Peptide finder

What are you trying to change?

Pick as many as you like. The number on each one is how many people it has been measured in across the whole archive. So you can see where the evidence is before you choose.

1. 01NRPTSupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 176 people given it.3 reported

   144 people2 studies1 found nothing

   • The pills raise NAD in the blood, and that is all this trial measured. 120 healthy adults aged 60 to 80 took a dummy pill, the recommended dose, or double, every day for eight weeks, and nobody involved knew which. NAD rose about 40 percent on the normal dose and about 90 percent on the double, and stayed up for the...

     npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, 2017 · 120 people

   • found nothingThe pills raised NAD in patients with sudden kidney injury, and nothing about their kidneys changed. 24 hospital patients took rising doses of the combination or a dummy for two days. The kidney injury itself halved NAD in the untreated patients, which is a finding in its own right. Pooled across doses the supplement...

     BMC Nephrology, 2020 · 24 people

2. 02NMNSupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 4 completed trials, 94 people given it.6 reported

   80 people1 study1 found nothing

   • found nothingNMN raised NAD in the blood and added a little to how far people could walk, and did nothing for blood sugar handling. Eighty healthy middle aged adults took one of three daily doses or a dummy for two months, and nobody involved knew which. Walking distance in six minutes improved modestly. Insulin resistance did not...

     GeroScience, 2023 · 80 people

3. 03MIB-626SupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 4 completed trials, 107 people given it.1 reported

   42 people2 studies1 found nothing

   • found nothingThe tablet raised NAD in very sick patients and made no difference to them. 42 adults in hospital with COVID-19 and sudden kidney injury took MIB-626 or dummy tablets twice a day for two weeks. NAD in the blood roughly doubled by the end. Kidney blood tests came out the same in both groups. So did inflammation markers...

     FASEB BioAdvances, 2025 · 42 people

   • This trial shows the tablet raises NAD in the blood, and nothing beyond that. 32 overweight or obese adults aged 55 to 80 took MIB-626 once a day, twice a day, or a dummy tablet for two weeks, and nobody involved knew which. NMN in the blood was clearly higher by the end, and NAD rose more on the bigger dose. Sex,...

     Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2023 · number of people not given

4. 04NAD+ / B ComplexBlendLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 5 completed trials, 34 people given it.8 reported

   34 people2 studies

   • The vitamin drip did not beat salt water. Thirty four adults with fibromyalgia were given either the vitamin mixture or a plain fluid drip every week for two months. Both groups felt better. Neither group felt better than the other, at two months or at four. Sitting for an hour with a needle in your arm does something...

     Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2009 · 34 people

   • The first look at NAD+ given by drip in people, and it measured chemistry rather than benefit. Blood was sampled through a six hour infusion. Nothing rose in the blood for the first two hours, which suggests the body takes it up or breaks it down quickly. Nobody was tested for energy, thinking, sleep or anything else...

     Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2019 · number of people not given

5. 05ResveratrolSupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 14 completed trials, 403 people given it.7 reported

   11 people3 studies2 found nothing

   • This is the strongest good human result resveratrol has, and it rests on eleven men. Obese but otherwise healthy men took 150 mg a day for a month, and also spent a month on a dummy pill. Their resting metabolism slowed the way it does when people eat less. Liver fat, blood sugar, triglycerides, a liver enzyme and...

     Cell Metabolism, 2011 · 11 people

   • found nothingRun again at a high dose, the same idea produced nothing. Twenty-four obese but otherwise healthy men took high-dose resveratrol or a dummy pill for four weeks. The main measure was how well their bodies answered insulin, using the most exacting test there is. It drifted slightly worse in both groups. Blood pressure,...

     Diabetes, 2013 · number of people not given

   • found nothingResveratrol did nothing in healthy postmenopausal women, right down to the mechanism. They took 75 mg daily for 12 weeks, and blood tests confirm it reached them. The most exacting test of insulin response found no change in liver, muscle or fat. Body composition, resting metabolism, blood fats and inflammation...

     Cell Metabolism, 2012 · number of people not given

6. 06EpicatechinSupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 4 completed trials, 44 people given it.1 reported

   7 people1 study

   • In a muscle-wasting disease, epicatechin moved the biology, but nobody went without it. Seven adults with Becker muscular dystrophy who could still walk took 50 mg twice a day for eight weeks, with a muscle sample taken before and after. Markers of mitochondrial building and muscle repair rose, myostatin fell, and...

     Muscle and Nerve, 2021 · 7 people

7. 07Nicotinamide RibosideSupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 4 completed trials, 90 people given it.5 reported

   number of people not given4 studies1 found nothing

   • Swallowing this form of vitamin B3 really does raise NAD in the blood. In a small human study the level rose by up to nearly three times. That single fact is what the entire NAD supplement industry is built on. Raising a level in the blood is the start of an argument, not the end of it. Nobody in this study got...

     Nature Communications, 2016 · number of people not given

   • Six weeks of it was comfortable to take, and it lifted NAD as expected. Adults in middle age and older each did a stretch on the supplement and a stretch without it. What was measured was body chemistry. No symptom, no performance test and no disease outcome was looked at here.

