Four Compounds. The Trials That Back Them.

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Research peptides are short chains of amino acids studied in labs and clinics for specific biological effects. This site tracks four of them: ipamorelin, NAD+, thymosin alpha-1, and tirzepatide. They work in different systems — growth hormone, cellular energy, immune defense, and blood sugar and appetite — but they share one thing. Each has been through real clinical trials, not just cell-dish experiments. Some trials succeeded. Some didn't. We report both.

Tirzepatide has the deepest trial record here: multiple large randomized trials, FDA approval, a direct head-to-head win over its closest rival. Thymosin alpha-1 has run a 1,106-patient Phase 3 trial that came back null. NAD+ has smaller but well-run human trials on absorption and biomarkers. Ipamorelin has one human trial, and it missed its goal.

This is a research digest. Not a pharmacy. Not a clinic. No dose mentioned here is a recommendation for a person — only a record of what a specific study tested.

Ranked by trial depth

Every compound on this desk is called well researched. Trial depth is not equal across them.

Tirzepatide sits at the top. It carries multiple completed Phase 3 programs, an FDA approval since 2022, and a head-to-head trial against its main rival, semaglutide, that it won outright ^[16]. That trial record is the reason it leads this desk.

Thymosin alpha-1 has real Phase 3 data too. A 1,106-patient international trial (TESTS) tested it for sepsis in 2025 and found no mortality benefit ^[11]. An earlier, smaller trial found a signal right at the edge of significance ^[15]. Real trials. Mixed results.

NAD+ has no Phase 3 program of its own — it's a coenzyme, not a drug candidate — but multiple placebo-controlled human trials have tested its precursors (NMN, NR) for blood NAD+ levels, insulin sensitivity, and tolerability ^[7][8][10]. Trial quality is solid; the clinical-outcome case remains thin ^[6].

Ipamorelin has the least. One Phase 2 RCT exists — 114 patients, postoperative recovery — and it missed its primary endpoint ^[3]. Everything else is rodent work or unmonitored human use.

Four compounds. Four different answers to the same question: how much has actually been tested in humans, and what did the tests find.

What are research peptides?

A peptide is a short chain of amino acids — smaller than a protein, built from the same building blocks. Some peptides are hormones the body already makes. Others are synthetic copies, or modified versions engineered to resist breakdown or hit a receptor more selectively.

'Research peptide' is a market label, not a regulatory category. It means the material is sold for laboratory or research use, not as an approved drug. Two compounds on this desk left that status behind: tirzepatide is an FDA-approved prescription medicine. Thymosin alpha-1 (thymalfasin) is approved as a drug in more than 35 countries, though not in the United States ^[12]. NAD+ circulates as a supplement and, in injectable form, a compounded wellness product. Ipamorelin has never been approved anywhere.

Approval status changes what a compound is, legally and factually. It does not change what the trials found. This desk reports the trials, not the marketing.