	25 to 400 mcg/kg	Single doses	Healthy and obese men
Phase 2a (2003 to 2004)	Oral capsules	9, 27, 54 mg	Single; then daily for 7 days	Obese men
Phase 2b METAOD005	Oral capsules	1, 5, 10, 20, 30 mg	Daily, 12 weeks	300 obese adults
Phase 2b METAOD006	Oral tablets	0.25, 0.5, 1 mg	Daily, 24 weeks	502 obese adults
Rats	Oral gavage	500 mcg/kg	Daily, 19 days	Obese Zucker rats
Mice	Intraperitoneal	Not stated in the abstract	Daily, 14 days	Obese and beta-3 knockout mice
Rabbits	Intra-articular (into the knee)	0.25 mg, with or without 6 mg hyaluronic acid	Weekly, 4 to 7 weeks	Collagenase arthritis model

Figures for injected AOD-9604 circulate on forums and vendor pages. None was given to a person in any trial, so none is reproduced here; the table holds every dose a study actually administered. Note the scale: the oral doses that failed to beat placebo ran to 54 mg, and the vendor figures are a fraction of a milligram by a route nobody has tested.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Side effects: the unusual case of a peptide with real safety data

From six placebo-controlled trials pooled by the sponsor: tolerability indistinguishable from placebo, no IGF-1 rise, no effect on glucose tolerance, no antibodies. The one thing the trials did not show is that it works. Events and their frequency as each study reported them, with the denominator where the abstract gives one.

Across six trials the safety and tolerability profile was indistinguishable from placebo, with none of the adverse effects of full-length growth hormone.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
IGF-1 did not rise, glucose tolerance was unaffected, and no anti-AOD9604 antibodies were found.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
The highest oral dose, 54 mg, brought more gastrointestinal adverse events; no dose-related trend appeared from 0.25 to 27 mg.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
In the 12-week trial five serious adverse events were cancers (three at 20 mg, one at 10 mg, one at 5 mg); the investigator judged none related, noting no cases at the highest dose and neglected medical care in those patients.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
In the obese-subject intravenous study, mild or moderate euphoria was reported by 5 of 23 during AOD9604 periods and never during placebo.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
In rats, chronic AOD9604 did not impair insulin sensitivity, unlike intact growth hormone.Animal, preclinical

Source pmid-11146367
What the six trials did not show is efficacy. The 300-person and 502-person phase 2b trials were designed to show weight loss and, by the sponsor's own account and its 2007 decision to stop development, did not separate from placebo; the individual results were never published. The pooled paper is a safety paper written by the sponsor. Every safety statement on this page comes from oral or intravenous dosing; no trial injected AOD-9604 under the skin.Editorial synthesis

Editorial synthesis from general knowledge · primary document to be added to the ledger

Who AOD-9604 is discussed for, and the cautions that recur

Studied: healthy and obese adults, mostly men, for up to 24 weeks by mouth or intravenously. Excluded or unstudied: anyone by subcutaneous injection; children; pregnancy; people with diabetes or cancer history (the trials enrolled 'otherwise healthy' obese adults). Community: people seeking fat loss without GLP-1 drugs, and people with joint pain who have read about the rabbit study.

The cautions here are unusual for a research peptide, because there is real safety data, and they follow from it:

Expecting it to work. Two placebo-controlled trials in 800 people did not show weight loss. That is the strongest evidence on this page, and it is negative.
The injected route. Safety data are for oral and intravenous dosing. Subcutaneous injection of an unregulated product has no data behind it, good or bad.
Cancer history. The 12-week trial recorded five cancers as serious adverse events, judged unrelated by the investigator, with reasons given. IGF-1 did not rise. It remains the one signal in the record, and anyone with a cancer history should know it exists.
Euphoria. Reported by 5 of 23 obese men during intravenous dosing and by none on placebo, in one small study.
Gastrointestinal effects at high oral doses. Seen at 54 mg, not below 27 mg.
Tested athletes. Named on the WADA Prohibited List under S2, prohibited at all times; detection methods exist.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Biomarkers measured in studies

Laboratory and clinical measures the studies report tracking, including which hormones did and did not change.