     Nature Communications, 2018 · number of people not given

   • Eight weeks of it was safe in healthy overweight adults, and larger doses raised NAD further. Some people got the supplement and some got a dummy pill. The study was built to check safety and find a dose, and that is what it answered. It was not built to show a benefit, and it did not show one.

     Scientific Reports, 2019 · number of people not given

8. 08NAD+SupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, none stating how many people.7 reported

   number of people not given1 study

   • The first time anyone measured what a NAD drip actually does in people, and it measured nothing about whether it helps. Blood was sampled during a six hour infusion. For the first two hours, NAD in the blood did not go up, nor did its breakdown products. The likely explanation is that tissues take it up or destroy it...

     Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2019 · number of people not given

9. 09Metformin plus rapamycinSmall moleculePreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 2 registered with no result.2 reported

   number of people not given1 study

   • The one trial testing this pair cannot tell the two drugs apart. 30 people are enrolled by AgelessRx, an online company that prescribes these drugs, and it is no longer signing people up. Every group stacks rapamycin and metformin together with low-dose naltrexone, NAD+ up the nose, glutathione on the skin and a...

     ClinicalTrials.gov, 2025 · number of people not given

10. 10NMNHSupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, none stating how many people.1 reported

    number of people not given1 study

    • This is the human trial the reduced form does not have. 32 overweight or obese adults aged 55 to 80 took an oral NMN tablet once or twice a day for two weeks, or a dummy tablet, and nobody involved knew which. NMN in the blood ended clearly above the dummy group, and NAD rose more on the bigger dose. Those are blood...

      Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2023 · number of people not given

11. 11CotadutidePeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 6 completed trials, 1,221 people given it.

    number of people not given1 study1 found nothing

    • found nothingPeople lost weight on cotadutide because they ate less, not because they burned more. This small study followed 12 people on the drug and 7 on a dummy for six weeks. The drug group lost four percent of their body weight against one and a half percent on the dummy. They ate far less food. Energy burned, measured...

      Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2024 · number of people not given

12. 12Peptide YYPeptideLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 3 completed trials, 12 people given it.3 reported

    number of people not given1 study1 found nothing

    • found nothingCopying the hormone mix that follows stomach bypass surgery cut food intake by about a third. Obese volunteers wore a pump under the skin for about ten and a half hours, delivering three gut hormones at post-surgery levels, or a dummy infusion. Each person tried both, in turn, and did not know which was running. They...

      Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2017 · number of people not given

13. 13OxyntomodulinPeptideLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, 13 people given it.

    number of people not given1 study

    • People ate less, and they did not burn more. 15 healthy young men got oxyntomodulin, GLP-1, glucagon, the last two together, or salt water before a meal, on separate days. Every hormone cut how much they ate, by about the same amount. Giving GLP-1 and glucagon together added nothing. Oxygen use, which is how energy...

      Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2015 · number of people not given

14. 14NAD+ with glutathioneBlendLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, 21 people given it.5 reported

    number of people not given1 study

    • Swallowing nicotinamide riboside does raise NAD in the blood, and that is all this study set out to show. Healthy volunteers took it, everyone knew they were taking it, and there was no comparison group. Blood NAD roughly doubled, and the rise matched how much of the compound got into the blood. No side effects were...

      PLoS One, 2017 · number of people not given

15. 15RilmenidineSmall moleculePreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 1 human study where nobody was given it.1 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In worms. Rilmenidine made tiny worms live longer and handle stress better, whether they started young or old. It only worked through one specific receptor and the cell's clean-up system. It added nothing for worms already eating less or on rapamycin. In mice, it changed genes in the liver and kidney to look like...

      Aging Cell, 2023 · number of people not given

    • In mice. In mice bred to get a muscle-wasting nerve disease, rilmenidine switched on cell clean-up in the spinal cord as planned. The harmful protein went down. But the nerve cells died faster and the mice got sicker faster. The authors blame too much clearing of the power plants inside nerve cells.

      Autophagy, 2018 · number of people not given

16. 16AdiponectinBiologicPreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 3 human studies where nobody was given it.2 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In mouse cells and tissues. This paper found adiponectin's two receptors, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2. It showed they carry adiponectin's effects on fat burning and sugar uptake.

      Nature, 2003 · number of people not given

    • In mice. AdipoRon, a pill-type molecule, switched on both adiponectin receptors. It helped insulin work and improved blood sugar handling in mice on a high-fat diet. It did nothing in mice missing both receptors. It eased diabetes in a diabetic strain and lengthened their shortened lifespan. Mouse only. There is no...

      Nature, 2013 · number of people not given

17. 17SpermidineSupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 130 people given it.4 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In mice, spermidine given by mouth made them live longer and kept their hearts working better. It did this by boosting clean-up inside heart cells.

      Nature Medicine, 2016 · number of people not given

18. 18Ginsenoside Rg3SupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, 24 people given it.

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In a dish. The 20(S) form brought worn-out human skin cells back to a younger state by restoring their energy supply and changing growth and repair signals. The 20(R) form did not. This is bringing worn-out cells back, not clearing them.

