Name: AOD-9604
Brand: PeptidesDirect
SKU: PD-AOD-9604-5MG
Availability: InStock

Question 1

What is AOD-9604?

Accepted Answer

AOD-9604 is a synthetic fragment of human growth hormone (Tyr-hGH 177-191) that reproduces specifically the lipolytic portion of the molecule, without showing the growth-promoting or blood-glucose effects of full-length hGH. It is used in preclinical research to study fat-cell mobilisation in a targeted way.

Question 2

How does AOD-9604 differ from Retatrutide?

Accepted Answer

AOD-9604 acts directly at the adipocyte (β3-adrenergic activation of hormone-sensitive lipase) and influences neither appetite nor the incretin axis. Retatrutide, by contrast, is a GLP-1 / GIP / glucagon triple agonist that acts systemically via appetite, gastric emptying and energy expenditure. AOD-9604 is therefore narrowly lipolytic, while Retatrutide is broadly metabolic.

Question 3

How is AOD-9604 stored and reconstituted?

Accepted Answer

Store lyophilised AOD-9604 at -20 °C in its original packaging. For reconstitution, add bacteriostatic water slowly along the inner wall of the vial, do not spray directly onto the lyo cake and do not shake. The reconstituted solution should be kept at 2-8 °C and used according to the manufacturer instructions.

Question 4

What purity and testing back your AOD-9604?

Accepted Answer

Every batch of AOD-9604 ships with a certificate of analysis from Janoshik Analytical, an independent third-party laboratory, at a minimum purity of 98%. We do not run a lab ourselves: the manufacturer commissions this test, and we pass the report on unchanged, with an online verification link on the product page.

Question 5

What has AOD-9604 actually been studied for, and in which species and models?

Accepted Answer

AOD-9604 has been studied mainly in rodents as a fat-loss agent, plus one small rabbit study on joint cartilage that has nothing to do with weight. Obese Zucker rats received it orally to measure weight gain and lipolysis (PMID 11146367), and two mouse studies, in genetically obese ob/ob mice and in beta-3 adrenergic receptor knockout mice, traced the fat-oxidation pathway behind the effect (PMID 11673763, PMID 11713213). A rabbit knee-osteoarthritis model tested it instead as a cartilage-repair injection (PMID 26275694), and a separate in vitro assay used human serum and urine only to build an anti-doping detection method, not to study any therapeutic effect (PMID 25208511).

Question 6

What dose did the AOD-9604 studies use, and is there a published human dosing protocol?

Accepted Answer

In the foundational published study, obese Zucker rats received 500 micrograms of AOD-9604 per kg body weight, given orally, once daily, for 19 days (PMID 11146367). Unusually for a research peptide, AOD-9604 also has a documented human trial history: a peer-reviewed pharmacology review reports that in a 12-week trial, subjects on 1 mg per day lost 2.6 kg versus 0.8 kg on placebo, a higher 10 mg per day dose performed worse, and a larger 24-week, 536-subject trial then failed to beat placebo, after which the sponsor closed the program in 2007 (PMID 20445536). That is trial history, not a protocol: the program never reached approval, and no dosing regimen for AOD-9604 is authorized or recommended by any regulator today.

Question 7

What did the AOD-9604 studies observe as the outcome, and how quickly did the effect appear?

Accepted Answer

In the rat study, AOD-9604 cut body-weight gain by more than half over 19 days of daily oral dosing (15.8 g gained versus 35.6 g in untreated controls), with no loss of insulin sensitivity on clamp testing (PMID 11146367). In the two 14-day mouse studies, increased fat oxidation and plasma glycerol (a lipolysis marker) were reported within that same short window, again without the hyperglycemia seen with full-length growth hormone (PMID 11673763, PMID 11713213). In the rabbit knee-osteoarthritis model, cartilage-damage scores were significantly better than saline after 4-7 weeks of weekly intra-articular injections, assessed at 8 weeks (PMID 26275694). All of these are animal dosing schedules of days to weeks, not human timelines, and no human study has confirmed the same speed of effect.

Question 8

What side effects or adverse events were reported in the AOD-9604 studies, with rates and citations where available?

Accepted Answer

The published animal studies report no adverse events for AOD-9604 itself. The Zucker rat study specifically checked for insulin resistance on a euglycemic clamp and found none (PMID 11146367), and the two mouse studies found no hyperglycemia and no drop in insulin secretion, the exact metabolic problems seen with full-length growth hormone (PMID 11673763, PMID 11713213). The rabbit cartilage study reported no adverse events over its 4-to-8-week window either (PMID 26275694). All of this comes from animals dosed for days to weeks: it is reassurance about the specific endpoints those studies measured (glucose, insulin, joint tissue), not a general safety clearance.

