AOD-9604 peptide: benefits, dosage, side effects and what the research shows

Growth hormone has fat-reducing effects, but its long-term use is limited by effects such as raised IGF-1, insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance ^[4]. In the 1990s, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne studied fragments of the hormone’s tail (the C-terminal end) that seemed to carry the fat-reducing activity. AOD-9604 is a synthetic version of amino acids 177 to 191 of human growth hormone with an extra tyrosine at the start, giving 16 amino acids in total ^{[6] [7]}.

It was developed by the Australian company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals as an oral anti-obesity drug ^[3]. Today it is sold online as an injectable research peptide and marketed by some clinics for weight loss, which is not how it was tested in trials. It is often grouped with growth hormone secretagogues such as ipamorelin and CJC-1295, but it works differently: it does not stimulate growth hormone release. See what research peptides are.

The name is often expanded online as “anti-obesity drug” or “advanced obesity drug”, and the FDA noted both labels on clinic websites ^[6]. Some reviews also refer to it as hGH 176-191 ^[12]. The AOD-9604 peptide contains two cysteines joined by a disulfide bond, which makes it a small ring-shaped (cyclic) peptide ^[6].

AOD-9604 is proposed to mimic growth hormone’s effect on fat metabolism, increasing the breakdown of stored fat (lipolysis) without its effects on growth or blood sugar. In a 2001 mouse study, both growth hormone and AOD-9604 reduced body weight and fat over 14 days and increased expression of the beta-3 adrenergic receptor in fat. In mice lacking that receptor, long-term treatment did not reduce weight, though a single dose still increased fat oxidation, so the authors concluded the effect was not simply mediated through that receptor ^[2].

In the company’s human studies, AOD-9604 did not raise IGF-1 levels, which is consistent with the idea that it lacks growth hormone’s growth-promoting effects ^{[4] [6]}.

The AOD-9604 mechanism of action is still not known. In cell tests, AOD-9604 did not compete with growth hormone for the growth hormone receptor and, unlike growth hormone, did not make receptor-bearing cells multiply ^[11]. In its 2024 review the FDA concluded that the molecular target and the way AOD-9604 produces its effects remain unknown, which makes the reported animal effects hard to interpret. It also noted that none of the animal studies examined how the effect changed with dose, and that their statistics were not corrected for multiple comparisons ^[6].

The animal evidence is from rodents and one rabbit study. In obese Zucker rats, oral AOD-9604 at 500 µg/kg per day for 19 days roughly halved body weight gain compared with controls, increased fat-tissue lipolysis and, unlike intact growth hormone, did not worsen insulin sensitivity ^[1]. The mouse study above found reduced weight and fat over two weeks of injections ^[2].

A 2015 study in rabbits with chemically induced knee osteoarthritis reported that injections of AOD-9604 into the joint, particularly with hyaluronic acid, improved cartilage scores and shortened lameness ^[8]. This has not been tested in people.

Clinics and websites describe many other AOD-9604 benefits. The FDA found it marketed for osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, cartilage and bone repair, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression, anti-ageing, skin care, muscle building and boosting metabolism, sometimes combined with BPC-157 ^[6]. The human trials the FDA reviewed were all in obesity ^[6].

Metabolic Pharmaceuticals ran six randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, summarised in a 2013 paper written by people employed by or consulting for the company ^[4]. Early small studies gave AOD-9604 intravenously (single doses in groups of 15 and 23 men) or by mouth (short studies in 16 to 36 men). A 2004 review of these early studies, as summarised by the FDA in 2024, reported no statistically significant weight loss compared with placebo ^{[3] [6]}.

A 12-week trial in 300 people with obesity was reported only as a conference abstract; the authors described greater weight loss than placebo at all doses, but the FDA noted the differences were small and few details were given ^[6]. The largest trial, the phase 2b OPTIONS study, randomised 502 of 536 enrolled adults with obesity to oral AOD-9604 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg or 1 mg daily, or placebo, for 24 weeks alongside diet and exercise. It found no significant difference in weight loss at 12 weeks, the primary end point. In February 2007 the company announced that the results did not support commercial viability and ended development for obesity ^[6].

