ACE-031 dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
ACE-031 is a decoy that traps myostatin and activin, studied for muscular dystrophy. Its studies were stopped over blood vessel side effects.
Evidence grade for ACE-031: Limited. The rule: people have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. The sum on this page: 1 completed trial, 48 people given it. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 48
- Human studies
- 1
- Found nothing
- 0
Dose
No human dose established
Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose.
1 completed trial, 48 people given it
5 effects reported, 4 unwanted, 1 wanted, by people using it, not a trial
Goal pages: Muscle and strength
In plain English
In plain English, from Aaron
This is how I would explain it to a friend. The evidence, with the numbers, is further down the page.
ACE-031 is a lab-made decoy that soaks up myostatin, a brake on muscle growth. It was built for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It did add some muscle. But the studies were stopped because of bleeding problems. It is not approved, and work on it stopped in 2011.
What people take it for
- Adding muscle fast.
- Muscle wasting diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
What studies in people showed
In 48 healthy women past menopause, one shot at the top dose raised total muscle 3.3 percent. Thigh muscle rose 5.1 percent within a month. Nobody measured whether they got stronger. Then it was tested in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy against a dummy shot. The study was stopped after the second dose level. Boys were getting nosebleeds and small spidery blood vessels in the skin. Walking and muscle leaned toward the drug, but not by enough to count as real.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- Some users on forums describe strength and pump changes in the first week or two, and effects that last after the last shot.
The bad
- Boys in the Duchenne study got nosebleeds and small spidery blood vessels in the skin. The study was stopped.
- Almost nobody has posted a real log of results. Sceptics on the same forums see that as the most telling fact.
- Tested vials are described as the right molecule but badly underdosed.
- Cost. Dosing like the studies is put at thousands of dollars every two weeks, so people doubt anything cheap is the real thing.
Where these come from: The side effects are from the two studies on this page. The user reports are from bodybuilding forum threads summarised on this page, not from a study.
My bottom line
It added a little muscle on a scan, and boys in the study got nosebleeds and odd blood vessels. The makers stopped work on it. My opinion: nothing sold online under this name is worth that risk.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals ACE-031 has been tested for in people, biggest studies first. We count only what the studies on this page say, so the real numbers may be higher.
- Keeping or building muscle48 people · 2 studies
- Getting strongerno headcount stated · 1 study
What people using it report
Real people telling you what happened to them. Nobody checked it, and the people who post are not a fair sample, so it cannot prove anything works. It is still the best guide on this page to what people actually do with ACE-031, what they expect, and what goes wrong. The full account, including the negative reports, is below.
34 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind ACE-031
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove ACE-031 does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about ACE-031 and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is ACE-031?
ACE-031 is a decoy that traps myostatin and activin, studied for muscular dystrophy. Its studies were stopped over blood vessel side effects.
ACE-031 is a free-floating copy of a muscle receptor called activin receptor type IIB. It acts as a decoy. It traps myostatin and related signals before they can slow muscle growth.
In 48 women past menopause, one shot at 3 mg per kilogram raised total muscle 3.3% and thigh muscle 5.1% by day 29. It stayed in the body a long time, with a half-life of 10 to 15 days. The next study was in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It was stopped after the second dose level, because boys got nosebleeds and small spidery blood vessels in the skin. Walking distance and muscle leaned in the drug's favour, but not by enough to count as a real effect. Work on it stopped in 2011 over those safety problems, which were not about muscle. It is not approved.
How does ACE-031 work?
It grabs and neutralises myostatin and activin before they can send their signal. That takes the brakes off muscle growth.
What do people who took ACE-031 report?
This is what real people say happened to them, good and bad. Nobody measured it. A report cannot tell a real effect from the lift people get just from expecting it to work, from a diet or training change made at the same time, or from what was really in the vial. We still put it near the top. It is the next best thing to a study in people: what happens when real people use it, including what goes wrong.
- Two incompatible pictures sit side by side in the same community. Enthusiastic threads describe weekly injections of around half a milligram or a milligram every couple of weeks, with strength and pump changes inside the first week or two and effects continuing after the last injection, which people attribute to a half life of a week or more.
- Sceptical threads point out that almost nobody has posted a log, and treat the absence of documented results after the compound had been on the market for a long time as the most telling fact about it.
- Product authenticity is the dominant negative. Testing is described as finding the right molecule but strongly underdosed, and the general position taken is that research suppliers sell underdosed peptides. The material is also described as fragile, with advice to use a whole vial in one go rather than store it once mixed.
- Cost is used as an argument in itself. Trial scale dosing is put at thousands of dollars per fortnight for an adult, which people use to conclude that anything affordable cannot be the real thing at the real dose.
- Side effect discussion is almost absent in the threads where people are enthusiastic, while the wider discussion of myostatin inhibitors describes the class as having unfavourable safety profiles. The silence in the enthusiastic threads is not reassurance, and posters elsewhere in the same forums treat it as a sign that not much is actually being taken.