      Journal of Ginseng Research, 2020 · number of people not given

19. 19HalofuginoneSmall moleculePreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 3 human studies where nobody was given it, 1 registered with no result.2 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In obese mice and in pigs. Halofuginone cut how much the animals ate, raised the energy they burned, and caused weight loss. It worked by raising two hormones, FGF21 and GDF15. Mice bred without those hormones did not respond. Note that the paper calls halofuginone FDA-approved for scleroderma. The FDA's approved drug...

      Science Advances, 2025 · number of people not given

20. 20Alpha-ketobutyrateSupplementPreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 2 human studies where nobody was given it.3 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In worms. Adding alpha-ketobutyrate made normal worms live longer. It worked through a long chain: more NAD+, the worm's sirtuin gene, more active peroxisomes that burn fats, hydrogen peroxide as a signal, and finally the worm's version of NRF2 turning on cleanup genes. In a dish, skin cells also aged more slowly....

      Nature Communications, 2023 · number of people not given

21. 21ApigeninSupplementPreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 1 human study where nobody was given it.1 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In mice. This is the strongest evidence for blocking CD38, and it did not use apigenin. A strong, precise blocker called 78c reversed the fall in NAD with age. It improved blood sugar control, muscle function, exercise ability and heart function, in mice that aged normally or fast. An author holds a patent on CD38...

      Cell Metabolism, 2018 · number of people not given

22. 22CartalaxPeptideAnimal or lab only. Only animal or lab studies on this page. No study in people yet. 4 lab studies, no human study.8 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In a dish. Aging cartilage cells gave off more aging and inflammation signals. Both Cartalax and a cartilage extract pushed those signals back toward normal. These were cells, not joints, and nobody measured a real health result.

      Advances in Gerontology, 2023 · number of people not given

23. 23SS-20PeptideAnimal or lab only. Only animal or lab studies on this page. No study in people yet. 4 animal studies, 1 lab study, no human study.6 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In mice. Mice were given a toxin that mimics Parkinson's disease. SS-31 fully protected their dopamine brain cells at higher doses. SS-20, which cannot mop up free radicals, also gave real protection. Both kept mitochondria working in lab tests.

      Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, 2009 · number of people not given

24. 245-amino-1MQ with SLU-PP-332BlendAnimal or lab only. Only animal or lab studies on this page. No study in people yet. 2 animal studies, no human study.7 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In a dish and in mice, this type of molecule blocked the NNMT enzyme cleanly and got into cells easily. In fat cells in a dish, it raised NAD+ inside the cells. In mice made fat on a high fat diet, a strong version reversed the weight gain. This was cells and mice. No person was given it.

      Biochemical Pharmacology, 2018 · number of people not given

1. 01SimvastatinSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 24,980 people given it.6 reported

   24,980 people2 studies

   • The benefit held even in people whose cholesterol already looked normal. 20,536 UK adults aged 40 to 80 with clogged arteries or diabetes were split by chance. One group took 40 mg of simvastatin a day, the other took a dummy pill. 14.7 percent of the dummy group died of any cause, against 12.9 percent on the drug....

     Lancet, 2002 · 20,536 people

   • Lowering cholesterol with a statin kept people alive, and this is the trial that showed it. 4,444 people who already had chest pain or a previous heart attack were split by chance into two groups. One took simvastatin, the other a dummy pill, and both were followed for over five years. By the end, 12 percent of the...

     Lancet, 1994 · 4,444 people

2. 02Cardiac glycosidesSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 6,800 people given it.

   6,800 people1 study1 found nothing

   • found nothingDigoxin did not save lives, and it was tested well enough to say so. 6,800 people with weak hearts took digoxin or a dummy pill and were followed about three years on average. About the same share died in each group, roughly 35 percent either way. A study this big would have found a survival benefit if there was one....

     New England Journal of Medicine, 1997 · 6,800 people

3. 03EmpagliflozinSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 16,738 people given it.4 reported

   12,597 people2 studies

   • It slowed kidney disease down, and it did not stop people dying. 6,609 people with chronic kidney disease were followed for two years. Their kidney disease got worse, or they died of heart disease, in 16.9 percent of the dummy group against 13.1 percent on empagliflozin. Deaths from any cause were 5.1 percent against...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2023 · 6,609 people

   • It helped the harder kind of heart failure, mostly by keeping people out of hospital. 5,988 people whose hearts still pumped reasonably well but who had heart failure symptoms were followed for a bit over two years. 17.1 percent of the dummy group died of heart disease or were admitted for heart failure. On...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2021 · 5,988 people

4. 04PioglitazoneSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 9,114 people given it.5 reported

   3,876 people1 study

   • In people with insulin resistance but no diabetes who had just had a stroke or a mini-stroke, pioglitazone lowered the chance of another stroke or a heart attack over about five years. It also halved new diabetes. It cost more weight gain, swelling and broken bones. Death rates were about the same.

     The New England Journal of Medicine, 2016 · 3,876 people

5. 05Zoledronic acidSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 4 completed trials, 7,176 people given it.