The FDA’s summary gives the detail behind these headlines. In the intravenous study of 23 men with obesity, average weight loss was 0.58 kg over three weeks, not statistically different from placebo. In the 12-week oral trial, the reported average rate of weight loss was 0.22 kg per week with 1 mg a day, against 0.07 kg per week with placebo, with smaller rates at 20 mg and 30 mg ^[6]. The OPTIONS trial was designed to detect a difference of 1.8 kg from placebo, and the company reported that weight loss compared with placebo was too low to reach statistical significance at either 12 or 24 weeks ^[6]. The OPTIONS results were never published in a journal, and no AOD-9604 trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov ^[6].

According to the FDA, no study of AOD-9604 given by subcutaneous injection, the way it is now usually sold for, has been published ^[6].

On the evidence available, AOD-9604 weight loss in people has not been shown. It reduced weight gain and increased fat burning in obese rodents ^[1][2][11], but in the human trials the differences from placebo were either not statistically significant or small, and the largest and best-designed trial failed its main goal ^[6]. The FDA concluded in 2024 that there is a lack of evidence that AOD-9604 is effective for obesity by any route ^[6].

AOD-9604 before and after pictures and online reviews do not change that picture. They are not controlled, the product used is rarely tested for identity or content, and diet, exercise and other drugs usually change at the same time. The company’s own trials included a supervised diet and exercise programme for everyone, which is one reason placebo groups also lost weight ^[6].

The human trials looked for weight change after one to four weeks in the early studies, and after 12 and 24 weeks in the larger ones ^[6]. None showed a clear effect at any of those points. In rodents, reduced weight gain appeared within 14 to 19 days of daily treatment ^[1][2]. There is no human evidence on how long AOD-9604 takes to work because there is no convincing evidence that it works in people.

AOD-9604 was developed as an oral drug, and the larger human trials gave it by mouth; the early trials also gave it intravenously ^[6]. Today, according to the FDA, clinics mainly sell it as injections under the skin or as tablets, capsules and troches, including a 250 µg orally dissolving tablet and 1 mg capsules, and some compounders nominated a skin cream ^[6]. No human study of subcutaneous, transdermal or nasal AOD-9604 has been published, so the AOD-9604 nasal spray and cream products on sale have no trial data behind them ^[6].

Blends are common. The FDA found clinics selling injections that combine AOD-9604 with aminophylline, glycyrrhizic acid or a BPC-157 derivative, and oral products that combine it with topiramate, naltrexone and a methionine, inositol and choline mix ^[6]. None of these combinations has been studied, so any effect or risk of the mixture is unknown, and each added ingredient brings its own. The same applies to AOD-9604 cycles, which have never been compared with continuous or no treatment in any trial.

Whether AOD-9604 oral forms are absorbed is unclear. In pigs, the calculated oral bioavailability came out at 170%, an impossible figure the authors put down to highly variable data. The FDA concluded that the extent of oral absorption is unclear even in animals and that no human pharmacokinetic data exist for any route ^[6].

In humans, the company trials used intravenous single doses of 25 to 400 µg/kg, oral doses of 9 to 54 mg in short studies, and oral daily doses of 1 to 30 mg for 12 weeks and 0.25 to 1 mg for 24 weeks ^[6]. The largest of these trials found no significant difference from placebo in weight loss, and none tested injection under the skin. The rat study used 500 µg/kg by mouth daily ^[1].

These doses are reported for information only and are not a recommendation. Animal doses should not be converted into human doses.