Sources: EliteFitness dosing and scepticism threads, found by site-restricted search and read directly, September 2026, with MESO-Rx myostatin discussion seen only through search extracts. Nothing above is attributed to any specific post and no post is reproduced.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
48people, across 1 study in people cited here
| Study | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Muscle and Nerve 2013 | 48 | 100% |
The whole total is one study of 48. Counts are the number of people each study on this page says it signed up. That includes studies that only watched people and gave nobody the compound. 1 more study in people gives no headcount and is not counted here. Studies still signing people up are left out, and only studies cited on this page are counted.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
All 2 sources here are studies in people.
- Study in people · done in people2100%
Counted from the list of sources on this page. It counts only what we cite, so there may be more studies out there. A review counts once, however many studies it sums up.
Fig. 2 · evidence over time
Sources here come from just two years, 2013 and 2017.
Too few different years on this page to draw a timeline. The newest source on file is from 2017, more than five years ago. Research on it may have gone quiet.
Fig. 3 · legal status at a glance
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
AU
Not approved
CA
Not approved
Not approved in any of the four countries shown. This is what the law says, not a verdict on the science. See Legal status below for the full text and any notes.
Fig. 4 · how much does what
Nobody has tested different amounts in people
This chart would show how the effect changes as the amount goes up. For this compound, nobody has measured that in people. So we leave it empty. We will not borrow an animal chart and pretend it works the same in people.
Fig. 5 · what the molecule is
- Kind of compound
- Biologic
- Molecule weight
- ~78,000 Da
- Half-life
- Stated in words, not a numbersee the exact wording below
- Chain length
- None on file
No amino acid sequence is on file for ACE-031, so none is drawn rather than guessed from a name.
The studies we cite
- Study in people2013A single ascending-dose study of muscle regulator ACE-031 in healthy volunteers
One dose of ACE-031 added measurable muscle to healthy women within a month. Forty-eight women past menopause each received a single injection at one of several dose levels. At the highest dose, total muscle rose 3.3% and thigh muscle volume 5.1% by day 29. The drug lingers, taking ten to fifteen days for the body to clear half of it. This was a safety and dosing study in healthy people. Nobody was tested on whether they got stronger or functioned better.
One dose in 48 postmenopausal women: half-life 10 to 15 days; at 3 mg/kg total lean mass rose 3.3% and thigh muscle volume 5.1% by day 29.
- Study in people2017Myostatin inhibitor ACE-031 treatment of ambulatory boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: results of a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial
The trial was stopped early for safety, and it never showed a benefit. Boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy were given ACE-031 or a dummy injection. After the second dose level, the study was halted because boys were getting nosebleeds and small spidery blood vessels in the skin. Walking distance and muscle mass leaned in the drug's favour, but not by enough to call it a real effect. Treat this as a harm signal with no proven upside.
The trial was stopped after the second dose level because of epistaxis and telangiectasias; only non-significant trends toward preserved six-minute walk and higher lean mass were seen.
Where to buy ACE-031
1 seller lists ACE-031 in our latest read. They are ranked by trust score, then by archive rating, then by certificate tier, then by the lowest price per milligram. Archive evidence is counted before source-backed. Each path is out of 4, and the two are not added. A higher price does not raise the score. The letter is the certificate chip. 0 of them have a published certificate that names ACE-031.
Some seller links may pay this site when you buy through them. A payment never changes a seller's tier or rank, and no seller has a say in any page.
| Seller | Trust score | Vial sizes | From, per mg | Certificate for ACE-031 | Seller link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Science Labs | 80 StrongSource-backed 4 of 4. Archive evidence 2 of 4.A | 10 mg | $15.0 | None found for ACE-031 | View |
- LC Lab-confirmed: the issuing laboratory echoed this certificate back
- A Current certificate, independent laboratory named, laboratory not yet checked
- B Certificate published, but no laboratory link, older than a year, or the laboratory did not recognise the published lookup
- C No certificate could be read
Every listing and vial size for ACE-031 · How the trust score is counted
Sellers named on the price pages are ranked by certificate tier, then price, and any affiliate income is disclosed there. Naming a seller is not a recommendation to buy or use anything.
Common questions
Has ACE-031 been tested in people?
Yes. 48 people given it across 1 completed trial cited here, 0 of which found nothing. ACE-031 is a decoy that traps myostatin and activin, studied for muscular dystrophy. Its studies were stopped over blood vessel side effects.
What is the ACE-031 dosage?
No human dose established. Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose. 1 completed trial, 48 people given it
Is ACE-031 FDA-approved?
Not FDA-approved; work on it stopped over safety worries
Why was ACE-031 discontinued?
Its studies were stopped after safety problems outside the muscle, including nosebleeds and small blood vessel changes in the skin. Those outweighed the muscle gains.