   3,065 people2 studies

   • The bone drip prevented broken bones in older women with thinning bones. Two thousand New Zealand women aged 65 and over got four infusions of either the drug or plain salt water over six years, spaced eighteen months apart. Fragility fractures happened in 122 women on the drug and 190 on salt water. Roughly fifteen...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2018 · 2,000 people

   • A once a year bone drip after a broken hip cut later fractures, and fewer people died. Around two thousand people, average age in their mid seventies, got the drip or a dummy one within three months of hip surgery, then were followed about two years. New fractures hit about 9 in every hundred on the drug and about 14...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2007 · 1,065 people

6. 06EnalaprilSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 2,822 people given it.5 reported

   7,050 people3 studies1 found nothing

   • found nothingIn people with no symptoms, enalapril did not clearly save lives. 4,228 people with a weak pumping heart but no symptoms took enalapril or a dummy pill for about three years. 313 died on enalapril against 334 on the dummy pill, a gap small enough to be chance. A study this size would likely have found a real survival...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 1992 · 4,228 people

   • In people with symptoms, enalapril kept more of them alive. 2,569 patients with heart failure and a weak pumping heart took enalapril or a dummy for about three and a half years on average. 452 died on enalapril against 510 on the dummy, roughly a sixth fewer deaths. Hospital admissions for heart failure fell further...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 1991 · 2,569 people

   • This is one of the clearest survival gains ever shown for a pill. 253 patients with the worst kind of heart failure got enalapril or a dummy pill on top of their usual treatment, and nobody involved knew which. At six months, 26% of the enalapril group had died against 44% on the dummy pill. Every life saved came from...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 1987 · 253 people

7. 07TrametinibSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 1,192 people given it.

   1,192 people2 studies

   • After surgery for stage III melanoma with a BRAF mutation, a year of trametinib plus dabrafenib cut the chance of the cancer coming back compared with a dummy pill. This is a two-drug result, not trametinib alone.

     The New England Journal of Medicine, 2017 · 870 people

   • In advanced melanoma with a BRAF mutation, trametinib on its own held the cancer back longer than chemotherapy and more people were alive at six months. Rash, diarrhoea and swelling were the common side effects. This is the trial that led to its approval as a single drug.

     The New England Journal of Medicine, 2012 · 322 people

8. 08Relaxin-2PeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 7,706 people given it.5 reported

   1,161 people2 studies1 found nothing

   • found nothingSerelaxin eased breathlessness a little in people admitted with sudden heart failure, and changed nothing that matters more. 1,161 people got either a two day drip of the drug or a dummy drip soon after reaching hospital. Breathlessness scored better on one scale and no better on the other. Deaths from heart causes...

     The Lancet, 2013 · 1,161 people

   • Investigators went back through every death in the failed trial to work out why the earlier trial had looked promising, and found nothing to rescue it. By six months about one patient in nine had died, and heart failure caused nearly four in ten of those deaths. The drug changed no category of death. People aged 75...

     JACC: Heart Failure, 2020 · number of people not given

9. 09Thymalin with epitalonBlendStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 1,106 people given it.7 reported

   1,106 people2 studies1 found nothing

   • found nothingA defined thymus peptide was put through a modern study, and it failed. Just over a thousand people seriously ill with sepsis got either thymosin alpha-1 or a dummy shot, and nobody involved knew which. A month later, the same share had died in each group. It is on this page as a contrast. When a thymus peptide is...

     BMJ, 2025 · 1,106 people

   • This is the study the thymalin story rests on, and it is not built to carry that weight. 266 older people were followed for six to eight years, and given thymalin and epithalamin in the first two or three. Infections and deaths were reported at about half the rate of a comparison group, and several age-related...

     Neuro Endocrinology Letters, 2003 · number of people not given

10. 10Thymosin Alpha-1PeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 1,204 people given it.7 reported

    1,467 people2 studies1 found nothing

    • The biggest test thymosin alpha-1 has ever been put through, and it failed. 1,106 adults who were seriously ill with sepsis got either the peptide or a dummy injection, across 22 hospitals in China. A month later, 23.4% of the treated group had died of any cause, against 24.1% on the dummy. That gap is smaller than...

      BMJ, 2025 · 1,106 people

    • found nothingAn earlier, smaller sepsis trial leaned towards a benefit that a bigger trial later failed to confirm. 361 patients at six Chinese hospitals were split by chance into a thymosin alpha-1 group and a comparison group. The patients did not know which they were in. Their doctors did. After 28 days, 26.0% of the treated...

      Critical Care, 2013 · 361 people

11. 11Thymosin alpha-1 with KPV and LL-37BlendStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 1,140 people given it.6 reported

    1,106 people1 study

    • This was the biggest test thymosin alpha-1 has been through, and it failed. Just over a thousand people seriously ill with sepsis got either the peptide or a dummy shot for a week. Nobody involved knew which. A month later, the same share had died in each group. Nothing else measured came out different. A study this...

      BMJ, 2025 · 1,106 people

12. 12VasopressinPeptideModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 778 people given it.3 reported

    778 people1 study

    • Swapping one blood pressure drug for another did not save more lives. Seven hundred and seventy eight people in septic shock were given low dose vasopressin or the standard drug, norepinephrine. By 28 days, 35.4 percent of the vasopressin group had died and 39.3 percent of the standard group had. That gap is small...