Question 9

What is not known about AOD-9604, i.e., what is the honest evidence gap?

Accepted Answer

There is no independent, peer-reviewed long-term human safety record for AOD-9604. The only account of human tolerability traces back to the sponsor's own discontinued obesity drug program, discussed secondhand in a pharmacology review rather than in an original PubMed-indexed trial paper (PMID 20445536). All three rodent weight-loss studies also share an overlapping author group tied to the original Australian sponsor lab, so none of them is an independent replication (PMID 11146367, PMID 11673763, PMID 11713213), and there is no published data on reproductive, pediatric, or multi-year human use. The honest summary: the only human program ever run was stopped in 2007 for lack of efficacy and was never restarted, so no long-term safety literature exists to draw on.

Question 10

Does AOD-9604 actually produce weight loss in humans, based on the published trial record?

Accepted Answer

The honest answer is no, not at a level any regulator or the pivotal trial itself accepted as meaningful. An earlier 12-week trial showed a modest early signal, 1 mg per day: 2.6 kg lost versus 0.8 kg on placebo, with a higher 10 mg per day dose performing worse (not dose-dependent), but the larger 24-week, 536-subject trial that followed did not show a statistically significant weight-loss benefit over placebo, and the sponsor terminated the obesity program in 2007 (PMID 20445536). This is a case where positive rodent lipolysis data (PMID 11146367, PMID 11673763, PMID 11713213) did not translate into a clinically meaningful human effect, and no further human obesity trial has been run since.

Question 11

Is AOD-9604 approved by the FDA, EMA, or any regulator, or is it strictly an unapproved research compound?

Accepted Answer

No: AOD-9604 has never been approved by the FDA, EMA, or any other medicines regulator. It was developed by Metabolic Pharmaceuticals as an obesity drug candidate (PMID 15134286), and was discontinued in 2007 after a pivotal 24-week trial in 536 subjects failed to beat placebo (PMID 20445536). It remains strictly a research compound today, with no marketing authorization in any jurisdiction, and it is separately listed as a prohibited substance by WADA for anti-doping purposes (PMID 25208511).

Question 12

How much bacteriostatic water should be used for a 5 mg or 10 mg AOD-9604 vial, and does the ratio matter for stability?

Accepted Answer

Both vial sizes we carry, 5 mg and 10 mg, are typically reconstituted with 1-2 mL of bacteriostatic water, which gives roughly 2.5-5 mg per mL for the 5 mg vial and 5-10 mg per mL for the 10 mg vial. The exact ratio is mostly a convenience choice: less water gives a more concentrated solution, more water makes small-volume measuring easier, and neither choice changes how fast the dissolved peptide degrades. What actually governs stability once reconstituted is temperature and time, not the water-to-peptide ratio, so refrigeration and the use-by window matter more than the exact mL chosen.

Question 13

How long does reconstituted AOD-9604 last, and should it be refrigerated or frozen?

Accepted Answer

Once reconstituted, keep AOD-9604 refrigerated at 2-8 °C, protected from light, and do not refreeze it. Reconstituted peptide solutions are generally usable for around 28 days under refrigeration, the same shelf life the bacteriostatic water's own benzyl alcohol preservative carries. If the solution turns cloudy and stays cloudy, or develops particles, discard it rather than use it past that window, since stability after reconstitution has not been formally tested by us or the manufacturer.

Question 14

What does your own lab report show for a specific AOD-9604 batch, and how can it be verified?

Accepted Answer

Batch 'Purple,' our current 10 mg AOD-9604 vial, tested at 99.4% purity with 13.04 mg of peptide measured in the vial (above the 10 mg label claim), and batch 'Yellow,' our 5 mg vial, tested at 99.55% purity with 5.72 mg measured, also above label, both on 2025-12-09. Both reports come from Janoshik Analytical, commissioned by the manufacturer rather than an independent lab we paid for ourselves. You can check either report against the batch on your own vial at verify.janoshik.com, using test ID 92095_49L96LINJBY9 for the 10 mg batch or 92094_AGA86378Y92U for the 5 mg batch.

Question 15

Does AOD-9604 raise growth hormone or IGF-1 levels the way GH secretagogues like CJC-1295 or Ipamorelin do?

Accepted Answer

No, AOD-9604 does not raise growth hormone or IGF-1 the way GH secretagogues do, which is the entire point of how it was engineered. It is only the C-terminal lipolytic fragment of growth hormone (Tyr-hGH 177-191), acting directly on fat cells through the beta-3 adrenergic receptor pathway, and the original mouse studies confirm it does not compete for the hGH receptor and does not reproduce hGH's cell-proliferation or blood-glucose effects (PMID 11713213, PMID 11673763). GH secretagogues such as CJC-1295 and Ipamorelin work differently: they stimulate the pituitary to release more of the body's own growth hormone, which does raise GH and downstream IGF-1. One 2026 orthopaedic-peptide review groups AOD-9604 with those secretagogues under 'IGF-1 signaling' (PMID 41490200), but that grouping does not match AOD-9604's own mechanistic data, which shows it works around the GH axis, not through it.