Animal study mice 2001 Animal, preclinical
Both human GH (hGH) and a lipolytic fragment (AOD9604) synthesized from its C-terminus are capable of inducing weight loss and increasing lipolytic sensitivity following long-term treatment in mice.
Source pmid-11713213 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
Animal study rats 2000 Animal, preclinical
A synthetic analogue (AOD9604) of the lipolytic domain of human growth hormone (hGH) has been studied for its metabolic actions in obese Zucker rats.
Source pmid-11146367 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
In vitro study humans 2022 Mechanistic, in vitro
To evaluate the anticancer efficacy of Chitosan nanoparticles loaded with human growth hormone hGH fragment 176-191 peptide plus the clinical chemotherapeutic doxorubicin in comparison with Chitosan loaded with doxorubicin alone.
Source pmid-35783198 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
In vitro study humans 2003 Mechanistic, in vitro
This issue focuses on the following selection of drugs: Abetimus sodium, adefovir dipivoxil, AGI-1067, alefacept, alemtuzumab, ALVAC-p53, aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride, aminolevulinic acid methyl ester, Anti-CTLA-4 Mab, AOD-9604, apafant, aprinocarsen sodium, arsenic trioxide; Balaglitazone, BIM-23190, bimatoprost, bortezomib, bosentan, BR-1; Canertinib dihydrochloride, CDP-850, cevimeline hydrochloride, cinacalcet hydrochloride, clenoliximab, clevudine, CN-787; D-003, darusentan, deferasirox, desloratadine dexanabinol, duloxetine hydrochloride; E-5564, edaravone, efaproxiral sodium, elvucitabine emfilermin, EN-101, enfuvirtide, entecavir, epithalon, eplerenone, erlotinib hydrochloride, escitalopram oxalate, esomeprazole magnesium, eszopiclone, etilefrine pivalate hydrochloride etoricoxib, everolimus, exenatide; Fidarestat, fondaparinux sodium; Ganstigmine hydrochloride; Homoharringtonine, HuMax-IL-15, hyperimmune IVIG; Imatinib mesylate, IMC-1C11, Inhaled insulin, irofulven, iseganan hydrochloride, ISIS-14803, ISIS-5132, ivabradine hydrochloride; Keratinocyte growth factor; Lafutidine, lanthanum carbonate, LAS-34475, levocetirizine, liraglutide, LY-307161 SR; Magnesium sulfate, maribavir, melatonin, mycobacterium cell wall complex; NN-414, NO-aspirin, nociceptin, nolomirole hydrochloride; Olmesartan medoxomil oral insulin, ospemifene; PDX, perillyl alcohol, pimecrolimus, pitavastatin calcium, pramlintide acetate, prasterone, pregabalin, PRO-542, PV-701, pyrazoloacridine; R-744, ranelic acid distrontium salt, rasburicase, rDNA insulin, resiniferatoxin, reslizumab, ridogrel, riplizumab ropivacaine, rosuvastatin calcium, roxifiban acetate, ruboxistaurin mesilate hydrate; Satraplatin, Sch-58500, semaxanib, sitaxsentan sodium, SMP-114, SU-6668; Teriparatide, tetrathiomolybdate, tipifarnib, tolvaptan, travoprost, treprostinil sodium; Valdecoxib, valganciclovir hydrochloride, vardenafil hydrochloride hydrate, vatalanib succinate; Ximelagatran; Z-335, ziprasidone hydrochloride, zoledronic acid monohydrate, ZYC-00101.
Source pmid-14571286 · quoted verbatim from the abstract

Reported timelines

Onset, peak and duration figures as each study reported them.

In a 2026 doping-control study, AOD-9604 was extensively degraded within one week in serum and plasma at fridge and room temperature, but stable in dried blood.Mechanistic, in vitro

Source pmid-42328738

What is measured over time, and what is not

The human record runs from single doses to 24 weeks, the longest exposure of any research peptide on this site, with a 30-day follow-up in the last trial. Over that time safety measures stayed level with placebo, and so did weight. Nothing was measured beyond 24 weeks, and nothing at all was measured after subcutaneous injection, so the community's eight-to-twelve-week cycles have no time course behind them. A 2026 doping-control study adds that the peptide degrades within a week in liquid blood samples at fridge and room temperature, a laboratory stability finding rather than a pharmacokinetic one; no human half-life is stated in any abstract in the ledger.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Study durations

Treatment and follow-up periods as stated in each abstract.

