AOD-9604
Growth hormone fragment · Also written hGH 176-191 or hGH fragment 176-191
- UK status
- Unlicensed medicine
- Availability
- Research use only
- Evidence base
- Human trials did not support the claims
- Controlled drug
- No, but WADA prohibited
Sequence
Fragment 176 to 191 of human growth hormone.
The short version
What it does
Sold for fat loss. It was tested in people for exactly that and it did not work.
How it does it
Growth hormone has a fat-burning effect and a growth effect. The idea was to snip out just the fat-burning part of the molecule and leave the rest behind.
The catch
This is the one where we actually know. It went through human obesity trials and failed to beat a placebo. That is not missing evidence, it is evidence pointing the other way, and it is still on sale.
Everything below goes into the detail, with sources.
AOD-9604 is unusual among the compounds sold online: it was taken through real human trials for exactly the purpose it is marketed for. The trials did not support it. It is still sold.
At a glance
- Compound type
- Fragment of human growth hormone, residues 176 to 191
- Drug class
- None approved
- Marketed for
- Fat loss
- Human trials
- Conducted for obesity. Did not show meaningful weight loss against placebo.
- UK status
- Unlicensed medicine. Supply for human use prohibited.
- FDA position
- Proposed for exclusion from compounding, citing immunogenicity risk
- In sport
- Named on the WADA Prohibited List as AOD-9604 and hGH 176-191.
01What it is
Human growth hormone is 191 amino acids long. AOD-9604 is a fragment of it, the last 16 residues, corresponding to the region associated with fat metabolism rather than growth.
The idea was elegant: isolate the fat-breakdown activity of growth hormone without the growth-promoting and glucose effects of the whole hormone. It is why the compound was given the informal name anti-obesity drug, from which AOD comes.
02How it came about
AOD stands for anti-obesity drug, which tells you the intent. The idea was to isolate the fat-metabolism region at the tail of the growth hormone molecule and leave behind the growth-promoting and glucose effects of the whole hormone. Elegant in theory.
It was developed in Australia and taken into human clinical trials for obesity in the 2000s. The results did not support the indication and it was not approved. It has since been marketed in some countries as a food or cosmetic ingredient, categories with far lower evidential bars than medicines.
03UK legal and licensing status
AOD-9604 has no MHRA authorisation. Supplying it for human use in the UK without one is unlawful under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. It is not a controlled drug. It is sold as a research chemical labelled not for human consumption.
The FDA has proposed not to include AOD-9604 on the bulk drug substances list for compounding, citing safety concerns including immunogenicity and insufficient safety data.
Athletes: WADA names AOD-9604 and hGH 176-191 explicitly on the Prohibited List. Prohibited at all times.
04How it works
The proposed mechanism is stimulation of lipolysis, the breakdown of stored fat, and inhibition of its formation, through the fat-metabolism region of the growth hormone molecule, without acting through the growth hormone receptor itself and so without raising IGF-1.
05What it is not
Claims that attach themselves to this compound and do not hold up.
- Not an untested compound. This is the important one. It was tested in humans for fat loss and the trials did not support it.
- Not growth hormone. A fragment, designed specifically not to act through the growth hormone receptor, so it does not raise IGF-1.
- Not validated by food or cosmetic approvals. Those categories do not assess therapeutic effect.
06What the evidence shows
This is the part that matters, and it is the reason AOD-9604 deserves a place in this register.
AOD-9604 was developed as an obesity treatment and studied in human clinical trials. It did not demonstrate meaningful weight loss against placebo, and development for that indication did not proceed to approval. This is not an evidence gap. It is evidence, and it points the other way.
That distinction is worth holding on to. For BPC-157 the honest answer is that nobody knows because the trials have not been done. For AOD-9604 the trials were done and the result was negative. Anyone selling it for fat loss is selling a compound that was tested for fat loss and did not work.
It has since been marketed in some countries as a food or cosmetic ingredient, which is a regulatory category with a far lower evidential bar than a medicine and should not be read as validation.
Long-term safety in humans is not established, and the FDA has specifically flagged immunogenicity, the possibility of an immune response to the fragment, as a concern. As with any unlicensed injectable, product identity, purity and sterility are unverifiable.
07Reported harms
No regulated frequency table exists. Trial-era reporting did not identify a distinctive safety signal, but that is a limited statement drawn from limited trials, and it is not equivalent to an approved safety profile.
Unregulated supply risks apply in full: unknown identity and concentration, non-sterile handling, no accountability and no recall route.
08Interactions and cautions
No regulated interaction data. Trial-era exposure was limited.
09Stopping
Not meaningfully applicable, given no established effect to lose.
10Monitoring
Nothing to monitor, and nothing being monitored. The FDA has specifically flagged immunogenicity, the possibility of an immune response to the fragment, as a concern.
11Questions worth asking
Take these to a doctor or pharmacist. A good clinician will not mind being asked, and the answers are specific to you in a way nothing on this page can be.
- Am I aware this failed its human trials for exactly the purpose I am considering it for?
- What would change my mind, if a negative trial result does not?
12Common questions
Does AOD-9604 work for fat loss?
The human trials say no. It was developed as an obesity treatment, taken into clinical trials, and did not demonstrate meaningful weight loss against placebo. It was never approved for that use.
So why is it still sold?
Because there is demand and the research-chemical label keeps sellers outside medicines regulation. A negative trial result is not something a product page has any incentive to mention.
Is it different from other peptides with no evidence?
Yes, and the distinction matters. For BPC-157 nobody knows because the trials were not done. For AOD-9604 the trials were done and the answer came back negative. That is evidence, pointing the other way.
13Sources
Links go to the authoritative source. Where a document sits behind a paywall or moves around, the full citation is given so you can find it yourself.
- Prohibited List, AOD-9604 and hGH 176-191WADA
- Bulk drug substances review, AOD-9604FDA
- AOD-9604 clinical trials in obesityPubMed
- Unlicensed medicines guidanceMHRA
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