Tesamorelin
- Fat loss & metabolism
- Recovery & repair
- Growth hormone
- Focus & brain health
The visceral-fat peptide — approved for deep abdominal fat in HIV-associated lipodystrophy, which it cut 15.2% against a 5.0% increase on placebo.
Read the published research →What Tesamorelin does
Tesamorelin does not supply growth hormone; it prompts the pituitary to release the body's own in pulses, and the fat it takes off is specifically the deep visceral kind. Pooled across two 26-week trials in 806 adults with excess abdominal fat, visceral fat fell by 24 cm2 while it rose by 2 cm2 on placebo, and the fat just under the skin did not move either way. Over 12 months in people with fatty liver disease, liver fat fell 4.1 percentage points further than placebo — a 37% relative reduction — with 35% of the treated group dropping below the 5% threshold against 4% on placebo. Nearly all of that work is in people living with HIV, the population the drug is approved for; the one randomised trial outside it lowered visceral fat by 35 cm2 relative to placebo in 60 abdominally obese adults with reduced growth hormone secretion, and participants switched to placebo in a phase 3 extension reaccumulated the fat they had lost, so the effect does not outlast the exposure. Injection-site reactions are the most common complaint, fasting glucose rose early and had evened out by six months in one randomised trial, and joint pain and swelling are recognised effects across growth-hormone-axis treatments.
- Deep abdominal fat rather than overall weight
- Liver fat and fatty-liver markers
- Waist size and body composition
- Raising the body's own growth hormone output
- Lean mass alongside fat loss
- Cognitive sharpness in older adults
Common areas of interest, not measured results. The findings below are the published data.
In a pooled analysis of two 26-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trials in 806 adults with HIV and excess abdominal fat, visceral adipose tissue fell by 24 +/- 41 cm2 on tesamorelin versus a 2 +/- 35 cm2 increase on placebo (P<0.001; treatment effect -15.4%), while abdominal subcutaneous fat was unchanged (-2 +/- 32 vs 2 +/- 29 cm2, P=0.08).9
In the 26-week randomised, double-blind registrational trial in 412 adults with HIV and abdominal fat accumulation, visceral adipose tissue fell 15.2% on tesamorelin and rose 5.0% on placebo, triglycerides fell 50 mg/dL versus a 9 mg/dL rise, the total-cholesterol-to-HDL ratio fell 0.31 versus a 0.21 rise, and IGF-1 rose 81.0% versus a 5.0% fall (P<0.001 for all).6
In a 12-month randomised, double-blind, multicentre trial in 61 people with HIV and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatic fat fraction fell by an absolute 4.1% more than placebo (95% CI -7.6 to -0.7, P=0.018), a 37% relative reduction, and 35% of tesamorelin recipients versus 4% on placebo reached a hepatic fat fraction below 5% (P=0.0069).10
For laboratory research use only. Not a drug, food, or cosmetic. Not for human or veterinary use, ingestion, or any form of consumption. Sold exclusively to qualified researchers.