Single doses in the first three trials; seven days in the fourth; 12 weeks and 24 weeks (with a four-week run-in and 30-day follow-up) in the two phase 2b trials.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
Animal study rabbits n = 32 2015 Animal, preclinical

Durations stated: 7 weeks
Weekly injections of 0.6 mL saline (Group 1), 6 mg HA (Group 2), 0.25 mg AOD9604 (Group 3), and 0.25 mg AOD9604 with 6 mg HA (Group 4) were administered for 4-7 weeks after the first intra-articular collagenase injection.
Source pmid-26275694 · quoted verbatim from the abstract, emphasis added
Animal study rats 2000 Animal, preclinical

Durations stated: 19 days
Daily treatment with an oral dose of AOD9604 of 500 microg/kg body weight for 19 days reduced over 50% (15.8 +/- 0.6 vs. 35.6 +/- 0.8 g) body weight gain of the animals in comparison with the control.
Source pmid-11146367 · quoted verbatim from the abstract, emphasis added

Routes: oral capsules and intravenous infusion in the trials, injection only on vendor pages

Intravenous in the first two trials, oral capsules or tablets in the last four, oral gavage or intraperitoneal in rodents, and intra-articular in rabbits. No trial gave AOD-9604 by subcutaneous injection, the only route it is sold for. Routes of administration named in each study.

Animal study mice 2001 Animal, preclinical

administration by intraperitoneal route reported
Here we describe how hGH and AOD9604 can reduce body weight and body fat in obese mice following 14 d of chronic ip administration.
Source pmid-11713213 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
Animal study rats 2000 Animal, preclinical

administration by oral route reported
Daily treatment with an oral dose of AOD9604 of 500 microg/kg body weight for 19 days reduced over 50% (15.8 +/- 0.6 vs. 35.6 +/- 0.8 g) body weight gain of the animals in comparison with the control.
Source pmid-11146367 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
In vitro study humans 2003 Mechanistic, in vitro

administration by inhaled, oral route reported
This issue focuses on the following selection of drugs: Abetimus sodium, adefovir dipivoxil, AGI-1067, alefacept, alemtuzumab, ALVAC-p53, aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride, aminolevulinic acid methyl ester, Anti-CTLA-4 Mab, AOD-9604, apafant, aprinocarsen sodium, arsenic trioxide; Balaglitazone, BIM-23190, bimatoprost, bortezomib, bosentan, BR-1; Canertinib dihydrochloride, CDP-850, cevimeline hydrochloride, cinacalcet hydrochloride, clenoliximab, clevudine, CN-787; D-003, darusentan, deferasirox, desloratadine dexanabinol, duloxetine hydrochloride; E-5564, edaravone, efaproxiral sodium, elvucitabine emfilermin, EN-101, enfuvirtide, entecavir, epithalon, eplerenone, erlotinib hydrochloride, escitalopram oxalate, esomeprazole magnesium, eszopiclone, etilefrine pivalate hydrochloride etoricoxib, everolimus, exenatide; Fidarestat, fondaparinux sodium; Ganstigmine hydrochloride; Homoharringtonine, HuMax-IL-15, hyperimmune IVIG; Imatinib mesylate, IMC-1C11, Inhaled insulin, irofulven, iseganan hydrochloride, ISIS-14803, ISIS-5132, ivabradine hydrochloride; Keratinocyte growth factor; Lafutidine, lanthanum carbonate, LAS-34475, levocetirizine, liraglutide, LY-307161 SR; Magnesium sulfate, maribavir, melatonin, mycobacterium cell wall complex; NN-414, NO-aspirin, nociceptin, nolomirole hydrochloride; Olmesartan medoxomil oral insulin, ospemifene; PDX, perillyl alcohol, pimecrolimus, pitavastatin calcium, pramlintide acetate, prasterone, pregabalin, PRO-542, PV-701, pyrazoloacridine; R-744, ranelic acid distrontium salt, rasburicase, rDNA insulin, resiniferatoxin, reslizumab, ridogrel, riplizumab ropivacaine, rosuvastatin calcium, roxifiban acetate, ruboxistaurin mesilate hydrate; Satraplatin, Sch-58500, semaxanib, sitaxsentan sodium, SMP-114, SU-6668; Teriparatide, tetrathiomolybdate, tipifarnib, tolvaptan, travoprost, treprostinil sodium; Valdecoxib, valganciclovir hydrochloride, vardenafil hydrochloride hydrate, vatalanib succinate; Ximelagatran; Z-335, ziprasidone hydrochloride, zoledronic acid monohydrate, ZYC-00101.
Source pmid-14571286 · quoted verbatim from the abstract