      New England Journal of Medicine, 2008 · 778 people

13. 13TirzepatidePeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 9 completed trials, 22,802 people given it.11 reported

    731 people1 study

    • Tirzepatide cut heart failure flare-ups in people with a stiff heart and obesity. 731 patients were followed for about two years on the drug or a dummy shot. Death from heart causes or worsening heart failure hit 9.9% on the drug and 15.3% on the dummy, about 54 fewer such events for every 1,000 people. Almost all of...

      New England Journal of Medicine, 2025 · 731 people

14. 14HydralazineSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 1,724 people given it.4 reported

    642 people1 study

    • Adding hydralazine plus a nitrate to standard heart failure treatment lowered deaths over two years in 642 men. At two years, 25.6% had died on the pair against 34.3% on a dummy pill. It was the first trial of a blood vessel relaxing drug to show people living longer. It is a two-drug result, not hydralazine alone.

      The New England Journal of Medicine, 1986 · 642 people

15. 15BPTESSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 513 people given it.1 reported

    513 people2 studies

    • The only proper test of blocking this enzyme in people found nothing. 444 adults with advanced kidney cancer got telaglenastat plus the cancer drug cabozantinib, or a dummy pill plus cabozantinib. Both groups went about 9.2 and 9.3 months before their cancer grew again. That is the same result twice. Telaglenastat is...

      JAMA Oncology, 2022 · 444 people

    • A smaller study leaned toward the drug without settling anything. 69 adults with advanced kidney cancer got telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug everolimus. Two got the drug for every one on the dummy pill. Cancer took 3.8 months to grow again on the drug, against 1.9 months. The bar for...

      Clinical Cancer Research, 2022 · 69 people

16. 16TelaglenastatSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 513 people given it.1 reported

    513 people2 studies1 found nothing

    • found nothingTelaglenastat was tested properly in a large study, and it did not work. 444 adults with advanced kidney cancer took telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug cabozantinib. The cancer grew again after 9.2 months on the drug and 9.3 months on the dummy pill. Tumours shrank in 31 percent against 28...

      JAMA Oncology, 2022 · 444 people

    • A second, smaller study hinted at a benefit and proved nothing. 69 adults with advanced kidney cancer, most already through three treatments, got telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug everolimus. Two got the drug for every one on the dummy pill. The cancer grew again after 3.8 months against...

      Clinical Cancer Research, 2022 · 69 people

17. 17Azithromycin and roxithromycinSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 480 people given it.

    480 people2 studies

    • This trial was stopped early because the antibiotic was harming people. 480 people who had received a donor stem cell transplant took low dose azithromycin three times a week or a dummy pill for two years. The safety board halted it when cancer relapses piled up in the antibiotic group. Two years in, more of that...

      JAMA, 2017 · 480 people

    • Five days of azithromycin was linked to more heart deaths, though the extra risk to any one person is small. Researchers combed Tennessee Medicaid records and compared people taking the antibiotic against people taking no antibiotic. Death from heart causes was roughly three times as common during the five days of...

      New England Journal of Medicine, 2012 · number of people not given

18. 18TriptorelinPeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 4 completed trials, 1,388 people given it.5 reported

    424 people1 study

    • This trial is about when to give radiotherapy, not about triptorelin, and it found no advantage in giving it early. Triptorelin was the hormone treatment handed to both groups, so it was never the thing being tested. 424 men who had had prostate surgery were assigned to immediate radiotherapy or to waiting until their...

      The Lancet Oncology, 2020 · 424 people

19. 19MinocyclineSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 966 people given it.

    412 people1 study

    • This drug did not simply fail in ALS. People got worse on it. 412 patients were split by chance to a dummy pill or minocycline built up to 400 mg a day for nine months. Those on minocycline lost physical function faster than those on the dummy. Breathing capacity, muscle strength and deaths all leaned the wrong way...

      Lancet Neurology, 2007 · 412 people

20. 20IO102-IO103PeptideModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 470 people given it.3 reported

    407 people1 study

    • The vaccine looked like it was helping, and the trial still counts as a failure. Four hundred and seven people with advanced melanoma got a standard immune drug, half of them with the vaccine added, and everyone knew which. Cancer took much longer to worsen in the vaccine group, close to nineteen months against...

      Annals of Oncology, 2026 · 407 people

21. 21MetforminSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 489 people given it.6 reported

    3,576 people4 studies

    • The longest follow-up in people we have found no drop in deaths. 3234 adults at high risk of diabetes were given metformin, an intensive lifestyle program, or a dummy pill. After a median 21 years, 453 had died. Neither metformin nor lifestyle cut deaths from any cause, cancer or heart disease. Preventing diabetes and...

      Diabetes Care, 2021 · 3,234 people

    • This is the diabetes study that made metformin a first-choice drug, not a longevity study. 342 overweight adults with new type 2 diabetes took metformin, and 411 stayed on diet as the main plan. They were followed for a median of 10.7 years. Deaths from any cause were 36 percent lower on metformin. A second part of...

      Lancet, 1998 · 342 people

    • The Danish try at repeating the 2014 survival claim found the opposite. People who started metformin for type 2 diabetes died more often than matched people without diabetes, including inside twin pairs. After other factors were counted, the extra risk was still there. Comparing people who already have diabetes with...

