AOD-9604
hGH fragment 176–191
The C-terminal fragment of human growth hormone, developed in the 1990s as an anti-obesity drug. It never received approval for weight loss, and the human data behind it is thin and unimpressive.
- Category
- Fat Loss & Metabolic
- Half-life
- Not well characterised in humans; the peptide is short-acting
- Cycle length
- Trials ran 12 weeks; no validated longer protocol exists
- Level
- intermediate
Overview
AOD-9604 is the 176–191 fragment of human growth hormone. The idea was to keep the fat-metabolising activity attributed to that region and leave behind the parts of the molecule responsible for growth and glucose effects — a fat-loss drug without the acromegalic baggage of full hGH. It is included here because it remains one of the most aggressively marketed research peptides, and because its actual trial record is a good case study in how a compound with a plausible mechanism and a disappointing effect size gets sold as though the mechanism were the result.
How it works
The fragment was designed to mimic the lipolytic portion of growth hormone. In laboratory models it increases fat breakdown and reduces fat formation, and it has separately been studied for cartilage and joint repair. Notably, AOD-9604 does not appear to act through the growth hormone receptor, and it does not raise IGF-1 — which is both its selling point and part of the reason its metabolic effect in humans was so small.
Reported benefits
- Increased lipolysis and reduced lipogenesis in laboratory models
- Studied for cartilage repair and joint-related endpoints
- Does not raise IGF-1 or glucose in the way full growth hormone does
- Available as a research peptide with an unusually long marketing history
Reported benefits describe what the published literature and user reports suggest — not a promise of outcome for any individual.
Dosing reference
In its development programme AOD-9604 was given at 1 mg per day for 12 weeks, by subcutaneous injection in one study and orally in another. No approved product or approved dose exists.
The published human work used a single fixed daily dose in short trials, and the results were modest. Community protocols quoting multiple daily injections are not derived from those trials.
Community-reported: 250–500 mcg daily, injected before breakfast or training, continued for months — usually ending with a report of no measurable change.
These figures are what people report using in public communities. They have not been studied, verified or checked against certificates of analysis, and they are not a recommendation, a prescription or a target to aim for.
Where the reported amounts come from
Amounts are reproduced for education only. Doses from trials cannot be assumed to suit anyone else, and community-reported amounts are frequently wrong. Self-administering unapproved compounds carries serious risk.
The research picture
AOD-9604 progressed through early-phase trials in obesity, including a 12-week study at 1 mg daily that reported a modest reduction in body weight versus placebo, and subsequent work on an oral formulation. The effect sizes were far smaller than the claims the compound now carries, and it never reached approval for weight management. Regulatory bodies have separately challenged weight-loss claims made about it. There is no convincing randomised evidence that AOD-9604 produces meaningful fat loss in people at any dose. Mechanistic plausibility plus decades of marketing have kept it on supplier lists; the trial file has not kept up.
Preclinical & non-clinical data
A fragment of human growth hormone (residues 176–191) that showed fat-breakdown activity in cells and in some animal studies. A randomised human trial and later work found no meaningful fat loss, which is the clearest example in this index of a compound that never survived contact with human data.
Non-clinical data comes from cells and animals unless stated otherwise. It answers whether a compound is worth studying in people — not whether it is safe or effective in them.
What users report
This may be the most consistently negative body of reporting on the site: a long-running pattern of users describing no effect whatsoever after months of daily injections, against a smaller group reporting appetite suppression they cannot separate from dieting. Detailed accounts have become rarer every year, and the threads that do run tend to turn into discussions of how the compound keeps being sold anyway.
Where these reports come from
These are unverified personal accounts collected from public sources. They are not evidence of effectiveness or safety, they have not been independently checked, and they are not a recommendation to use anything described.
Possible side effects
- Injection-site reactions
- Headache reported in early trials
- Generally reported as well tolerated in the short studies conducted
- Long-term effects unknown
Safety notes
Short-term trial exposure at 1 mg daily was reasonably tolerated, but there is no long-term human safety data and no product approved for use. The practical risk is one of expectation rather than acute harm: a compound whose evidence does not support the fat loss it is sold for, supplied as an unregulated powder of unverified identity and purity.
Stacking
Commonly sold alongside other fat-loss compounds, which multiplies unverified products without adding any evidence of benefit from the combination.
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