
D
Tier
Synthetic dipeptide immunomodulator.
Immune Support
Peptide, 2 amino acids
WADA Status:
Not listed
Human Trial Scoreboard
Completed human RCTs
Western trials, as oglufanide
Largest Human Study
Size not verified
Longest exposure
Duration not verified
Most Recent Trial
Year not verified
Description
Thymogen is a two amino acid peptide, glutamate joined to tryptophan, used as an immune modulator in Russia. It has a second life worth knowing about: under the Western development names oglufanide and IM862, this same molecule was taken into registered clinical trials, including a late-stage study in AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma that was discontinued for lack of effectiveness, and a mid-stage hepatitis C trial in Australia. So unlike most of the Khavinson family it does have a registered Western trial record, and that record is a negative one. The Russian marketed product rests on open-label domestic work, while the properly tested version of the same molecule did not succeed.
What Are The Claims
Claims made for this compound: Immune support
Evidence
The evidence problem here is structural rather than a matter of one weak study. The human claims for the Khavinson peptide bioregulators rest on a small body of largely non-randomized work published mostly within a single journal family, roughly half of it in Russian and unavailable in English translation. The flagship human mortality finding has never been independently replicated outside Russia. The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's independent review notes that essentially every preclinical and clinical result traces back to Khavinson's own group with no independent confirmation. A 2025 in-vitro study from Brunel University London did independently support the telomerase mechanism in human cell lines, which is genuinely notable, but it is a cell-culture study that replicates no clinical claim and it carried a published figure correction.
Evidence Strength
Traditional/anecdotal (Russian human data, unblinded)
Caveats
Not FDA-approved; research compound; approved only in Russia; not licensed for human use in the US or EU; no independent Western clinical trial data.
Safety
Alternative Measures
Legal Status
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
EU
Not approved
AU
Not approved
WADA
Not listed
Not approved in the West. Russian peptide preparation. Grey-market elsewhere.
Citations
Khavinson VK, Morozov VG (2003). Neuro Endocrinology Letters. PMID: 14523363. | Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality independent review. | Brunel University London (2025). Biogerontology. In-vitro telomere study. PMID: 40908429 (figure correction: PMID: 41240216).