      International Journal of Epidemiology, 2022 · number of people not given

22. 22RuxolitinibSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 309 people given it.

    309 people1 study

    • Ruxolitinib worked in a blood cancer, and that is the only thing this trial shows. Just over three hundred people with a serious bone marrow disease got either the drug or a dummy pill, and nobody involved knew which. Spleens shrank sharply in four in ten on the drug, against almost nobody on the dummy. Symptoms eased...

      New England Journal of Medicine, 2012 · 309 people

23. 23ThymalinPeptideModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 4 completed trials, 308 people given it.7 reported

    308 people3 studies

    • This is the study the thymalin story rests on, and it is not built to carry it. 266 older people in Russia and Ukraine were followed for six to eight years, dosed only in the first two or three. In the thymalin group, chest and airway infections were reported at roughly half the usual rate, and deaths at about half as...

      Neuro Endocrinology Letters, 2003 · 266 people

    • A small early-pandemic trial reported faster recovery, and nobody died in either group. 42 patients got thymalin injections into the muscle for five days on top of standard care, and 50 got standard care alone, at one hospital in mid 2020. Lung scans worsened in 2 of the 42 treated against 5 of the 50 controls....

      Stem Cell Reviews and Reports, 2021 · 42 people

    • The reported death rates favour thymalin, and the paper contradicts itself. Severely ill COVID patients were split three ways: standard care, tocilizumab, or thymalin. The English abstract puts hospital deaths at 40.9% on standard care, 28.4% with tocilizumab and 20.6% with thymalin. The Russian abstract of the same...

      Advances in Gerontology, 2022 · number of people not given

24. 24RetatrutidePeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 5 completed trials, 1,345 people given it.8 reported

    281 people1 study

    • Retatrutide lowered blood sugar and weight more than an older drug, in a mid-stage trial. 281 people with type 2 diabetes were split by chance between retatrutide, dulaglutide and a dummy shot, and nobody involved knew which. At the top dose, average blood sugar over three months fell about 2 points, against almost...

      The Lancet, 2023 · 281 people

1. 01SeleniumSupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 35,533 people given it.1 reported

   35,533 people1 study

   • Selenium did not prevent prostate cancer. A huge trial gave men selenium, vitamin E, both, or a dummy pill. None of it lowered prostate cancer. The claim that sold the bottles failed when it was tested at scale.

     JAMA, 2009 · 35,533 people

2. 02Vitamin DSupplementStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 25,871 people given it.4 reported

   25,871 people1 study

   • Vitamin D was tested properly, at scale, and it did not prevent cancer or heart disease. Nearly 26,000 adults were split by chance to take a daily vitamin D pill or a dummy pill. They were followed for more than five years. Neither of the two questions the trial was built to answer came out ahead. Most of these people...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2019 · 25,871 people

3. 03InsulinPeptideStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 5 completed trials, 29,691 people given it.4 reported

   12,537 people1 study

   • Giving long-acting insulin early did not protect the heart, and it did not cause cancer either. 12,537 people with heart risk factors and blood sugar problems got insulin glargine or usual care, then were followed for about six years. Heart outcomes came out the same. Blood sugar dropping dangerously low was about...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2012 · 12,537 people

4. 04AlbiglutideBiologicStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 10,304 people given it.

   9,463 people1 study

   • Albiglutide cut heart attacks, strokes and cardiac deaths in people with diabetes and heart disease. Nearly ten thousand adults across 28 countries were split by chance between the drug and a dummy injection, and followed for about a year and a half. Nobody involved knew which. Seven in a hundred on the drug had a...

     Lancet, 2018 · 9,463 people

5. 05Green tea extractSupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 1,075 people given it.4 reported

   1,075 people1 study

   • A year of high dose green tea extract harmed the liver in a small but real share of women. 1,075 women past menopause took an extract with 843 mg of EGCG a day, or a dummy pill, for one year. Liver enzymes rose in 36 women on the extract against 4 on the dummy pill. Just over 1% had a liver problem serious enough to...

     Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2015 · 1,075 people

6. 06EGCGSupplementStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 1,172 people given it.5 reported

   1,075 people1 study

   • Green tea extract damaged some livers, at ten times the dummy group's rate. 1,075 women past menopause took an extract delivering 843 mg of EGCG a day, or a dummy, for a year. A liver enzyme rose in 36 women on the extract, 6.7 percent, against 4 on the dummy, 0.7 percent. 1.3 percent had a liver problem recorded as...

     Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2015 · 1,075 people

7. 07BPTESSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 513 people given it.1 reported

   513 people2 studies

   • The only proper test of blocking this enzyme in people found nothing. 444 adults with advanced kidney cancer got telaglenastat plus the cancer drug cabozantinib, or a dummy pill plus cabozantinib. Both groups went about 9.2 and 9.3 months before their cancer grew again. That is the same result twice. Telaglenastat is...

     JAMA Oncology, 2022 · 444 people

   • A smaller study leaned toward the drug without settling anything. 69 adults with advanced kidney cancer got telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug everolimus. Two got the drug for every one on the dummy pill. Cancer took 3.8 months to grow again on the drug, against 1.9 months. The bar for...