Weight-normalized doses, as published

Per-kilogram figures exactly as each study published them, for the species it studied.

25 to 400 micrograms per kilogram, intravenous, single doses, in healthy and obese men.Human clinical trial

Source doi-10-4021-jem157w
500 micrograms per kilogram a day, oral, in obese rats.Animal, preclinical

Source pmid-11146367

Weight-normalized figures above are reproduced exactly as each study published them, for the species it studied. Dose does not scale linearly with body mass between species: metabolic rate, clearance and receptor density differ, and regulatory guidance uses allometric, not proportional, conversion. A mg/kg figure from a rat study is a fact about that rat study and nothing else.

What people report outside the literature

Forum reports describe modest fat loss, no effect, and stacking with other peptides. The injectable use has no trial behind it; the trials that exist were oral and found nothing against placebo. What circulates in user communities and clinic marketing, reported so a reader knows the figures and their origin. None of it has been tested in a trial, and none of it is a suggestion.

AOD-9604 circulates for fat loss, injected subcutaneously in the morning before fasting or exercise, often stacked with tesamorelin, CJC-1295 with ipamorelin, or a GLP-1 drug, in cycles of eight to twelve weeks. Reports describe modest fat loss, appetite change, no effect, and injection-site redness; many users note the failed trials and use it anyway on the theory that injection works where oral did not. No trial injected it subcutaneously, so that theory is untested. The community dose is a fraction of a milligram; the trials that failed used oral doses up to 54 mg. The figures that circulate are not reproduced here; the table above holds every dose a study actually gave.Editorial synthesis

Editorial synthesis from general knowledge

Method note · shared across compounds

Reconstitution mathematics

Lyophilised peptide is supplied as a mass in a vial and dissolved in a stated volume of diluent. Two figures follow from that and nothing else:

Concentration = mass in vial ÷ diluent volume. A 5 mg vial in 2 mL is 2.5 mg/mL, or 2,500 mcg/mL.
Volume for a given mass = that mass ÷ concentration. 250 mcg at 2,500 mcg/mL is 0.1 mL. On a U-100 insulin syringe, where 1 mL is 100 units, that is 10 units.

Study doses on this page are quoted as published, in the units the authors used. Converting between mcg, mg and IU, or between a mass and a syringe volume, is arithmetic; deciding a mass is not, and this page does not do it. The reconstitution calculator performs the conversion with the formula shown.

Method note · shared across compounds

Reading a certificate of analysis

A certificate of analysis is a laboratory report on one batch. Reading it means checking four things in order.

Identity. Mass spectrometry should report an observed molecular mass matching the peptide's theoretical mass within the instrument's stated tolerance. A certificate with no mass spectrometry, or one that lists only the expected value, has not confirmed identity.
Purity. HPLC purity is the area of the main peak as a share of all peaks, at a stated wavelength. It says nothing about what the other peaks are, and it is not a measure of quantity.
Quantity. Net peptide content, by amino acid analysis or UV, is the fraction of the vial's mass that is peptide rather than counter-ions and water. A 5 mg vial at 80% net content holds 4 mg of peptide, and every concentration figure above changes accordingly.
Provenance. The batch number on the certificate should match the vial, the laboratory should be named and independent of the seller, and the test date should be recent.

This page rates no supplier and links to none. It describes how to read the document.

