Dermorphin dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
Dermorphin is a seven amino acid opioid from the skin of South American frogs.
Evidence grade for Dermorphin: 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, 11 people given it. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 11
- 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, 11 people given it
2 effects reported, 2 unwanted, by people using it, not a trial
Goal pages: Hormones and growth hormone
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.
Dermorphin is an opioid peptide from the skin of South American tree frogs. In animals it is 30 to 40 times stronger than morphine. It was never made into a medicine. It is best known as a hidden doping drug in horse racing.
What people take it for
- Strong pain relief.
- Doping racehorses, which is how it was caught in 2011.
What studies in people showed
Only 22 people have had it in a study, in Italy in the 1980s. Both studies used it to study hormones, not to treat anything. In 11 healthy people, a drip raised a hormone called prolactin. The opioid blocker naloxone stopped that. In 11 people with a pituitary tumour, growth hormone rose in 8. No study has tested pain relief or breathing in a person. In rats and mice, it caused less tolerance and dependence than morphine. That has never been checked in people.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- We have not collected user reports on this one yet.
The bad
- Nobody knows how much it slows breathing in people. Slowed breathing is how opioids kill.
- It is dosed in millionths of a gram, with no human dose data.
Where these come from: The risk points come from the studies and doping papers on this page. We have no user reports.
My bottom line
My opinion: an opioid far stronger than morphine, with no human safety data, sold as a powder. That is how people die. Stay away.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals Dermorphin 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.
- Growth hormone and IGF-111 people · 1 study
35 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind Dermorphin
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove Dermorphin does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about Dermorphin and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is Dermorphin?
Dermorphin is a seven amino acid opioid from the skin of South American frogs. In animals it is 30 to 40 times stronger than morphine. It was given to 22 people in two Italian hormone studies in the 1980s and never made into a medicine. Its known real world use is as a hidden doping drug for racehorses, until it was caught in 2011.
Dermorphin was found in 1980 in the skin of Phyllomedusa tree frogs. It turned out to be one of the strongest and most targeted opioids known. Its sequence is Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Gly-Tyr-Pro-Ser-NH2. The second building block is a mirror image amino acid, one of the first found in an animal peptide. It shields the peptide from enzymes that would otherwise break it down within minutes.
What has been measured in people is small and old. In 1983, 11 healthy Italian volunteers got a 30 minute drip of dermorphin at 5.5 mcg/kg per minute, or salt water, in random order. A hormone called prolactin rose in every one of them, more in women. Naloxone, the opioid blocker, wiped out that rise. That shows it acts as an opioid in people. In 1985 the same team gave it to 11 patients with a prolactin making tumour in the pituitary gland. Prolactin did not respond, and growth hormone rose in 8 of 11. Both studies used dermorphin as a tool to study the pituitary, not as a treatment. No trial of dermorphin has ever been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Nobody has tested it for pain in a person. A 2019 opinion piece asks whether dermorphin injected into the spine is a missed chance in cancer end of life care. That is a question, not a study.
In rodents and monkeys it gives strong pain relief at far lower doses than morphine. Reviews say it causes less tolerance and dependence on long term dosing. Some related peptides speed up breathing instead of slowing it.
Dermorphin's real world story is in horse racing. A 2013 paper from a racing lab says it was misused and went undetected in North American racing until 2011. Tips from race tracks that year led to a blood and urine test, now used on official post-race samples. Researchers then studied it in ten horses. It was half gone in about 45 minutes and caused excitement and a faster heart rate after a drip. Tests now cover 17 related peptides in horse and human urine. A 2020 paper that built a human urine test says human use has been reported. Dermorphin has no approval anywhere and has never been sent to a regulator.
How does Dermorphin work?
In people, what is known comes from 22 people in the 1980s. A dermorphin drip raised prolactin in healthy volunteers, and naloxone blocked that. That shows an opioid action. It also raised growth hormone in most patients with prolactin making tumours. So it does act as an opioid on the human pituitary. Pain relief, breathing, tolerance and dependence have never been measured in a person. In animals and in a dish, dermorphin sticks tightly to the mu opioid receptor and mostly ignores others. The mirror image amino acid in position 2 guards one end from enzymes. A cap on the other end guards that side. That is why the peptide lasts in blood long enough to act. In rodents, a shot outside the brain still eases pain, so enough crosses into the brain to matter. Reviews say it works better and more strongly than morphine, with less tolerance and dependence, in rats and mice dosed over time. In horses, a drip causes brief excitement and a racing heart, at a blood level around 21 ng/mL.
What have studies in people found about Dermorphin?
22 people, all in Italian hormone studies in 1983 and 1985 that used dermorphin as a tool to study the pituitary gland. It raised prolactin in healthy volunteers, and the opioid blocker naloxone stopped that. It raised growth hormone in patients with prolactin making tumours. No human study has measured pain relief, breathing, tolerance or dependence.
- 1983: 11 healthy volunteers, a 30 minute drip, compared with salt water in random order. Prolactin rose in all of them. Naloxone wiped it out.