     Clinical Cancer Research, 2022 · 69 people

8. 08TelaglenastatSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 513 people given it.1 reported

   513 people2 studies1 found nothing

   • found nothingTelaglenastat was tested properly in a large study, and it did not work. 444 adults with advanced kidney cancer took telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug cabozantinib. The cancer grew again after 9.2 months on the drug and 9.3 months on the dummy pill. Tumours shrank in 31 percent against 28...

     JAMA Oncology, 2022 · 444 people

   • A second, smaller study hinted at a benefit and proved nothing. 69 adults with advanced kidney cancer, most already through three treatments, got telaglenastat or a dummy pill, both along with the cancer drug everolimus. Two got the drug for every one on the dummy pill. The cancer grew again after 3.8 months against...

     Clinical Cancer Research, 2022 · 69 people

9. 09TrametinibSmall moleculeStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 1,192 people given it.

   322 people1 study

   • In advanced melanoma with a BRAF mutation, trametinib on its own held the cancer back longer than chemotherapy and more people were alive at six months. Rash, diarrhoea and swelling were the common side effects. This is the trial that led to its approval as a single drug.

     The New England Journal of Medicine, 2012 · 322 people

10. 10GDF15BiologicModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 313 people given it.3 reported

    187 people1 study

    • Blocking GDF15 put weight back on people with cancer who were wasting away. 187 patients with cancer wasting and high GDF15 were put into four groups. Three got the antibody at rising doses. One got a dummy shot. Shots came every four weeks, three times. By twelve weeks the drug groups had gained about 1.2 to 2.8...

      New England Journal of Medicine, 2024 · 187 people

11. 11SulforaphaneSupplementModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 7 completed trials, 423 people given it.6 reported

    170 people1 study

    • Only the strongest dose did anything, and what it shifted was a chemical in urine. 170 adults in a polluted part of China were split by chance to a dummy drink or one of three strengths of broccoli sprout beverage, for 10 days. The top dose raised benzene clearance by 63.2 percent. The half dose and the fifth dose...

      American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2019 · 170 people

12. 12EnobosarmSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 159 people given it.5 reported

    159 people1 study1 found nothing

    • found nothingMuscle did grow, in people who were losing it to cancer. 159 patients who had already lost weight took one of two doses of enobosarm or a dummy pill for up to about four months. Muscle mass rose on both doses, by roughly 1 to 1.5 kg, while the dummy group did not change. Here is the limit. Growing muscle is not the...

      The Lancet Oncology, 2013 · 159 people

13. 13LandogrozumabBiologicModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 726 people given it.

    125 people1 study

    • In people with pancreatic cancer, the antibody did not help and the treated groups did worse. 125 patients on chemotherapy were split by chance between two doses of the drug and a dummy injection. Those on the dummy lived about ten and a half months. On the lower dose it was just under ten months, and on the higher...

      ClinicalTrials.gov, 2015 · 125 people

14. 14NavitoclaxSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 137 people given it.2 reported

    46 people1 study

    • Navitoclax on its own barely touched advanced ovarian cancer. 46 women whose cancer no longer responded to chemo took it, with no comparison group, after a median of four earlier treatments. One woman's tumour shrank. 15 saw theirs hold steady. Half were back to growing cancer within about seven weeks. In 12 of the...

      Gynecologic Oncology, 2022 · 46 people

15. 15Angiotensin-(1-7)PeptideLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 5 completed trials, 76 people given it.3 reported

    38 people2 studies

    • Given alone to people with an advanced cancer, it did not change the course of the disease. 20 people with sarcoma that had spread got a daily shot under the skin. Their cancer held off for about 2.7 months on average and they lived about 10.2 months. Two people with blood vessel tumours stayed stable far longer. A...

      Sarcoma, 2016 · 20 people

    • The first test in people was about safety, and it turned up serious harm at the top dose. 18 adults with advanced cancer got the peptide as a shot under the skin, daily for five days, with the dose raised group by group. At the highest dose one person had a severe stroke and another lost nerve function in the head,...

      Clinical Cancer Research, 2009 · 18 people

16. 16IO102-IO103PeptideModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 470 people given it.3 reported

    number of people not given1 study

    • This trial was stopped because the vaccine did not do what it was meant to. Seventeen people with head and neck cancer had enrolled. The sponsor recorded the reason for stopping as the study failing to hit its target. A university hospital ran it, not the maker. No results have been published. The record shows a trial...

      ClinicalTrials.gov, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, 2020 · number of people not given

17. 17LanreotidePeptideLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, none stating how many people.4 reported

    number of people not given1 study

    • Lanreotide slowed these tumours down, and that is a rare thing for a peptide to prove. 204 adults with advanced neuroendocrine tumours were split by chance. Half had a lanreotide shot every 28 days for up to two years. Half had a dummy shot, and nobody involved knew which. At two years, 65% of the lanreotide group...