Question 16

Is AOD-9604 banned by WADA, and can it be detected in a drug test?

Accepted Answer

Yes: AOD-9604 is on WADA's Prohibited List, and it can be detected. An analytical study built a urine-based mass-spectrometry method with a detection limit of 50 picograms per mL and identified a stable metabolite (peptide sequence CRSVEGSCG) that persists longer than the parent peptide, extending the window in which testing can catch it (PMID 25208511). This is specifically an anti-doping testing question: standard workplace or medical drug panels do not screen for AOD-9604, but sports anti-doping panels do.

Question 17

Was AOD-9604 studied for anything besides fat loss?

Accepted Answer

Yes: a 2015 rabbit study tested AOD-9604 as a cartilage-repair injection for knee osteoarthritis, not for weight loss. New Zealand white rabbits with collagenase-induced knee osteoarthritis received weekly intra-articular injections of 0.25 mg AOD-9604 per knee, with or without hyaluronic acid, for 4-7 weeks, with cartilage assessed 8 weeks after the osteoarthritis was induced (PMID 26275694). Cartilage-damage scores were significantly better than saline in every treated group, and the AOD-9604-plus-hyaluronic-acid combination gave the best scores and the shortest lameness period. This is a single, small rabbit study (n=32), so it should be read as an early mechanistic signal about the peptide's tissue-repair fragment activity, not as evidence for any joint application in humans.

Question 18

How is AOD-9604 different from hGH Fragment 176-191, and which one has more research behind it?

Accepted Answer

AOD-9604 and hGH Fragment 176-191 are related but not the same molecule. AOD-9604 (also written Tyr-hGH 177-191) adds an extra tyrosine at the N-terminus and keeps its disulfide bridge intact as a properly folded, cyclized peptide, features meant to resist enzymatic breakdown better than the plain, often uncyclized Fragment 176-191 sold under similar names. The evidence base is lopsided too: AOD-9604 carries a documented history of company-run human trials (six in total, roughly 900 subjects) plus the rodent and rabbit studies referenced on this page, while dedicated Fragment 176-191 literature is comparatively sparse. Neither history is a claim of efficacy for either research material, only a structural and evidence-base comparison.

Question 19

Did AOD-9604 get FDA 'GRAS' status, and does that mean it's approved or safe to use?

Accepted Answer

AOD-9604 does have a 2014 'Generally Recognized As Safe' (GRAS) determination, but that is a narrow, self-affirmed food-ingredient safety notice for an oral supplement form of the peptide, not an FDA drug approval. GRAS status says nothing about whether the peptide works for any purpose: it only concerns the safety of that specific ingredient use, under the conditions described in the notice. It also does not extend to the research-grade material sold on this page, intended strictly for laboratory use: AOD-9604 remains an unapproved research compound with no marketing authorization from any regulator, in any form.

Question 20

How can I confirm a specific AOD-9604 vial is the modified, cyclized peptide and not the cheaper unmodified hGH Fragment 176-191 sold under a similar name?

Accepted Answer

The only way to confirm a specific vial is genuinely AOD-9604, not the cheaper unmodified hGH Fragment 176-191 sold under a similar name, is a batch CoA reporting molecular identity, not just a purity percentage. Our current batches carry exactly that: batch 'Purple' (10 mg) tested at 99.4% purity with 13.04 mg measured in the vial, and batch 'Yellow' (5 mg) at 99.55% purity with 5.72 mg measured, both from Janoshik Analytical and checkable at verify.janoshik.com (test ID 92095_49L96LINJBY9 for the 10 mg batch, 92094_AGA86378Y92U for the 5 mg batch). AOD-9604's added N-terminal tyrosine and intact disulfide bridge give it a different mass than the unmodified fragment, so an identity report based on that mass, not a purity number alone, is what tells the two apart.

Question 21

Was the human AOD-9604 obesity trial conducted with oral or injectable dosing, and does the route matter for interpreting the result?

Accepted Answer

The pivotal human program, a 24-week Phase IIb trial in 536 subjects, used oral dosing and failed to beat placebo on its primary weight-loss endpoint (PMID 20445536). The foundational rodent efficacy study was also oral, in Zucker rats (PMID 11146367), while separate mouse mechanistic studies used injection to trace the fat-oxidation pathway (PMID 11673763, PMID 11713213). Route matters here: no human trial has ever tested the subcutaneous injection route that current research use commonly references, so the published "no meaningful human weight loss" finding is honestly tied to oral dosing only, an open evidence gap, not a route-adjusted efficacy claim.

