How does thymalin work?

Thymalin is a low-molecular-weight polypeptide fraction of calf thymus, a mixture rather than one defined peptide. This site's profile says it is intended to substitute for falling thymic output, and proposes two dipeptides, Lys-Glu and Glu-Trp (later developed as Thymogen), as active components. Half-life is listed as short. There is no single molecular weight. In 266 elderly people followed 6 to 8 years, the Thymalin arm reported acute respiratory illness down 2.0 to 2.4-fold and mortality 2.0 to 2.1-fold lower than control, open-label, one research lineage. A 2020 open-label COVID-19 trial randomized 42 people to thymalin 10 mg intramuscularly for 5 days plus standard care against 50 on standard care: no deaths in either group, radiological progression in 2 of 42 versus 5 of 50. It is not FDA approved. In cultured human hematopoietic stem cells, Thymalin reduced CD44 and CD117 2 to 3-fold and raised the mature T-cell marker CD28 6.8-fold. That is a dish finding, not a counted clinical mechanism. This FAQ does not invent a dose. Full record at /compounds/thymalin.

Educational use only. This database summarizes published research and is not medical advice. Where a dose appears it is a record of what a trial or clinic ran, or what people describe doing, with its source attached. Nothing here is a recommendation for personal use.

Part of immune and longevity peptides. Thymosin alpha-1, thymalin, epitalon, MOTS-c, humanin, and the bioregulator family.