      New England Journal of Medicine, 2014 · number of people not given

18. 18Zinc-L-carnosineSupplementLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, none stating how many people.2 reported

    number of people not given1 study

    • Zinc-L-carnosine cut swallowing trouble in women having radiotherapy after breast cancer surgery. People were assigned to groups by chance, and the trial reported that the supplement prevented the painful swallowing radiation can cause. This is a very short report, and the journal record has no summary, so neither the...

      The Breast Journal, 2020 · number of people not given

19. 19MecaserminPeptideLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, 76 people given it.6 reported

    199,698 people1 study

    • Men with naturally higher IGF-1 in their blood get prostate cancer somewhat more often. Nearly 200,000 men were followed for about seven years. 5,402 were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 295 died of it. The higher a man's level, the higher his risk, and a genetic analysis pointed the same way, which makes a real...

      International Journal of Cancer, 2021 · 199,698 people

20. 20MetforminSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 3 completed trials, 489 people given it.6 reported

    3,234 people1 study

    • The longest follow-up in people we have found no drop in deaths. 3234 adults at high risk of diabetes were given metformin, an intensive lifestyle program, or a dummy pill. After a median 21 years, 453 had died. Neither metformin nor lifestyle cut deaths from any cause, cancer or heart disease. Preventing diabetes and...

      Diabetes Care, 2021 · 3,234 people

21. 21RuxolitinibSmall moleculeModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 1 completed trial, 309 people given it.

    number of people not given1 study

    • Five years on, the same cancer trial still favours the drug. Spleen shrinkage lasted a median of just over three years. People started on ruxolitinib lived longer than those started on the dummy pill, even though most of the dummy group switched onto the drug part way through. Tiredness and diarrhoea were the common...

      Journal of Hematology and Oncology, 2017 · number of people not given

22. 22GW0742Small moleculeAnimal or lab only. Only animal or lab studies on this page. No study in people yet. 3 animal studies, 1 lab study, no human study.3 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • 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.

      Carcinogenesis, 2008 · number of people not given

    • found nothingIn 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.

      Carcinogenesis, 2007 · number of people not given

23. 23DT2216Small moleculeLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 1 completed trial, 20 people given it.3 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In mice and in a dish. DT2216 was gentler on platelets than navitoclax in a dish, and stronger against cancer cells that need BCL-xL. It slowed human tumours grown in mice without a big platelet drop. It was designed this way because platelets have little of the cell tool it uses.

      Nature Medicine, 2019 · number of people not given

    • In mice and in a dish. DT2216 worked against a type of lymph cancer that needs BCL-xL. That adds to the lab case for destroying the protein instead of just blocking it.

      Journal of Hematology and Oncology, 2020 · number of people not given

24. 24OSKM Cyclic Partial ReprogrammingBiologicAnimal or lab only. Only animal or lab studies on this page. No study in people yet. 6 animal studies, no human study.5 reported

    number of people not given0 studies

    • In mice, from the Yamada and Yamanaka labs. Switching the reprogramming genes on and then taking the doxycycline switch away caused tumours in several tissues. The tumour cells were unformed and abnormal, with big changes to the chemical tags across their DNA. The kidney tumours looked like Wilms tumour, a childhood...

      Cell, 2014 · number of people not given

1. 01DanazolHormoneLimited. People have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. 3 completed trials, 63 people given it.5 reported

   27 people2 studies

   • Danazol stopped telomeres shrinking, and the trial was halted early because it appeared to be working. 27 patients with inherited telomere disease took 800 mg a day by mouth, planned for two years. Everyone got the drug and there was nothing to compare against. Telomere loss slowed in all 12 patients assessable on the...

     New England Journal of Medicine, 2016 · 27 people

   • A serious side effect surfaced years after the trial was over. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic describe pancreatitis, an inflamed pancreas, in people taking danazol for telomere biology disorders. It was published eight years after the original trial. This came out of ordinary clinical use, not from a study set up to count...

     Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2024 · number of people not given

2. 02GDF15BiologicModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 2 completed trials, 313 people given it.3 reported

   876 people1 study

   • Higher GDF15 marked out men who died sooner, but nobody was given anything. 876 Swedish men aged 35 to 80 gave a blood sample and were then followed for up to 14 years. Those with more GDF15 at the start were roughly three times as likely to die of any cause. The pattern held in a separate set of 324 twins. This is a...

     Aging Cell, 2010 · 876 people

3. 03EpitalonPeptideModerate. At least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. 5 completed trials, 266 people given it.6 reported

   number of people not given0 studies

   • In a dish. The first time a lab with no link to the original group found the same direction of effect. Normal human cells grew longer telomeres, more so at higher doses. Cancer cells mostly used a different route. A November 2025 correction replaced three figures without changing the conclusions.

     Biogerontology (Brunel University London), 2025 · number of people not given

4. 04OSK Partial ReprogrammingBiologicPreliminary. Studied in people, but no published study has had people take it. 1 registered with no result.5 reported

   number of people not given0 studies

   • In normally ageing mice, not ones bred to age fast, long stretches of partial reprogramming changed the kidney and skin. The longer the treatment ran, the bigger the change. Ageing clocks read younger. Genes for inflammation, worn-out cells and stress were turned down. The authors did not claim these mice lived longer.

     Nature Aging, 2022 · number of people not given