- 1985: 11 patients with prolactin making pituitary tumours. Prolactin did not respond. Growth hormone rose in 8 of 11.
- No pain study in any group of people. ClinicalTrials.gov, September 2026: zero records.
- A 2020 doping test paper says human use has been reported and offers a urine test. No health data comes with that statement.
- A 1996 review claims pain relief in people without citing a controlled study. None could be found.
What this does not tell you: Two small studies from forty years ago show only that dermorphin acts as an opioid on the human pituitary. The animal claims that make it attractive have never been checked in a person. Those are strength far beyond morphine, and less tolerance and dependence. Experience with other opioids is a reason for caution about the second claim. Nothing is known about how much it slows breathing in people. For an opioid this strong, dosed in millionths of a gram, that is the finding that matters most. Nothing is known about its effect in a healthy person seeking pain relief or better performance, which is the only reason it is sold.
The state of the research
Dermorphin has fine animal data and no drug development history, and the reason teaches something. It was published in 1980 and cannot be patented, since it is a natural product. It is a peptide, so it can only be injected. And it is an opioid arriving in a market that already had morphine, fentanyl and their relatives. There was no clear need for a new opioid that could not be taken by mouth. The work on dermorphin copies, some 30 by 1996, was university research on which receptors they hit. One distant relative, a four amino acid peptide called [Dmt1]-DALDA, has since turned up in a seized unlabelled vial and in horse urine. No drug programme for dermorphin is on record anywhere.
The people who did take an interest were horse trainers. Racing labs found dermorphin in post-race samples in 2011. The lab work since then, paid for by racing regulators, is the most detailed body of work on the compound. It covers how horses handle it, how to find it in horse and human urine, and the fact that human use has been reported. It is an opioid 30 to 40 times stronger than morphine in animals. It is sold as a freeze dried powder with no human dosing data. That is the fact to take away. The 2019 opinion piece asking whether dermorphin in the spine is a missed chance in end of life care is a fair question. No study has followed it.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
22people, across 2 studies in people cited here
| Study | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 1983 | 11 | 50% |
| Metabolism 1985 | 11 | 50% |
One study holds 50% of these people, so the total rests more on one study than its size suggests. 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
3 of 7 sources here are studies in people. The rest are not.
- Study in people · done in people343%
- Animal study · done in animals229%
- Review of studies · sums up other studies229%
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
The studies cover 7 different years, 1983 to 2020, counted from the list of sources on this page. The newest source on file is from 2020, 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
- Peptide
- Molecule weight
- About 802 Da
- Half-life
- None on file
- Chain length
- Written out, not as plain letters
The chain as written
Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Gly-Tyr-Pro-Ser-NH2
Written the way the source writes it, so we do not count the amino acids. Two chains, changed amino acids or three-letter codes are all reasons it can look like this.
The studies we cite
- Study in people1983Prolactin-releasing activity of dermorphin, a new synthetic potent opiate-like peptide, in normal human subjects
This used dermorphin as a laboratory probe, not as a treatment. Eleven healthy people received a half hour drip of the peptide, or of salt water, in a random order. A hormone called prolactin rose in everyone, more reliably in the women. Blocking opioid receptors with naloxone wiped that rise out completely, which shows the peptide was acting as an opioid. Nobody was being treated for anything. An Italian team ran it in 1983.
11 healthy volunteers (6 women, 5 men) given intravenous dermorphin 5.5 mcg/kg per minute for 30 minutes or saline in random order. Prolactin rose in all subjects, more consistently in women; the rise was completely suppressed by naloxone, indicating a mu-opioid mechanism. Academic study, Italy.
- Study in people1985Prolactin and growth hormone responses to dermorphin in patients with prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma
Again a probe of how the pituitary gland works, not a treatment. Eleven people with a hormone producing tumour in the pituitary were given dermorphin. Prolactin did not budge in any of them, unlike in healthy people. Growth hormone rose in everyone except the three with the largest tumours. The point was to learn about the gland. Nothing here concerns treating anybody, and eleven people is a very small group.
11 patients with prolactinomas (8 micro, 3 macro). No prolactin response to dermorphin in any patient; growth hormone rose in all except the 3 with macroprolactinomas. Used as an opioid probe of pituitary regulation, not as a treatment. Academic study, Italy.
- Study in people2020A high throughput approach for determination of dermorphin in human urine using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for doping control purposes
This is a laboratory test for catching dermorphin use, not a study of what it does. The authors built a way to detect the peptide and one of its breakdown products in urine at very low levels. They explain the need by pointing to documented use in racehorses and reported use in people. It exists because dermorphin is a doping agent. Nobody took the peptide as part of this work.
Analytical method for dermorphin and its 1-4 metabolite in human urine, limit of detection 2.5 ng/mL, developed because, in the authors' words, use in race horses is documented and use in humans has been reported. A detection method, not a clinical study.
- Review of studies1996The dermorphin peptide family
A review of seven natural dermorphins and about 30 lab made versions. In rodents and monkeys they give strong pain relief. Some get into the brain, and some speed up breathing. In rats and mice dosed over time, they caused less tolerance and dependence than morphine. The review also claims pain relief in people, but cites no controlled study, and none could be found.
