GW0742 dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
GW0742 is the sibling of GW501516 (cardarine), sold on the same endurance story with none of the same evidence. No human study of GW0742 of any kind has ever been published. The endurance result is mice on a treadmill.
Evidence grade for GW0742: Animal or lab only. The rule: only animal or lab studies on this page. No study in people yet. The sum on this page: 3 animal studies, 1 lab study, no human study. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 0
- Human studies
- 0
- Found nothing
- 0
Dose
No human dose established
No published study on this page has given this compound to people and reported a result.
3 animal studies, 1 lab study, no human study
3 effects reported, 3 unwanted, by people using it, not a trial
Goal pages: Fat loss and metabolism, Muscle and strength, Ageing and longevity, Immune system and inflammation
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.
This is a lab chemical that switches on a fat-burning switch in cells. It is a sibling of cardarine (GW501516). It is sold online as a research chemical. It is banned in sport. No person has taken it in a published study.
What people take it for
- More endurance.
- Fat loss while keeping muscle.
What studies in people showed
No human study has ever been published. The endurance claim comes from mice on a treadmill. Mice given it with another drug, AICAR, ran 138 to 179 percent longer than trained mice. That is a drug pair, in mice. Its sibling was dropped after unpublished rodent studies found cancers. Other published work in mice found this one did not feed tumours.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- Nobody in these threads says they took it, so there are no user reports yet of any benefit. Endurance and fat loss are stated only as hopes.
The bad
- Almost nobody reports taking it. Experienced posters say they have not tried it and would not.
- Posters worry about the same risks as cardarine: skin changes, and rodent findings on heart size and cancer.
- Some argue it is sold because it is cheap for sellers, not because it helps users.
Where these come from: These are forum patterns from EliteFitness threads shown on this page. They are not from a study.
My bottom line
No human data at all, and a sibling dropped over cancer in rodents. That is a hard pass for me. Build endurance by training for it.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
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 GW0742, what they expect, and what goes wrong. The full account, including the negative reports, is below.
Animal and lab work, not yet tested in people
Real results, but from animals or cells, not people. What works in a mouse often does not work the same way in a person. Nobody can patent this, so nobody would ever earn back the cost of a study in people. That is usually why there is none. The record on this one is set out below.
- Cancer and tumours2 animal or lab studies · users report on this
- Lasting longer, stamina1 animal or lab study · users report on this
- Losing weight1 animal or lab study
32 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind GW0742
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove GW0742 does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about GW0742 and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is GW0742?
GW0742 is the sibling of GW501516 (cardarine), sold on the same endurance story with none of the same evidence. No human study of GW0742 of any kind has ever been published. The endurance result is mice on a treadmill.
GW0742 switches on a fat-burning switch in cells called PPAR-delta. It targets the same switch as GW501516, and came from the same GlaxoSmithKline chemists. Research chemical sellers push it as the newer, cleaner cardarine.
The evidence does not back that up either way. On benefit, the gap is stark. GW501516 has three published human studies, all measuring blood fats over two to twelve weeks. GW0742 has none. The endurance claim for GW0742 comes from a 2016 study in mice trained on a treadmill for four weeks. A drug called AICAR alone boosted endurance. AICAR plus GW0742 boosted running time more: by 138 to 179 percent against trained mice, and 355 percent against untrained mice. Those are mouse running times, from a drug pair. It is not a result for GW0742 alone, and not in a person.
On harm, the honest position is this. The cancer worry for this drug family is real but unsettled, and part of the published record points the other way. GW501516 was dropped over cancer findings in rodents that were never published as a full paper. Meanwhile a Penn State team reported that neither GW0742 nor GW501516 made five kinds of human cancer cells grow faster in a dish. And GW0742 actually reduced chemically caused bowel cancer in mice. So the record holds an unpublished company safety finding on one side, and published university work finding no tumour boost on the other.
How does GW0742 work?
GW0742 switches on PPAR-delta, a switch inside cells that ramps up fat burning and mitochondrial genes in muscle. In the mouse drug-pair study, mice given GW0742 tended to have more PGC-1alpha, a master switch for making mitochondria. At exhaustion, several fat-handling genes were turned up in their muscle. The mice shifted from burning sugar to burning fat, saved their muscle sugar stores, and put off low blood sugar. Whether any of this happens at a safe dose in a person has never been tested.
What do people who took GW0742 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.
- The defining feature of the discussion is that almost nobody has used it. Threads consist of people asking about it and experienced posters replying that they have not tried it and would not.
- Where doses are named at all they sit in the 10 to 25 mg a day range on eight week runs, offered as reasoning by analogy with the better known PPAR agonist rather than as anything anyone observed.
- The comparison with GW-501516 is constant and unfavourable. Claims circulating that this is many times more potent are answered in the same threads with the point that the two molecules barely differ, and with the counter-claim that a shorter duration of action makes it less useful.
- A repeated argument is that its appeal is lower cost to the seller rather than benefit to the user, and that established vendors do not stock it while newer ones advertise it.
- The effects attributed to it, endurance and fat loss with muscle preserved, are stated as expectations rather than as anything anyone reports having experienced.
- Concerns raised are borrowed from the related compound: skin changes, and unresolved arguments about rodent findings on heart size and on cancer. Nobody in these threads reports an adverse effect from this compound, because nobody in them reports taking it.
Sources: EliteFitness threads on GW0742 and on PPAR agonists generally, found by site-restricted search and read directly, September 2026. Nothing above is attributed to any specific post and no post is reproduced.