AOD-9604 dosage charts, “beginner” schedules and cycles found online are not drawn from these trials, which used oral or intravenous doses, while most products sold now are for injection. Some clinic websites also advise injecting 30 minutes before eating; the FDA recorded this as a marketing claim, not a study finding ^[6]. Questions about vials are arithmetic: a 5 mg vial dissolved in 2 mL gives 2.5 mg per mL, so each unit on a U-100 insulin syringe holds 0.025 mg (25 µg); a 10 mg vial in 2 mL gives 50 µg per unit. An AOD-9604 dosage calculator, like our peptide calculator, performs this sum. See bacteriostatic water for the usual diluent.

No human half-life has been measured. In pigs given an intravenous dose, the half-life was about 3 minutes, and in rat blood in the laboratory AOD-9604 had a half-life of 4 minutes, being broken down step by step from its starting end until none was left after 56 minutes ^[6]. Anti-doping laboratories study the same breakdown products because they are what testing can find in urine ^[7].

The company’s summary of its six trials described AOD-9604 as well tolerated, with adverse events similar to placebo and no rise in IGF-1, no effect on glucose tolerance and no antibodies against the peptide in the patients tested ^[4]. Headache was the most common complaint with intravenous dosing, and headache, diarrhoea and flatulence with oral dosing ^[6].

The FDA’s reviewers were more cautious. They noted that the summaries lacked detail, that several cancers (including breast cancer and melanoma) were reported in the 12-week oral study and judged unrelated by the investigators, and that the information was insufficient to confirm this. They also raised concerns about immunogenicity and aggregation for injectable forms, and noted that no safety data exist for injection under the skin ^[6]. A 2026 review of peptides marketed in sports medicine, including AOD-9604, found rigorous human safety data scarce ^[10].

The trial summaries list the AOD-9604 side effects in more detail. With intravenous dosing, headache, fatigue, dizziness and low blood sugar were reported, and one severe episode of chest tightness and five mild or moderate reports of euphoria were judged possibly related to AOD-9604. With oral dosing, headache, diarrhoea, flatulence, increased appetite and nausea were most common. In the 12-week trial, the serious events were basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, a lipoma, breast cancer and malignant melanoma, all on AOD-9604 and all judged unrelated by the investigators ^[6].

The animal toxicology is limited to one company-funded paper, summarised by the FDA. Six months of oral dosing in rats changed blood osteocalcin, a bone marker, in a pattern the FDA called a possible signal of harm to bone. Nine months of oral dosing in monkeys caused slight changes in liver cells in all females on the highest dose. Genetic toxicity tests gave mixed results, and no carcinogenicity or reproductive studies have been done ^[6].

So, is AOD-9604 safe? The honest answer is that nobody knows for the way it is used now. The FDA judged that its use in compounding may raise safety concerns, and found no safety data for injection under the skin or for long-term use ^[6]. A 2026 clinical review of growth hormone-axis peptides grouped AOD-9604 with other products whose composition and dose are uncertain in unregulated supply ^[12].

Both are discussed as ways to reduce abdominal fat, but they differ in almost every respect. Tesamorelin is a growth hormone-releasing hormone analogue that makes the pituitary release more growth hormone and raises IGF-1. It is an FDA-approved prescription medicine (Egrifta WR and Egrifta SV) for reducing excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV-associated lipodystrophy, based on two placebo-controlled phase 3 trials in which visceral fat fell by 14% to 18% over 26 weeks ^[18]. AOD-9604 does not stimulate growth hormone or raise IGF-1, is not approved anywhere, and failed its main phase 2b trial in obesity ^[4][6].

The tesamorelin label also states that it is not indicated for weight loss because its effect on body weight is neutral ^[18]. No study has compared the two directly.

Semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound) are FDA-approved for weight management, and the FDA cited them among the approved alternatives when it reviewed AOD-9604 ^[6]. They act on gut-hormone receptors that reduce appetite, and their approvals rest on large phase 3 trials. AOD-9604 acts on fat metabolism by an unknown route and did not produce significant weight loss in its largest trial ^[6]. No study has compared AOD-9604 with either drug, and none has tested AOD-9604 with tirzepatide or semaglutide, so there is no evidence about taking them together.