Review of seven natural dermorphins and about 30 analogues. Reports potent analgesia in rodents and primates including man, blood brain barrier penetration by some members, mu-1 selective analogues that stimulate ventilation, and less tolerance and dependence than morphine in chronically dosed rats and mice. The human analgesia statement is not referenced to a controlled trial and none could be located.
- Review of studies2005Opioid peptide-derived analgesics
A review of efforts to make painkillers from opioid peptides, dermorphin among them. It explains why these peptides have not reached patients. They are hard to deliver, break down easily and struggle to get into the brain.
Review of analgesic development from opioid peptides including dermorphin and its analogues. Background on why peptide opioids have not reached the clinic: delivery, stability and blood brain barrier penetration.
- Animal study2013Detection, quantification, and identification of dermorphin in equine plasma and urine by LC-MS/MS for doping control
In horses. This racing lab paper built the first test for dermorphin in horse blood and urine. It says the drug is 30 to 40 times stronger than morphine. It says the drug was used undetected in horse racing until 2011, when tips from North American tracks led to this test. The test was used on research horses and real post-race samples. Racing regulators paid.
States that dermorphin is 30 to 40 times more potent than morphine and was misused undetected in horse racing until 2011, when intelligence from North American tracks prompted this first detection method (limit of detection 10 pg/mL in plasma). Applied to research horses and official post-race samples. Funded by racing regulators.
- Animal study2015Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of dermorphin in the horse
In horses. Ten horses got a shot into a vein or a muscle. After a vein shot, the drug was half gone from the blood in under an hour. The horses got excited and their heart rate rose for about 5 minutes. It could be found in urine for 48 to 72 hours.
10 horses given about 9.3 mcg/kg intravenously or intramuscularly. Elimination half-life 0.76 hours intravenously; intramuscular bioavailability 47 to 100 percent; excitation and raised heart rate for about 5 minutes after intravenous dosing (EC50 21 ng/mL); detectable in urine for 48 to 72 hours.
Where to buy Dermorphin
13 sellers list Dermorphin 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 Dermorphin.
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 Dermorphin | Seller link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StrikePoint Peptides | 58 FairSource-backed 4 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.B | 10 mg | $8.40 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Limitless Bio-Tech | 52 FairSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 5 mg | $21.4 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Zenergy USA | 49 WeakSource-backed 3 of 4. Archive evidence 2 of 4.A | 5 mg | $7.80 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Peptide Labs | 49 WeakSource-backed 3 of 4. Archive evidence 2 of 4.A | 5 mg | $9.80 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Elite Edge Biotech | 49 WeakSource-backed 3 of 4. Archive evidence 2 of 4.A | 5 mg | $13.0 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Cenexa Labs | 49 WeakSource-backed 2 of 4. Archive evidence 2 of 4.B | 5 mg | $26.0 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Behemoth Labz | 49 WeakSource-backed 3 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.B | 10 mg | $14.7 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Peptides Lab UAE | 40 WeakSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 5 mg | $10.5 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Republic Peptide | 33 WeakSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 5 mg | $9.80 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Boston Molecules | 28 InsufficientSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 10 mg | $53.5 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Elite Fitness Peptides | 25 InsufficientSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 5 mg | $9.00 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Ascend Peptides | 25 InsufficientSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 5 mg | $11.4 | None found for Dermorphin | View |
| Profound Aminos | 25 InsufficientSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 5 mg | $16.6 | None found for Dermorphin | 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 Dermorphin · 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 Dermorphin been tested in people?
Yes. 11 people given it across 1 completed trial cited here, 0 of which found nothing. Dermorphin is a seven amino acid opioid from the skin of South American frogs.
What is the Dermorphin 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, 11 people given it
Is Dermorphin FDA-approved?
Not FDA approved. Never developed as a medicine for people. No study registered, and we found no application for approval.
Has dermorphin ever been used as a painkiller in people?
Not in any published study. The only human studies are two Italian hormone experiments from the 1980s in 22 people. They used it to study how the pituitary releases hormones. It raised prolactin, and the opioid blocker naloxone stopped that. No study has measured pain relief, breathing, tolerance or dependence in a person.
Why is it associated with horse racing?
Racing labs report that dermorphin was used as a hidden doping drug in North American racing until 2011. That year, tips from race tracks led to a test. Since then it has been found in official post-race samples. Researchers have worked out how horses handle it, and tests now cover 17 related peptides in horse and human urine.
Is dermorphin less addictive than morphine?
That claim comes from rats and mice dosed over time, as summed up in a 1996 review. It has never been tested in a human. Dermorphin is a highly targeted mu opioid. Every mu opioid tested in people has caused tolerance and dependence.
What is the danger of injecting dermorphin?
It is an opioid reported to be 30 to 40 times stronger than morphine in animals, dosed in millionths of a gram. There is no human dose data and no human data on slowed breathing, which is how opioids kill. The one human drip study used 5.5 mcg/kg per minute, under medical watch, to measure hormones.