The state of the research
No person has been given GW0742 in a published study of any kind, so there is no human evidence section on this page. That gap is the most important fact about it, because it is sold next to GW501516 as if the two shared a record.
They do not. GW501516 was tested in people three times by its maker. The biggest was a 268-person, twelve-week blood fat study. Then it was dropped when two-year rodent studies reportedly produced tumours in many organs. Those cancer studies were never published, which is why this site's cardarine page reports the anti-doping agency's statement instead of a citation. GW0742 inherited the family's cancer worry without inheriting any of the human safety experience. That is the worst of both.
The cancer question is genuinely argued over in the published papers, not settled. The Peters lab at Penn State published a series of studies finding no tumour boost from either drug in human cancer cells, and less chemically caused bowel cancer in mice. That work is real and should be reported. It does not cancel an unpublished two-year company study, and an unpublished study does not cancel it either. Nobody on the outside can settle this, which is itself a reason not to take the compound.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
0people have taken this in any study cited here
0 people · 0 studies in people
What this page cites instead is 3 animal studies and 1 lab study in a dish. None of them gave the compound to a person.
Counted from the list of sources on this page. We draw this chart only when a study in people is cited. An empty one is the answer, not a gap in the page.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
None of the 4 sources here are studies in people.
- Animal study · done in animals375%
- Lab (cells in a dish) · cells or tissue125%
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 4 different years, 2007 to 2019, counted from the list of sources on this page. The newest source on file is from 2019, 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
- Small molecule
- Molecule weight
- 471.5 Da
- Half-life
- Stated in words, not a numbersee the exact wording below
- Chain length
- None on file
Half-life as stated on file: Not established in humans; no human pharmacokinetic study of this compound exists.
No amino acid sequence is on file for GW0742, which is expected: a small molecule is not built from amino acids.
The studies we cite
- Animal study2016Combined pharmacological activation of AMPK and PPARδ potentiates the effects of exercise in trained mice
In mice trained on a treadmill for four weeks. AICAR alone boosted endurance. AICAR plus GW0742 raised running time by 138 to 179 percent against trained mice. The mice burned more fat and saved their sugar stores. This is mice, with a drug pair, not GW0742 alone in a person.
Balb/c mice, treadmill trained for 4 weeks with AICAR and GW0742. AICAR alone potentiated endurance; the combination increased running time by 138 to 179 percent relative to exercised groups and 355 percent relative to non-exercised groups, with a fuel shift toward fat, glycogen sparing and upregulation of Pgc1a, Pdk4, Cd36 and Lpl in muscle. Mice, in combination with AICAR, not GW0742 alone in a human.
- Animal study2019Complementary Immunometabolic Effects of Exercise and PPARβ/δ Agonist in the Context of Diet-Induced Weight Loss in Obese Female Mice
In obese female mice losing weight on a diet. Exercise and this type of drug had effects on the immune system and metabolism that added up. Animal work only.
Diet-induced obese female mice. Exercise and the PPAR-beta/delta agonist had complementary immunometabolic effects during weight loss. Animal work only.
- Animal study2008Ligand activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-beta/delta (PPARbeta/delta) and inhibition of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) attenuate colon carcinogenesis through independent signaling mechanisms
In mice given a chemical that causes bowel cancer. GW0742 reduced the cancer, working in a different way from drugs that block the COX2 enzyme. This is mouse work, and it points against the family's cancer worry.
Azoxymethane-induced colon cancer in wild-type and PPAR-beta/delta-null mice. GW0742 had inhibitory effects on colon carcinogenesis, acting through mechanisms independent of COX2 inhibition. Mouse work, and it points opposite to the class cancer fear.
- Lab (cells in a dish)2007Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-beta/delta (PPARbeta/delta) ligands do not potentiate growth of human cancer cell lines
In a dish and in mice. Neither GW0742 nor GW501516 made five kinds of human cancer cells grow faster, and tissue from treated mice showed no change in these growth markers either. This argues against the idea that this drug family feeds tumours.
GW0742 and GW501516 tested in five human cancer cell lines with and without serum. Neither increased cell growth, Akt phosphorylation, VEGF or COX2, and liver, colon and colon polyps from treated mice showed no change in these markers either. A published argument against the tumour-promotion hypothesis for this class.
Common questions
Has GW0742 been tested in people?
Not in any study cited here. GW0742 is the sibling of GW501516 (cardarine), sold on the same endurance story with none of the same evidence. No human study of GW0742 of any kind has ever been published. The endurance result is mice on a treadmill.
What is the GW0742 dosage?
No human dose established. No published study on this page has given this compound to people and reported a result. 3 animal studies, 1 lab study, no human study
Is GW0742 FDA-approved?
Never approved and never tested in a registered human trial. WADA, the world anti-doping agency, bans it in sport, along with the other drugs that work the same way (PPAR-delta drugs).
Is GW0742 safer than cardarine?
There is no evidence for that either way. GW501516 has published human studies, and an unpublished rodent cancer finding that ended its development. GW0742 has neither: no human study at all, and no published two-year animal cancer study. Less data is not the same as a better safety record.
Does GW0742 improve endurance?
In mice, combined with AICAR, running time went up a lot. There is no human endurance study of GW0742, alone or combined, and no person has taken it in a published study.
Does GW0742 cause cancer?
Unsettled. The drug family carries a cancer worry from unpublished rodent studies of GW501516. Published university work found that GW0742 did not make human cancer cells grow in a dish, and actually reduced chemically caused bowel tumours in mice. Both are true at once, and neither is human safety data.
Is it banned in sport?
Yes. WADA bans PPAR-delta drugs as metabolism changers, and GW0742 falls under that ban.