Method note · shared across compounds

Equipment described in studies

Published human studies of injectable peptides report the same small set of materials: single-use insulin syringes with fixed needles, most often U-100 with 29 to 31 gauge needles; bacteriostatic water or sterile water for injection as diluent, with the choice stated in the methods; alcohol swabs; and refrigerated storage of reconstituted solution. Animal studies more often report intraperitoneal or intragastric administration and state the vehicle used. Where a study in this record's ledger names its materials or vehicle, that sentence appears under storage or routes above; where it does not, nothing is assumed here.

Storage and handling

The trial product was lyophilised powder reconstituted with sterile water for intravenous use, or capsules and tablets; the 2026 anti-doping study found the peptide degraded within a week in liquid serum and plasma above freezing, while stable for two months at minus 20 degrees. Vendor vials follow general lyophilised-peptide practice; their contents are unverified.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Common mistakes in how AOD-9604 is discussed

Reading GRAS as FDA approval. GRAS is a food-ingredient safety designation self-affirmed by an industry panel in 2014. It is not a drug approval and says nothing about fat loss.
Treating the safety data as efficacy data. Six trials show it is as safe as placebo. The two efficacy trials show it is as effective as placebo. Both facts come from the same programme.
Assuming injection succeeds where oral failed. A reasonable hypothesis with no trial behind it. The first two trials were intravenous and measured safety, not weight.
Quoting 250 to 500 mcg as a clinical dose. No trial gave that dose by that route. The oral trials ran to 54 mg.
Calling the compounding history an endorsement. Category 2 listing (2023) meant FDA saw safety concerns; removal (2024) meant the nominators withdrew, not that FDA cleared it; the December 2024 committee review worked from the same failed programme.
Missing where the molecule actually went. Its current development, as LAT8881, is for neuropathic pain and osteoarthritis, not fat loss.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

AOD-9604 vs tesamorelin, semaglutide, tirzepatide and growth hormone

AOD-9604 beside the agents it is compared with for fat loss, from their own records where one exists.
Agent	What it is	Fat or weight evidence	Status
AOD-9604	Growth hormone fragment 177-191	Two phase 2b trials (800 people, oral) did not beat placebo	Not approved; GRAS food ingredient; WADA S2
Tesamorelin	Stabilised GHRH analogue that raises the body's own growth hormone; 115 indexed publications, 22 randomized trials	Reduces visceral fat in HIV-associated lipodystrophy in phase 3 trials	Approved 2010; WADA S2
Semaglutide	GLP-1 receptor agonist; 6039 indexed publications, 305 randomized trials	About 15% weight loss at 68 weeks; cardiovascular outcomes trial	Approved 2017
Tirzepatide	GIP/GLP-1 agonist; 2756 indexed publications, 131 randomized trials	About 15 to 21% weight loss at 72 weeks	Approved 2022
Growth hormone (somatropin)	The full 191-amino-acid hormone AOD-9604 was cut from	Reduces fat and raises lean mass in deficiency; raises IGF-1 and blood sugar	Prescription medicine; WADA S2
Tesofensine	Oral triple reuptake inhibitor in this site's 'metabolic, other' class; 63 indexed publications	About 9 to 10% at 24 weeks in phase 2; heart-rate signal	Not approved; Mexican application pending

The question people ask, 'tesamorelin or AOD-9604', has a plain answer in the records: tesamorelin has an approval and phase 3 fat-loss data; AOD-9604 has a phase 2b programme that failed. No study has compared them, and none is likely to.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Other compounds in its class

Same class in the registry: SLU-PP-332, Tesofensine. Each row shows what that compound's own record states; nothing is inferred across rows.

3 compounds in the metabolic other class. Each row states what that compound's own record says; nothing is inferred across rows.
Compound	Tier	Publications	RCTs	Record
AOD-9604	Human clinical trial	25	0	`draft`
SLU-PP-332	Observational, human	12	0	`draft`
Tesofensine	Human clinical trial	63	12	`draft`

Regulatory status: GRAS as a food ingredient, not approved as a drug, a moving compounding position

Registry facts only. Jurisdiction-level status, compounding categories and sport prohibitions need their own cited documents before they appear here.

