AOD-9604

Why scientists study it

• Metabolic Pharmaceuticals built it on research from Monash University, as a piece of hGH meant to keep the fat-release signal and drop the full hormone’s effects on growth and blood sugar.
• Its proposed mechanism centers on beta-3 adrenergic receptor signaling and the balance of fat release and fat storage in fat cells, not on the growth hormone receptor, and mice lacking the beta-3 receptor have been used to test this.
• It reached Phase 2 trials in obesity, but the Phase 2b obesity trial did not beat placebo on its main measure, which limits the human evidence. A separate line of work on joints has only been done in rabbits.

Three studies to know

Ng and colleagues, 2000 · Hormone Research

This paper first described the lab-made fat-release region of human growth hormone that became AOD-9604. Its metabolic studies separated that fat-release activity from the growth and diabetes-promoting effects tied to full-length hGH. Read the paper

Heffernan and colleagues, 2001 · Endocrinology

This animal study used obese mice and mice lacking the beta-3 adrenergic receptor. Long-term AOD-9604 treatment raised fat burning and lowered fat mass. The mice without the receptor helped the team study which pathway was involved. Read the paper

Stier and colleagues, 2013 · Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism

This clinical review summed up safety and tolerability data for AOD-9604 in human research participants. It pulled together results from the Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials of the obesity program. Read the paper

Safety and legal status

• AOD-9604 is still an experimental research compound. As of 2026 it is not approved for any medical use in people.
• The WADA Prohibited List names AOD-9604 as an example of a banned growth hormone fragment. It falls in class S2, with related peptide hormones and growth factors.
• It is supplied only for use in laboratory research. It is not for use in people.