Tesamorelin

ID: tesamorelin

Aliases: Egrifta, TH9507, TESAMORELIN

Type: compound

Route/form: subcutaneous injection

Status: approved

Evidence level: approved / labelled

Best data tier: approved label + human controlled/review

Support scope: human

Source types: human_physiology, human_rct, human_trial, label

Linked sources: 9

Broad outcomes: Cardiovascular / lipids / blood pressure, Fat loss / metabolic health, Hormones / fertility / sexual health, Muscle growth / performance / recovery, PEDs / AAS / thermogenics

Reading note: These are curation notes anchored to linked sources, not a clinical recommendation or protocol.

Targets / mechanism

• GHRH receptor agonist
• GH/IGF-1 axis

Optimization domains

• lipodystrophy
• visceral fat
• growth hormone

Research basis

• Randomized human trials show visceral-fat reduction in HIV-associated abdominal fat accumulation, including liver-fat/NAFLD and fat-quality data in people with HIV.
• Newer studies extend context to modern INSTI-based ART and neurocognitive impairment in virally suppressed people with HIV and abdominal obesity.
• Human transcriptomic/proteomic analyses provide mechanism-adjacent liver and inflammatory pathway context, while the approved label makes route, IGF-1 monitoring, glucose, neoplasm, and hypersensitivity risks concrete.

Limits, risks, and missing evidence

• Evidence is indication-specific; general fat-loss, bodybuilding, or wellness extrapolation is weaker.
• It raises IGF-1 and can affect glucose handling, so GH-axis benefits and endocrine/metabolic risks move together.
• Cognition and liver benefits are disease-context findings, not generic nootropic or liver-health claims.

Risk flags

• prescription
• GH IGF axis
• medical supervision

Linked papers, labels, and reviews

1. Effects of tesamorelin in HIV-infected patients with abdominal fat accumulation
   human_rct / pubmed_tesamorelin_2010
   Randomized placebo-controlled trial with safety extension.
2. Effect of tesamorelin on visceral fat and liver fat in HIV-infected patients
   human_rct / pubmed_tesamorelin_liver_fat_2014
   Randomized clinical trial in HIV abdominal fat accumulation.
3. Effects of tesamorelin on hepatic transcriptomic signatures in HIV-associated NAFLD
   human_physiology / pubmed_tesamorelin_hepatic_transcriptomic_2020
   Human liver transcriptomic analysis from tesamorelin-treated HIV-associated NAFLD context; mechanism-adjacent to the liver-fat signal.
4. Delineating tesamorelin response pathways in HIV-associated NAFLD using targeted proteomic and transcriptomic approaches
   human_physiology / pubmed_tesamorelin_response_pathways_2021
   Human response-pathway analysis; helps explain why visceral/liver-fat effects may not generalize to every GH-secretagogue use case.
5. DailyMed label: EGRIFTA WR tesamorelin kit
   label / dailymed_egrifta_label
   Official tesamorelin label context for HIV-associated lipodystrophy, subcutaneous route, IGF-1 monitoring, glucose, neoplasm, and hypersensitivity warnings.
6. Efficacy and safety of tesamorelin in people with HIV on integrase inhibitors
   human_rct / pubmed_tesamorelin_instis_hiv_2024
   Randomized trial analysis in people with HIV on INSTI regimens; supports visceral/liver fat and safety context in modern ART background.
7. Effects of Tesamorelin on Neurocognitive Impairment in Persons With HIV and Abdominal Obesity
   human_rct / pubmed_tesamorelin_neurocognition_hiv_2025
   Phase 2 randomized open-label trial testing tesamorelin for neurocognitive impairment in virally suppressed people with HIV and abdominal obesity; narrow disease-context evidence.
8. Effects of tesamorelin on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in HIV: a randomised, double-blind, multicentre trial
   human_rct / pubmed_tesamorelin_hiv_nafld_2019
   Randomized multicenter trial in people with HIV and NAFLD; supports liver-fat and histology context for tesamorelin.
9. Tesamorelin improves fat quality independent of changes in fat quantity
   human_trial / pubmed_tesamorelin_fat_quality_2021
   Secondary analysis of randomized tesamorelin trials in people with HIV; supports CT fat-density/fat-quality context beyond simple visceral-fat area.