Not approved as a drug anywhere. Metabolic Pharmaceuticals ended obesity development in 2007 after the phase 2b trials. In 2014 an industry panel self-affirmed AOD-9604 as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) for use as a food ingredient, a safety designation for oral use in food that is often misread as FDA approval; it is not, and GRAS says nothing about efficacy. FDA placed it in category 2 of the interim 503A bulk-substances list in September 2023 and removed it in September 2024 after the nominators withdrew it, and the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee reviewed it in December 2024 against the same six-trial record; its current compounding position should be checked against the live list. WADA names AOD-9604 on the Prohibited List under S2 (growth hormone fragments), prohibited at all times. Lateral Pharma is developing the molecule as LAT8881 for neuropathic pain and osteoarthritis.Editorial synthesis

Editorial synthesis from general knowledge · primary document to be added to the ledger

Open questions and limitations

What is genuinely unknown, stated plainly. A missing field is not evidence that the outcome is safe, effective, or established.

The two phase 2b trials (300 and 502 participants) were never published; their efficacy results exist only as the sponsor's statement that endpoints were not met and its 2007 decision to stop.
No trial has given AOD-9604 by subcutaneous injection, the only route it is sold for.
FDA's 2023 and 2024 compounding notices, the December 2024 advisory committee briefing and the 2014 GRAS notice are not yet in the ledger.

Questions people ask

What is AOD-9604?

AOD-9604 is a synthetic 16-amino-acid fragment of human growth hormone, residues 177 to 191 with a tyrosine added at the front, designed at Monash University in the 1990s to keep growth hormone's fat-mobilising action without its effects on IGF-1, blood sugar and growth. Metabolic Pharmaceuticals took it through six trials in about 900 obese adults, mostly as oral capsules, and stopped in 2007 when it did not beat placebo for weight loss. It is now sold as an injectable research chemical and, as LAT8881, is being redeveloped for pain.

What is the half-life of AOD-9604?

No abstract in the ledger states a human half-life. Peptides of this size are cleared in minutes to an hour, and a 2026 anti-doping study found AOD-9604 extensively degraded within a week in serum at room and fridge temperatures, which speaks to sample stability rather than to time in the body. The oral trials dosed once daily; nothing about the injected route's kinetics has been published.

Does AOD-9604 repair cartilage?

In one rabbit study, weekly intra-articular injections of 0.25 mg AOD-9604, especially with hyaluronic acid, reduced cartilage degeneration scores and shortened lameness after collagenase-induced knee arthritis. No human joint study exists; its successor LAT8881 is being developed for pain, not cartilage. The rabbit study was a joint injection, not a subcutaneous one.

Does AOD-9604 work for weight loss?

Not in the trials designed to find out. Two randomized placebo-controlled phase 2b trials, 300 people for 12 weeks on 1 to 30 mg capsules and 502 people for 24 weeks on 0.25 to 1 mg tablets, did not show weight loss beyond placebo, and the sponsor stopped development in February 2007. The results were never published individually; the sponsor's 2013 safety paper and its own decision are the record.

Is AOD-9604 safe?

By the standards of research peptides, unusually well documented: six placebo-controlled trials in 893 adults found tolerability indistinguishable from placebo, no rise in IGF-1, no effect on glucose tolerance and no antibodies. The caveats are that every trial dosed by mouth or intravenously, not by subcutaneous injection, and that five cancers occurred in the 12-week trial, judged unrelated.

Is AOD-9604 FDA approved?

No. It has never been approved as a drug anywhere. In 2014 an industry panel self-affirmed it as GRAS for use as a food ingredient, which is a safety designation for food, not a drug approval and not a finding about fat loss. Its compounding status has moved: category 2 in September 2023, removed in September 2024, reviewed by an advisory committee in December 2024.

What dose was used in the trials?

Intravenous infusions of 25 to 400 micrograms per kilogram in the first two trials; oral capsules of 9, 27 and 54 mg in the phase 2a studies; 1 to 30 mg capsules daily for 12 weeks and 0.25 to 1 mg tablets daily for 24 weeks in the phase 2b trials. No trial gave it by subcutaneous injection at any dose.

What are the side effects of AOD-9604?

