SRT2104 dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
SRT2104 is the sirtuin drug that actually reached human trials against a dummy pill. It was built to succeed where resveratrol was too weak. Its human results were modest, and it went no further.
Evidence grade for SRT2104: 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, none stating how many people. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 0
- 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, 0 people given it
No first-hand reports gathered yet. That is a gap in what we have collected, not a finding that nothing has been reported.
Goal pages: Heart and circulation
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.
SRT2104 is a lab made pill built to boost SIRT1, one of the sirtuin enzymes. It was meant to be a much stronger version of resveratrol. It reached human trials, gave modest results, and was dropped. It was never approved.
What people take it for
- Slowing ageing through sirtuins.
- Heart health and better cholesterol.
What studies in people showed
In 24 healthy smokers, four weeks on the drug did not change blood vessel function or platelets. Those were the things the trial was built to measure. Cholesterol and triglycerides did fall. Other small early trials gave modest results. None led to a bigger trial. There is also a fight over whether these drugs boost SIRT1 at all. They may only seem to, because of the way the lab test was run.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- It was well tolerated in the 24 person trial.
- Cholesterol and triglycerides fell.
The bad
- The main heart measures did not change.
- It was never approved and is not available.
Where these come from: From the trial on this page. We have not collected user reports on this one yet.
My bottom line
My opinion: the strongest version of the sirtuin idea went nowhere. Keep that in mind when someone sells you an NAD booster on the same story. Test your blood and see what actually moves.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals SRT2104 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.
- Cholesterol and blood fatsno headcount stated · 1 study
35 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind SRT2104
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove SRT2104 does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about SRT2104 and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is SRT2104?
SRT2104 is the sirtuin drug that actually reached human trials against a dummy pill. It was built to succeed where resveratrol was too weak. Its human results were modest, and it went no further.
Sirtuins were the biggest idea in longevity science in the 2000s, and resveratrol was supposed to be the drug. Resveratrol turned out too weak and too poorly absorbed. So companies built custom sirtuin boosting compounds that were far stronger. SRT2104 got the furthest.
It reached human trials that compared it with a dummy pill. In one, 24 otherwise healthy smokers took it for four weeks and a dummy for four weeks. The things the trial was built to measure, blood vessel function and platelet behaviour, did not change. Cholesterol and triglycerides did fall. That is more human testing than most compounds in this field get.
The results were modest, and it never reached approval. The sirtuin idea lost most of its steam. Part of that came from a technical fight over whether these compounds boost SIRT1 directly. They may only seem to, in lab tests that use a glowing tag on the test material.
The page exists because the story teaches something: a leading idea, a strong custom drug, real human trials, and no product.
How does SRT2104 work?
It was designed to boost SIRT1, an enzyme that needs NAD to work. SIRT1 strips small chemical tags off other proteins, including PGC-1alpha, FOXO and p53. It was proposed as one way eating less brings its benefits. The dispute over how it works matters here. Several of these compounds were shown to boost SIRT1 only when the test material carried a glowing tag. That raises the question of whether the boost is a quirk of the lab test, not a real property of the enzyme with its natural targets. That dispute is not settled, and it shaped how these results were received.
What have studies in people found about SRT2104?
Several early human trials against a dummy, in different groups of people, with modest results. None led to approval.
- A 24 person trial in otherwise healthy smokers found no change in blood vessel function or platelets. Cholesterol and triglycerides fell.
- The drug was studied in other early trials, including in metabolic and swelling related conditions.
- No result led to a final-stage trial or an approval.
- How it works is disputed. The glowing tag problem raised the chance that the measured SIRT1 boost was a quirk of the lab test.
- No human trial looked at lifespan or healthy lifespan.
What this does not tell you: These were early trials in specific groups, measuring stand-in markers. The fact that it went no further tells you something. But it is not a published failed result. So do not read it as a proven failure the way you can read the RTB101 final-stage trial. And because of the dispute over how it works, it is not even settled whether these compounds did what they were named for.
The state of the research
The sirtuin story is the best recorded example on this site of a leading idea producing no drug. In the 2000s, boosting sirtuins was the top explanation for why eating less extends life. Resveratrol was the popular face of it. A drug programme was built to do properly what resveratrol did weakly. Custom compounds reached human trials against a dummy. The results were modest, nothing was approved, and a technical argument arose. The compounds may have boosted SIRT1 only in lab tests that used a tagged test material.
Nothing in that story says sirtuins are unimportant in the body. It says the road from an important enzyme to a useful drug is long. And a mechanism's big reputation is not evidence. That is worth remembering for every NAD booster sold today on a sirtuin story, since sirtuins need NAD to work.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
1study in people cited, but none says how many people took part
number of people not stated
We do not draw a total, because none of the studies in people on this page gives one. Read the sources below for what each study measured.
We read the number of people from the source lines on this page. Where a line gives no number, we count nothing for it. We do not guess.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
All 1 source here is a study in people.
- Study in people · done in people1100%
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
Every source here was published in 2013.
Too few different years on this page to draw a timeline. The newest source on file is from 2013, 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
- Not asserted. No source loaded states a molecular weight for this compound.
- Half-life
- Stated in words, not a numbersee the exact wording below
- Chain length
- None on file
Half-life as stated on file: Not asserted. No reliable half-life figure was resolved in the sources loaded.
No amino acid sequence is on file for SRT2104, which is expected: a small molecule is not built from amino acids.
The studies we cite
- Study in people2013Cardiovascular effects of a novel SIRT1 activator, SRT2104, in otherwise healthy cigarette smokers
The thing this trial set out to measure did not change. Twenty four otherwise healthy smokers took a purpose built sirtuin activating drug for four weeks and a dummy for four weeks, without knowing the order. Blood vessel function and platelet behaviour were no different on the drug. Cholesterol and triglycerides did fall. Twenty four people and a blood test result is not evidence of benefit to anyone's health. The drug was tolerated well and never went on to approval.
24 otherwise healthy cigarette smokers, 28 days on SRT2104 and 28 on placebo (NCT01031108). The cardiovascular endpoints the trial was built around did not move: forearm blood flow responses to all three vasodilators, and the fibrinolytic and platelet markers, showed no demonstrable difference from placebo. Total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides improved. The authors conclude an improved lipid profile without demonstrable differences in vascular or platelet function. Among the few randomised human trials of a sirtuin activator, and the compound did not go on to approval.
Common questions
Has SRT2104 been tested in people?
Yes. 0 people given it across 1 completed trial cited here, 0 of which found nothing. SRT2104 is the sirtuin drug that actually reached human trials against a dummy pill. It was built to succeed where resveratrol was too weak. Its human results were modest, and it went no further.
What is the SRT2104 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, 0 people given it
Is SRT2104 FDA-approved?
Never approved. The program never reached a product on the market.
Do sirtuin activators work?
No sirtuin boosting compound has been approved for anything. The custom built ones that reached human trials against a dummy gave modest results and went no further. There is also an open argument that their measured boost to SIRT1 depended on a tagged lab test material, not on real enzyme activity.
How does this relate to resveratrol or NAD supplements?
Directly. Resveratrol's longevity reputation came from boosting sirtuins. SRT2104 was built to do the same thing far more strongly, because resveratrol was too weak and poorly absorbed. NAD boosters are sold partly on the same story, since sirtuins need NAD to work. The failure of the strong custom version is useful context for all of them.
Can I get SRT2104?
No. It was never approved and is not available.