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Trial protocolFat loss and metabolism

Tesamorelin 2 mg daily, the pivotal lipodystrophy schedule

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Cut deep belly fat in people with HIV whose treatment made fat build up there

The schedule a registered study in people actually used, taken from the paper and the study's public registration, not from a label summary. Every one links a PubMed or ClinicalTrials record you can open.

Not advice. This is a record of a schedule, not a dose for you.

The schedule, as reported

Each field below is what the source states, not a rounded version of it. Where the source does not publish a detail, the field says so instead of filling the gap.

Amount
2 mg
How often
Once daily
How it is taken
Shot under the skin
How long
26 weeks

What was measured

The main thing measured: the change in deep belly fat on a CT scan, in percent, from the start. Also measured: triglycerides, total cholesterol compared with HDL cholesterol, IGF-1, how people felt about their body, and blood sugar and insulin.

What was reported

Results as the study reported them, with what they were compared against.

  • Deep belly fat fell 15.2 percent on tesamorelin and rose 5.0 percent on the dummy shot.

  • Triglycerides fell 50 mg per deciliter on the drug and rose 9 on the dummy shot. Total cholesterol compared with HDL fell 0.31 on the drug and rose 0.21 on the dummy shot.

  • IGF-1, a growth hormone marker, rose 81.0 percent on tesamorelin and fell 5.0 percent on the dummy shot.

  • Blood sugar and insulin were no different between the groups.

  • Side effects were about the same in both groups, but more people on tesamorelin dropped out because of one.

Where this comes from

Falutz et al., Metabolic effects of a growth hormone-releasing factor in patients with HIV, New England Journal of Medicine, 2007. 412 people with HIV and a buildup of belly fat, 86 percent of them men.

This is the study the approval rests on, and the 2 mg daily schedule is the approved one. A separate 20 week study in older adults used 1 mg daily to look at thinking and memory. That is a different schedule for a different question, and not this one.

What this protocol cannot tell you

Required on every entry in this registry, and never empty.

The people studied had HIV, and their HIV drugs had made fat build up in their belly. That is not the same as a person who wants a flatter stomach. What it measured was fat on a CT scan, so nothing here tells you about heart attacks, diabetes or how long anyone lived. The study ran 26 weeks and says nothing about what happens after that, or when the drug stops. IGF-1 rising 81 percent shows the growth hormone system responded. It is not a benefit in itself.

The compounds in this protocol

Each profile has the full evidence record, the legal status and what the studies did not show.

  • TesamorelinStrong. At least two finished studies in people, and at least 1,000 people who took it. 8 completed trials, 1,729 people given it.10 reported

    An FDA-approved shot that shrinks belly fat, the deep fat around the organs. It is also being studied for memory and thinking in older adults at risk of Alzheimer's.

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