AOD9604

AOD-9604 - Overview

AOD-9604 is a synthetically produced, human growth hormone derived peptide which consists of 15 amino acids. It was originally developed for lipolytic qualities, to stimulate the body's natural fat burning abilities without the negative side effects. Animal studies also showed AOD helped with blood glucose level control and, more importantly, proved that chronic treatment has no adverse effects, does not disrupt insulin sensitivity or IGF-1 or insulin levels.

AOD-9604 - Obesity and Fat Burning

AOD-9604 was originally developed as an analogue of HGH, designed to combat fat and obesity. 

In the sea of animal studies, we found a human one conducted in Australia, involving 300 obese individuals who were treated with AOD-9604 over the course of 12 weeks. It showed incredible results - peptide treatment more than tripled the weight loss effects compared to the placebo. The study also showed the likelihood of developing the resistance to the treatment as being extremely low; suggesting that long-term treatment might lead to an even greater weight loss over time. Not only that, AOD-9604 was also help up against the world’s largest weight loss selling drug at the time, helping patients achieve even greater weight loss without most any side effects.

Speaking of animal studies, it's worth mentioning one on mice predisposed to obesity where the effects of AOD-9604 were evaluated in a 14-day weight loss run. At the beginning of the study, it was hypothesized that the peptide binds to the receptors found on white fat cells, thus enabling weight loss. But, as the study went by, even mice lacking in these receptors experienced a significant fat loss. 

What’s most promising about AOD though, is that, unlike other weight loss and obesity drugs, it both suppresses the appetite as well as stimulating fat metabolism. This is why this particular peptide became so massively popular and talked about and why there is such a growing interest in making it commercially available for obese patients.

AOD-9604 - Joint Pain

It might be a bit surprising for us to be talking about joint pain relief after just having talked about weight loss, but AOD-9604 showed some promising results even in this area.

This study was done on rats with arthritic joints, where an injection applied directly to the affected joint. The injections were guided using ultrasound guidance and, over time, resulted in cartilage regeneration and positive changes in its microscopic structure.

These changes were clinically observed and measured, and the results clearly showed improvement in arthritic joints. Researchers also tried combining AOD-9604 with other common treatment options (HA acid), and found that it works even better in such combinations. 

This peptide also shows potential in diagnostics and revealing new pathways and treatment options, so its future is bright. But, we need more research and studies before introducing it as a viable arthritis treatment.

AOD-9604 - Heart Disease

First of all, we have to say that AOD-9604 does not affect heart (or cardiovascular health) directly. Through weight loss, joint pain relief and improvements in mobility, it helps reduce the risk of heart disease (by taking some of the load off of the cardiovascular system).

Of course, we’ve witnessed some claims that this peptide does indeed improve heart health, but these have yet to be confirmed by large-scale medical studies. So far, we haven’t seen them but we remain hopeful for the future.

Refences:

F. M. Ng, J. Sun, L. Sharma, R. Libinaka, W. J. Jiang, and R. Gianello, “Metabolic studies of a synthetic lipolytic domain (AOD9604) of human growth hormone,” Horm. Res., vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 274–278, 2000.

H. Stier, E. Vos, and D. Kenley, “Safety and Tolerability of the Hexadecapeptide AOD9604 in Humans,” J. Endocrinol. Metab., vol. 3, no. 1–2, pp. 7-15–15, Apr. 2013. [Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism]

“Obesity drug codenamed AOD9604 highly successful in trials,” News-Medical.net, 16-Dec-2004. [Online]. Available: [Accessed: 24-May-2019].

D. R. Kwon and G. Y. Park, “Effect of Intra-articular Injection of AOD9604 with or without Hyaluronic Acid in Rabbit Osteoarthritis Model,” Ann. Clin. Lab. Sci., vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 426–432, Jul. 2015.

M. D. Jensen, “Potential role of new therapies in modifying cardiovascular risk in overweight patients with metabolic risk factors,” Obes. Silver Spring Md, vol. 14 Suppl 3, pp. 143S-149S, Jun. 2006.