Question 22

Does adding AOD-9604 to another peptide such as retatrutide or tirzepatide give any documented extra fat-loss benefit, or has no combination ever been tested?

Accepted Answer

No published study has tested AOD-9604 combined with Tesamorelin, CJC-1295, BPC-157, or any other peptide. Each of those compounds has only been studied on its own, in separate animal or human trials, so any stacking protocol you see in research forums or vendor guides is a market practice, not a trial-backed regimen: it extrapolates from single-compound data rather than testing the combination itself. AOD-9604 works through a different pathway than GH secretagogues like CJC-1295, beta-3 adrenergic fat-cell signaling versus pituitary GH release, so a mechanistic rationale for stacking exists, but rationale is not evidence: no controlled study has measured what combining them does, in animals or humans.

Question 23

Does published research specify a time of day, feeding state, or injection technique for AOD-9604 to maximize a fat-loss effect?

Accepted Answer

No published study has established a time of day, feeding state, or injection technique for AOD-9604: the rat efficacy study used a fixed daily oral dose for 19 days to measure weight gain, not to optimize an effect (PMID 11146367), and the human obesity trials tested a fixed daily oral dose without reporting meal-timing as a variable (PMID 20445536). Morning-dosing or injection-site recommendations circulating in research forums are informal community practice, not controlled-study findings. We sell AOD-9604 strictly for in-vitro research use, not human administration, so we give no dosing, timing, or injection guidance; see /research/aod-9604 and the cited studies for how each protocol was actually designed.

Question 24

Why is AOD-9604 difficult to dissolve, and what is the right way to reconstitute it?

Accepted Answer

AOD-9604 has a reputation among researchers as one of the most finicky peptides to reconstitute, and that reputation is deserved: clumping, cloudiness and gel are common even with careful technique. The only official chemistry source, an FDA advisory-committee briefing from 2024, lists the peptide as water-soluble, so plain bacteriostatic water can work; in practice, however, many researchers only get clear solutions with an acid-first approach: wet the powder first with a small amount of dilute acetic-acid diluent such as our Acetic Acid Water, let it work for several minutes without agitation, and only then add the bacteriostatic water slowly down the inside wall. Our bacteriostatic water sits at pH 6.2 to 6.4 (the measured value of each batch is on its certificate). Use a generous total volume, never shake, and judge clarity only after 10 to 15 minutes of rest; a slight opalescence can still clear over time. Correct technique and a suitable diluent are part of the reconstitution work that lies with the researcher; a vial is not defective simply because a high-concentration or high-pH mix turned cloudy.

Question 25

How do I reconstitute AOD-9604 step by step with acetic-acid water?

Accepted Answer

Acid first, then top up. Choose your end volume (2 ml is a common choice for one vial). First run 0.3 to 0.5 ml of dilute acetic-acid water, for example our Acetic Acid Water, slowly down the inside wall and swirl gently until the powder has visibly dissolved; this can take one to three minutes, so give it time. Only then top up to the end volume with bacteriostatic water and swirl gently once more, never shake. The finished mix typically sits in the mildly acidic range (roughly pH 4.2 to 4.8 as a guide, depending on your water), which is where AOD-9604 dissolves most reliably. The reason for the order: the powder should dissolve in the most favorable, acidic environment. A gel that has already formed in near-neutral water can rarely be rescued with acid afterwards.

Question 26

Does unrefrigerated shipping affect the quality of this product?

Accepted Answer

No. This product ships as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder in a sealed vial. Freeze-drying removes the water that drives peptide degradation, so the dry powder remains stable at room temperature for extended periods, longer than any normal parcel transit. Ambient shipping is standard practice across the peptide industry, and a peer-reviewed study reported months of room-temperature stability for a lyophilized therapeutic peptide (teriparatide, PMID 26620825). For comparison, FDA labeling allows an Ozempic (semaglutide) pen, after first use, to be kept out of the fridge for 56 days at 15 to 30°C, and a Mounjaro (tirzepatide) pen for up to 21 days at up to 30°C, even though these are ready-mixed solutions rather than sealed dry powder. Store the sealed vial in the fridge or freezer for long-term storage, and always refrigerate after reconstitution.

AOD-9604

What is AOD-9604

How it works

Often studied alongside

Documentation

Storage and stability

Reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

Technical data sheet

Frequently bought together

Retatrutide

Tesamorelin

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Graduated Measuring Syringe 1 mL 31G x 6 mm

Alcohol Prep Pads 30 x 65 mm

Peptide Storage Box (10 Compartments)

Peptide Vial Case 30 Slots