In the trials, none that separated from placebo across the dose range up to 27 mg; more gastrointestinal complaints at 54 mg; headache after intravenous infusion at rates similar to placebo; euphoria in 5 of 23 obese men during intravenous dosing in one study. IGF-1 and glucose were unaffected.

Is AOD-9604 the same as HGH fragment 176-191?

Yes. 'HGH fragment 176-191' is the structural name for the same molecule, growth hormone residues 177 to 191 with a tyrosine at position 176. Vendors use both names; the trials used AOD9604.

Why did AOD-9604 work in rats but not in people?

The literature does not say. In obese rats and mice it raised fat breakdown and cut weight gain through the beta-3 adrenergic receptor, and the human trials confirmed it did not raise IGF-1 or disturb glucose. The efficacy half of the design simply did not transfer; the sponsor stopped rather than publish an explanation.

Does AOD-9604 help joints or cartilage?

In one rabbit study, weekly injections into arthritic knees of 0.25 mg, especially with hyaluronic acid, reduced cartilage degeneration and lameness. No human joint study exists. The molecule's developer now pursues it as LAT8881 for neuropathic pain and osteoarthritis, which is where its future, if any, lies.

Is AOD-9604 banned in sport?

Yes. WADA names AOD-9604 on the Prohibited List under S2 as a growth hormone fragment, prohibited at all times, and anti-doping laboratories publish detection methods for it in urine and blood.

What is LAT8881?

The same molecule under Lateral Pharma's code, after Metabolic Pharmaceuticals' obesity programme ended. Lateral is developing it as an oral treatment for neuropathic pain and osteoarthritis, on the basis of animal and in vitro work; a phase 2a trial in neuropathic pain has been registered. None of that is fat-loss evidence.

Can AOD-9604 be taken orally?

It was, in four of the six trials, as capsules and tablets up to 54 mg, and it is a GRAS food ingredient in the United States. Oral dosing is the tested route. The oral trials are also the ones that failed to show weight loss.

Which species has AOD-9604 been studied in?

Humans, in six trials totalling 893 adults; obese Zucker rats and obese and knockout mice for fat metabolism; and rabbits for knee arthritis. It also appears in doping-control method papers and in a breast-cancer cell study of nanoparticle drug delivery that used the fragment as a targeting ligand.

Sources

Full citations. Every claim above links to one of these by its id.

1

Safety and Tolerability of the Hexadecapeptide AOD9604 in Humans
doi-10-4021-jem157w · 23 Apr 2013 · peer-reviewed
2

Rapid and harmonized analytical workflow for the determination of peptidic and non-peptidic doping agents in dried and liquid blood matrices.
pmid-42328738 · 27 Jul 2026 · peer-reviewed
3

Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance
doi-10-20944-preprints202512-1011-v3 · 7 Apr 2026 · preprint
4

Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance
doi-10-20944-preprints202512-1011-v1 · 12 Dec 2025 · preprint
5

Human Growth Hormone Fragment 176-191 Peptide Enhances the Toxicity of Doxorubicin-Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles Against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells.
pmid-35783198 · 27 Jun 2022 · peer-reviewed
6

Simplifying and expanding the screening for peptides <2 kDa by direct urine injection, liquid chromatography, and ion mobility mass spectrometry.
pmid-26578461 · 15 Dec 2015 · peer-reviewed
7

Effect of Intra-articular Injection of AOD9604 with or without Hyaluronic Acid in Rabbit Osteoarthritis Model.
pmid-26275694 · 1 Jan 2015 · peer-reviewed
8

Analytical approaches for the detection of emerging therapeutics and non-approved drugs in human doping controls.
pmid-24906629 · 23 May 2014 · peer-reviewed
9

Current updates in the medical management of obesity.
pmid-22435392 · 1 May 2012 · peer-reviewed
10

[Obesity: a review of currently used antiobesity drugs and new compounds in clinical development].
pmid-17971763 · 19 Oct 2007 · peer-reviewed
11

Potential role of new therapies in modifying cardiovascular risk in overweight patients with metabolic risk factors.
pmid-16931496 · 1 Jun 2006 · peer-reviewed
12