Sermorelin is a fragment of growth hormone-releasing hormone that makes the pituitary release growth hormone; it was once licensed in the US for children with growth hormone deficiency. AOD-9604 is a fragment of growth hormone itself and does not raise growth hormone or IGF-1 ^[4][6]. They were developed for different purposes and have not been compared.

AOD-9604 is not an approved medicine in the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. In the US, it was nominated for the list of substances pharmacies may use in compounding. At its December 2024 meeting, the FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 12 to 0 against adding it to that list, in line with the FDA’s proposal ^{[5] [6]}. The FDA’s briefing also noted that Australia placed AOD-9604 in its poisons standard as a performance and image enhancing drug, making possession without authority illegal there ^[6]. See our legal status pages and the Australia page for detail.

In sport, AOD-9604 has been named as an example of a prohibited growth hormone fragment on the WADA Prohibited List since the 2018 list, under section S2, and is prohibited at all times ^[9]. Anti-doping laboratories have published methods to detect it in urine ^[7].

Before it was named, WADA stated in April 2013 that AOD-9604 fell under section S0, non-approved substances, because it had not been approved for therapeutic use by any government health authority ^[17]. It is named in section S2 of the 2026 Prohibited List among growth hormone fragments ^[19].

In the US, the original nominations for compounding were withdrawn, and as of April 2026 the FDA lists AOD-9604 among substances “nominated but withdrawn” from its category of bulk drug substances that may present significant safety risks. The FDA’s entry notes the potential for immune reactions, limited safety information and serious adverse events whose cause is unclear ^[13]. The list of bulk substances that US pharmacies may use in compounding contains no peptides ^[14]. So the answer to searches about AOD-9604 FDA approval status is that it is neither approved nor authorised for compounding; see our US legal status page.

In Australia, the June 2026 Poisons Standard lists AOD-9604 in Schedule 4 (prescription only) and in Appendix D clause 5, which means it must not be possessed without authority ^[15]. The TGA says peptide products are regulated as therapeutic goods and that “research use only” disclaimers do not make their supply lawful ^[16].

In the UK, AOD-9604 has no marketing authorisation, and the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 say a person may not sell or supply an unauthorised medicinal product ^[20]. Whether a given product counts as a medicine is judged on all its characteristics. AOD-9604 is not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, whose peptide hormone entries cover growth hormone (somatropin) itself but not fragments ^[22]. See our UK legal status page for how these rules apply to peptides generally.

AOD-9604 is sold as a freeze-dried powder. The FDA noted that its disulfide bond can be broken down and that the peptide can aggregate ^[6], so careful storage matters: keep it cold, dry and dark, and refrigerate after reconstitution. See how to store peptides.

PepFinder does not sell AOD-9604. You can compare prices, read how to read a COA, and see which vendors have third-party tested batches.

The FDA noted that a certificate of analysis supplied with one nomination reported identity and purity but gave no results for impurities, aggregates, microbial limits or bacterial endotoxin ^[6]. Those are the checks that matter most for an injectable, so a certificate that only reports purity by HPLC leaves them open. Our guides to third-party peptide testing and how to spot a fake peptide supplier explain what to look for, and you can filter for suppliers with published COAs.

For country searches, see AOD-9604 prices in the UK and in the US. In Australia, possession without authority is not permitted, as described above.

AOD-9604 has a history as a doping agent. The FDA’s review notes that an Australian Crime Commission report named it among peptides supplied to athletes, that unlabelled vials containing it were obtained from elite athletes in Germany and Belgium, and that it has been found in confiscated vials in the US ^[6]. Because it is named on the WADA list, any athlete subject to anti-doping rules who uses it risks a violation, whatever the product label says ^[19]. UK Anti-Doping applies the same list and treats peptide hormones as prohibited at all times ^[21].