Compound guide · Tier A
Tesamorelin
An approved medicine with a real label, and a narrow one. Almost nobody buying research grade tesamorelin has the condition it was approved to treat.
The short answer
This is a genuine drug with a genuine evidence base, and the gap between what it was approved for and what it is bought for is enormous. Egrifta was licensed to reduce visceral fat in adults with HIV associated lipodystrophy, a specific population with a specific problem, and the trial data supports that use. It does not establish that a healthy adult who wants a flatter abdomen should be injecting a GHRH analogue, and the label makes no such claim. If you have the approved indication, an approved product exists and this is a conversation with a prescriber. If you do not, you are extrapolating from a population you are not in.
At a glance
| Class | Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) analogue |
| Developer | Theratechnologies |
| Sold as | Egrifta, Egrifta SV, Egrifta WR |
| Regulatory status | Approved. The FDA approved tesamorelin in November 2010 as Egrifta, for the reduction of excess visceral abdominal fat in adults with HIV associated lipodystrophy. The formulation has been revised since, and the F8 formulation was approved in March 2025 and reached the market as Egrifta WR in September 2025. It remains the only medicine approved in the United States for that indication. Note what the licence does not cover: it is not approved for general fat loss, for body composition in healthy adults, or for anything to do with ageing. |
| Compounding status | Tesamorelin is an approved drug product, so the compounding question differs from the unapproved compounds elsewhere on this site. Material sold as research grade tesamorelin is not Egrifta. It has not been through the manufacturing controls behind an approved product and carries none of its labelling. |
| Anti-doping | Prohibited at all times under S2 as a growth hormone releasing factor. |
| Our evidence tier | Tier A. Approved medicine |
What it is
Tesamorelin is a synthetic version of human growth hormone releasing hormone, the full 44 amino acid sequence with a trans-3-hexenoyl group attached at the N terminus to slow degradation. It acts on the pituitary to increase the body's own pulsatile release of growth hormone rather than supplying growth hormone directly. That distinction is the pharmacological argument for it, because endogenous release retains more of the normal feedback control than exogenous growth hormone does.
Who it is for, and who actually takes it
The approved population is adults with HIV who have lipodystrophy with excess visceral abdominal fat. The registration trials measured visceral adipose tissue by CT, which is a hard imaging endpoint rather than a self reported one.
The people buying research grade tesamorelin are overwhelmingly not that population. They are buying it for body composition, for the growth hormone axis in general, or on the back of longevity claims that the label does not support and the trials never tested.
What the research shows
We show a chart where a single controlled comparison carries the argument. The tesamorelin registration data sits across two multi centre trials with an imaging endpoint, and the honest summary is the label itself rather than one extracted bar.
Dosing
| Stage | Dose |
|---|---|
| Approved indication | Excess visceral abdominal fat in adults with HIV associated lipodystrophy |
| Route | Subcutaneous injection |
| Egrifta and Egrifta SV, as published | 2 mg once daily |
| Egrifta WR (F8), approved March 2025 | Weekly reconstitution rather than daily |
| Endpoint used in the registration trials | Visceral adipose tissue measured by CT |
This reproduces what the regulator and the manufacturer have published about a licensed medicine, because that is a matter of public record. It is a record, not a recommendation. It describes an approved product, prescribed for an approved indication, monitored by a clinician, and none of those three conditions is met by a vial of research grade powder. We publish no reconstitution guidance.
What happens when you come off it
The visceral fat reduction was not maintained after discontinuation. In the registration programme, participants who came off tesamorelin regained visceral adipose tissue, which is the pattern seen across metabolic drugs generally: the effect persists while the drug is taken and reverses when it is not. Any framing of tesamorelin as a course you complete misreads the data.
What it is being studied for
| Area | Stage of evidence |
|---|---|
| HIV associated lipodystrophy, visceral fat | Approved |
| Liver fat in people with HIV | Controlled trial data, not an approved indication |
| Cognition in people with HIV | Investigated, not established |
| Body composition in healthy adults | Not established, not the studied population |
| Anti-ageing or longevity | No controlled human evidence |
The literature on tesamorelin is genuinely more developed than for most compounds in this category, and it is almost entirely conducted in people living with HIV. Read any result in that context before assuming it transfers to anyone else.