Obesity drugs in clinical development.
pmid-16625817 · 1 Apr 2006 · peer-reviewed

Show the remaining 3 sources

13

Gateways to clinical trials.
pmid-14571286 · 1 Sep 2003 · peer-reviewed
14

The effects of human GH and its lipolytic fragment (AOD9604) on lipid metabolism following chronic treatment in obese mice and beta(3)-AR knock-out mice.
pmid-11713213 · 1 Dec 2001 · peer-reviewed
15

Metabolic studies of a synthetic lipolytic domain (AOD9604) of human growth hormone.
pmid-11146367 · 1 Jan 2000 · peer-reviewed

Reference card

Reference card · generated 14 Sep 2026/compounds/aod-9604

Compound: AOD-9604, metabolic other
Evidence tier: Human clinical trial
Indexed publications: 25 · 0 RCTs · 6 other clinical trials
Approval: not approved · max phase 2
Routes reported: inhaled, intraperitoneal, intravenous; oral, oral
Reviewed: Adam Mirando, PharmD, 25 Sep 2026

Study figures are as published in each source and are not recommendations. Print or save this card with its date.

Last reviewed and what changed

Newest first. These are the record's own revision dates, and the same dates feed the sitemap.

2026-09-29 · Reviewed by Adam Mirando, PharmD, on 2026-09-25.
2026-09-25 · Label correction: 2 evidence rows built from detection and doping-control papers carried study designs such as animal or in-vitro work. They are relabelled Analytical method, the label scripts/draft_claims.py has applied since the rule was added; these rows predate it. pmid-42328738 (In vitro study -> Analytical method); pmid-26578461 (In vitro study -> Analytical method)
2026-09-24 · Stage 0 gap closed by hand: Stier, Vos and Kenley 2013 (the sponsor's pooled account of six trials, not indexed in Europe PMC) added to the ledger with three evidence rows; tier set to human-clinical-trial. Written under the sequencing rule after research/intents/aod-9604.json: guide (8 sections incl. a six-trial table), FAQ to 12 plus 8 from the map, dose, weight-normalized, duration, adverse-event, mechanism, reported-use and regulatory claims; misdrafted content none; intent-driven H1 and title carrying both names.
2026-09-14 · Claims drafted extractively from 12 ledger sources by scripts/draft_claims.py: 11 claims, 7 evidence-table rows. Status researched -> draft.
2026-09-14 · Claims drafted extractively from 12 ledger sources by scripts/draft_claims.py: 15 claims, 7 evidence-table rows. Status researched -> draft.
2026-09-14 · Claims drafted extractively from 12 ledger sources by scripts/draft_claims.py: 16 claims, 7 evidence-table rows. Status researched -> draft.
2026-09-14 · Metadata refreshed by scripts/fetch_evidence.py --refresh-meta: chembl None -> CHEMBL6068615.
2026-09-14 · Evidence fetched from Europe PMC and ChEMBL by scripts/fetch_evidence.py; claims not yet written.

AOD-9604 (HGH fragment 176-191): what six trials in 900 people found, why development stopped, and where it stands now

At a glance

What AOD-9604 is, and what the six trials found

What the evidence level means

AOD-9604 in two minutes

How it works

What happened in the human studies?

Trial by trial: what AOD-9604 did, and did not do, in people

What the evidence shows

Doses reported in studies

Every AOD-9604 dose in the trials and studies, in one table

Side effects: the unusual case of a peptide with real safety data

Who AOD-9604 is discussed for, and the cautions that recur

Biomarkers measured in studies

Reported timelines

What is measured over time, and what is not

Study durations

Routes: oral capsules and intravenous infusion in the trials, injection only on vendor pages

Weight-normalized doses, as published

What people report outside the literature

Reconstitution mathematics

Reading a certificate of analysis

Equipment described in studies

Storage and handling

Common mistakes in how AOD-9604 is discussed

AOD-9604 vs tesamorelin, semaglutide, tirzepatide and growth hormone

Other compounds in its class

Regulatory status: GRAS as a food ingredient, not approved as a drug, a moving compounding position

Open questions and limitations

Questions people ask

Sources

Reference card

Related records

Last reviewed and what changed