Page last checked 2026-09-07

Research compound · not FDA-approved

AOD-9604

Also written AOD 9604.

AOD-9604 is the tail end of human growth hormone — residues 176 to 191, with one extra amino acid added on the front.

What matters first

Why people look it up: It is sold for fat loss, on the idea that this fragment carries the hormone’s fat-mobilizing part and leaves the rest behind.
What the evidence shows: That idea was tested properly and it did not hold. An Australian company ran controlled human obesity trials, the larger ones did not separate it from placebo on weight, and development stopped there. The 10 mg group lost less than the 1 mg group, and the doses were swallowed rather than injected.
Dose status: AOD-9604 is not FDA-approved, so no dosing label exists for it. The sections below explain what researchers tested and what remains unknown.

Medically reviewed by Kenneth Montecillo, MD2026-09-07open the primary sources

What is known about AOD-9604

AOD-9604 is the tail end of human growth hormone: residues 176 to 191, with a tyrosine added. Researchers cut it out on the theory that the fat-mobilizing activity sat in that fragment. The growth-promoting and glucose effects, they thought, belonged to the rest of the hormone. An Australian company developed it as an anti-obesity drug and ran controlled human trials. The larger trials did not separate it from placebo on weight, and development stopped.

AOD-9604 research and regulatory details: evidence quality, approval status, doses, handling, and presentation.
Topic	Value
Strongest source	limited human data
FDA approval	Not FDA-approved
Reported range	1–10 mg once daily over 12 weeks — the trials did not inject it, the 1 mg group lost 2.6 kg against 0.8 kg on placebo, the 10 mg group lost less than the 1 mg group, and the primary trial reports were never published — reported in the literature
What people report using	250–500 mcg a day, split over two or three injections under the skin; the human trials swallowed this compound rather than injecting it, and at roughly ten times the quantity — no trial has tested this quantity
Typical vials	5 mg

Every row links back to a source listed below. These facts are for reference, not a personal recommendation.

The row headed “what people report using” is not evidence. No trial produced that quantity. It is printed because it is what circulates, and because it is better read here, beside what the studies actually did, than on a page that is selling the vial. It describes a practice. It is not a starting point.

What the evidence for AOD-9604 is

People have received this compound in a documented setting, or it has approval outside the United States. The available human evidence is still too limited to show a clear dose-and-result pattern for US use.

limited human data

What it establishes: It shows that people have received it and that some human information exists.
What it does not establish: It does not prove that the same dose is appropriate in the United States or that uncommon and long-term risks are known.

Check the country, study size and reason it was used. Do not treat limited human data as an FDA-approved schedule.

Evidence snapshot and shareable image

Evidence snapshot

Foreign approval or limited human data

The fastest way to see what kind of evidence this page is built on.

Regulation: Not FDA-approvedNo US prescribing label
Dose source: Reported range only2 circulating ranges · not established
Safety evidence: 5 listed safety findingsCommon and serious effects shown apart
Sources: 3 cited sourcesMedical review complete · 2026-09-07

Open the shareable evidence image

AOD-9604 at a glance: foreign approval or limited human data, dosing basis, regulatory status, safety coverage, and cited-source count. These details summarize the available sources; they are not treatment recommendations.

Where AOD-9604 is in clinical trials

No trial of this compound is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.

That is worth sitting with. Nobody has registered a study to find out whether AOD-9604 works in people, so no result is coming and no date is worth waiting for. Sellers are not waiting for that work either.

A registered study means a sponsor filed a plan and started enrolling. It is not evidence the drug works, and most drugs tested in people never reach a pharmacy. Sponsors write and update these sources themselves; the National Library of Medicine publishes them without checking them.

ClinicalTrials.gov · retrieved 2026-09-27

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Regulatory status

This compound has an unusual regulatory footprint for a research peptide.

It failed as a drug candidate, then found a second life as a food and supplement ingredient. It later became publicly contentious in Australia, in a sports-supplements investigation. The question there was whether it counted as a prohibited substance.

Anti-doping authorities concluded that it was not. None of that shows it works: a substance can be legal, on sale and useless at once.

Full regulatory tracker →

Where to go next on AOD-9604

The related pages keep each topic with its evidence.

The AOD-9604 trial dosing program, arm by arm

See what each AOD-9604 trial group received; this is not an approved schedule.

Every reaction on the AOD-9604 page, with its frequency

4 common and 1 serious AOD-9604 reactions, each carrying its own source.

Check an AOD-9604 draw with the AOD-9604 dosage calculator

U-100, U-50 and U-40 barrels read differently; the AOD-9604 tool covers all three.

The 5 mg AOD-9604 vial: concentrations and example draws

A 5 mg AOD-9604 vial and a differently sized one are genuinely different arithmetic.

Where AOD-9604 sits among the weight loss compounds

15 compounds people take for weight loss, and what each was measured against, with AOD-9604 as one example

Take the AOD-9604 arithmetic to any other vial

Concentration, units per draw and draws per vial, including AOD-9604

Which compounds are still in trials besides AOD-9604

Compounds with no registered trial are counted as exactly that, including AOD-9604

The dated regulatory page for AOD-9604 and the rest

Every entry cites its source. It comes from the Federal Register or fda.gov, with AOD-9604 as context

Uses and approval status for AOD-9604 and other compounds

Browse the wider compound library for background on AOD-9604.

How each AOD-9604 claim is checked

Source definitions and the checks that enforce them, including the source for AOD-9604.

Safety notes

Controlled human obesity trials did not separate this fragment from placebo on weight. Development stopped there
Nobody published the trials as primary papers. The quantities here come from a peer-reviewed review of a company market announcement. This record therefore frames them as reported, not studied
The trial doses were swallowed, not injected. They carry no arithmetic across to a reconstituted vial
The 10 mg group lost less weight than the 1 mg group. The range on this record is not a ladder: more did not work better
Anti-doping authorities did not prohibit it. That is a classification decision, not evidence of benefit
Oral and nasal presentations are also sold. Their absorption differs so completely that quantities do not transfer between formats

Questions about AOD-9604

Is AOD-9604 FDA-approved?

No. There is no prescribing label for it, so no approved dose exists — the regulatory status section above has the detail.

How is AOD-9604 taken?

Trials study it both by mouth and by injection under the skin. The table above keeps each route and schedule separate.

How does AOD-9604 differ from the other compounds in this class?

AOD-9604 has been studied in people, but it works through a different system from GLP-1 and amylin drugs. Its doses and results are not directly comparable with theirs.

What is not known about AOD-9604?

It does not prove that the same dose is appropriate in the United States or that uncommon and long-term risks are known.

Is there a AOD-9604 dosing schedule on this site?

Not a schedule — there is no approved schedule to publish here. What you get instead is the trial dosing program: the doses each arm received and how the protocol worked up to them. See what the trials tested.

3primary sources, each with the day we read it — open the documents used on this page