Tesamorelin Reference
Educational, not medical advice reference for Tesamorelin: Fat Loss, GH Release; regulatory status, evidence posture, source review, and schedul…
Plain English
- What it is
- Tesamorelin is an FDA-approved injectable medicine sold under the brand name Egrifta WR. It is a lab-made copy of a natural signal that tells the pituitary gland to release the body's own growth-hormone pulse, which then raises a growth factor called IGF-1.
- What people use it for
- Its only approved use is to reduce extra belly fat in adults living with HIV who have a fat-redistribution condition called lipodystrophy. It is not approved for general weight loss and has a weight-neutral effect on the scale. Outside that approved use, people in the peptide community try it off-label to shrink stubborn deep belly fat, but that wider use has not been proven in adequate trials.
- What the science shows
- The strong evidence comes from large human trials in people with HIV and belly-fat buildup, where it lowered deep abdominal fat compared with a placebo. That evidence does not carry over to healthy adults using it just for fat loss, where good trials are lacking.
- The catch
- It raises IGF-1, and the label says the effects of long-term IGF-1 elevation are unknown. The label also lists it as off-limits in active cancer, in pregnancy, and with certain pituitary-gland or head conditions. Anti-doping authorities (WADA) ban it for athletes at all times, in and out of competition.
Reference summary
Pivotal evidence comes from two identically designed Phase 3 trials in HIV-infected adults with abdominal fat accumulation (Falutz 2007 NEJM and follow-up reports), which demonstrated reductions in visceral adipose tissue versus placebo with daily 2 mg subcutaneous dosing (the Egrifta SV reference dose; Egrifta WR is a reformulation at 1.28 mg). Off-label extrapolation to visceral-fat reduction in adults without HIV-associated lipodystrophy is not supported by adequately powered trials. This entry displays Egrifta WR label-reference fields plus the pivotal HIV-lipodystrophy program context; it does not approve research-vial tesamorelin protocols.
Regulatory and posture
- Categories
- Fat Loss, GH Release
- Aliases
- Egrifta WR, Egrifta SV, Growth hormone-releasing factor analog, GHRH(1-44) analog, TH9507
- Evidence posture
- human
- Regulatory status
- FDA-approved label reference exists for Egrifta WR to reduce excess abdominal fat in HIV-infected adults with lipodystrophy; it is not indicated for general weight-loss management or for non-HIV visceral-fat reduction. WADA prohibits tesamorelin at all times under category S2 (peptide hormones, growth factors, and related substances) because it is a GHRH analog that increases endogenous GH release.
- Content review status
- label verified
Selected public sources
- FDA Egrifta WR prescribing information
- PubMed search: tesamorelin HIV-associated lipodystrophy pivotal Phase 3 trial literature (Falutz 2007 NEJM, Stanley follow-up reports)
- WADA prohibited list and resources
Related tools
- Peptide reconstitution calculator - Convert vial mass and BAC water volume into mcg/ml.
- BAC water calculator - Solve BAC water volume for a target concentration.
- Multi-dose vial calculator - Estimate doses per vial and a projected vial-empty date.
- Reconstituted-vial storage window calculator - Estimate a generic usable-window date and days remaining.
- Peptide half-life calculator - Estimate single-dose decay from cited half-life constants.
- Injection-site rotation overview - Public overview of the Pro site-rotation planner.
For research and educational purposes only. Not medical advice.