Common myths
Tesamorelin is FDA approved, so it is approved for fat loss.
It is approved for one indication in one population: excess visceral abdominal fat in adults with HIV associated lipodystrophy. Approval is always for an indication, never for a molecule in general. Reading the word approved and stopping there is the most common error made about this compound.
It raises your own growth hormone, so it is safer than growth hormone.
Preserving pulsatility is a real pharmacological argument and it is not a safety finding. Tesamorelin carries its own label warnings, including effects on glucose tolerance, and the safety data that exists was gathered in a monitored trial population rather than in healthy adults self administering.
Research grade tesamorelin is the same as Egrifta.
It may be the same molecule. It is not the same product. Egrifta is manufactured under release testing with a label, a batch record and a regulator standing behind it. A research vial has a purity figure from a third party lab, which speaks to identity and content and says nothing about sterility, endotoxin, or what else is in the vial.
The longevity community use it, so there must be evidence.
There is no controlled human trial of tesamorelin for ageing, lifespan or healthspan. Its reputation in that community rests on mechanism and on extrapolation from a clinical population with a specific pathology.
Verifying a purchase
Tesamorelin is a 44 amino acid peptide carrying an N terminal modification, so identity confirmation by mass spectrometry matters more than usual here. A truncated or unmodified sequence can still look respectable on HPLC alone. Check that the reported mass matches 5,135.9 Da and that the report is tied to the batch code on your vial rather than to a representative lot.
The general method is set out in our guide to reading a certificate of analysis, which covers the eleven checks that apply to any compound. The points above are the ones specific to Tesamorelin.
Caveats and safety
The approved label carries warnings that matter, including effects on glucose tolerance and increases in IGF-1, alongside injection site reactions. Because tesamorelin acts on the growth hormone axis, the theoretical concern about promoting growth of an existing malignancy applies, which is part of why the approved product is prescribed under supervision. None of that monitoring exists around a research vial.
Where to get it
Where to get it
CertaPeptides Romania, EU. Volume discounts at 3+, 5+ and 10+ units.
| Vial | Price |
|---|---|
| 2 mg | €22.99 |
| 5 mg | €43.49 |
| 10 mg | €82.99 |
| 20 mg | €147.99 |
Stated purity. ≥98% stated batch specification. Published lot report #212154 returned 98.00% on a 10 mg vial, with 9.90 mg measured against a 10 mg label.
Documentation. Selected lots independently tested by Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic), HPLC plus mass spectrometry, reports searchable on the Janoshik public portal and at certapeptides.com/verify.
Tesamorelin is sold as laboratory research material. The vendor states it is not for human consumption and that it is not approved by the FDA, the EMA or any other regulator for use in humans or animals. Read the evidence tier at the top of this page before the price.
View Tesamorelin at CertaPeptidesAffiliate link. We earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. It does not change a word of the assessment above. Every product we have priced, in one list.
Sources
- Drugs@FDA record for tesamorelin (Egrifta)
- Egrifta prescribing information, Theratechnologies
- WADA Prohibited List, section S2
- Registered tesamorelin trials, ClinicalTrials.gov
Related compounds
Disclosure. PeptoPurity is an affiliate of CertaPeptides and earns a commission on qualifying purchases made through the vendor link on this page, at no additional cost to you. That relationship does not set the evidence tier, alter the verdict, or change a word of the assessment. Our Tier C and Tier D pages carry the same links as our Tier A pages, with the same conclusions we would publish if we earned nothing. Where the registered, prescribed route is the better option, we say so on the page that would otherwise pay us.
Scope. This is an evidence review, not medical advice. Where an approved label schedule is reproduced it is a record of what a regulator has published about a licensed medicine, not a recommendation and not a schedule for anyone to follow unsupervised. For unapproved compounds we report only the doses used in published studies, attributed to those studies, and we publish no protocols and no reconstitution guidance for any compound. Regulatory status differs between countries and changes over time. Material sold for laboratory research is not approved for human use. Decisions about treatment belong with a qualified prescriber.