Tesamorelin
July 28, 2024Promising
5/10
Purrptide digest
Tesamorelin has actual FDA approval — for reducing visceral fat in HIV patients with lipodystrophy. That's a narrow lane, but it's a real, regulated lane. The interesting part: it specifically targets visceral fat, the dangerous kind wrapped around your organs, more than subcutaneous fat. Most fat-loss drugs aren't that picky. Longevity clinics took notice and started prescribing it off-label well outside the original HIV indication, betting that visceral-fat-specific targeting matters for everyone, not just one patient population.
What this means for you
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If you care about weight/health
If visceral fat (the kind around your organs) is your specific concern, this is one of the few peptides with FDA-grade evidence targeting exactly that.
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If you're a clinician
Actually FDA-approved, which is rare on this list. The off-label expansion beyond HIV lipodystrophy is the part to watch.
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If you're a researcher
Selective visceral fat reduction without proportional subcutaneous fat loss is mechanistically distinct and underexplored outside the HIV population.
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If you follow biotech
An approved drug with an expanding off-label market is the easiest commercial story in this entire list.
FA
Falutz et al.
Theratechnologies
For the nerds
Effects of Tesamorelin on Visceral Fat and Liver Fat in HIV-Infected Patients
JAMA · DOI: 10.1001/jama.2014.12399
Read full paper on PubMed →