PepRank

IGF-1 DES

49%positive4 reports

Also: des(1-3)IGF-1 · truncated IGF-1 · 'IGF-DES', 'DES'

ExcludedRecoveryInjection

Short-acting, truncated IGF-1 injected into the trained muscle; very potent at dropping blood sugar.

#42 of 61 research peptides · updated
Onset
Users inject it around the workout and describe the pump within the session.
Lasts
Users describe a half-life of about 30 minutes, so it acts briefly and is injected each training day.
Access
Grey market
Cost / month
≈ €22–180
researchers' estimate; no listing to price
4 user reports
Positive 2Nothing 1Negative 1
  • r/moreplatesmoredates· · 2 upvotesOriginal ↗

    the bottles went quick as I had to inject into each muscle group and there are pairs of those muscle groups because I am a symetrical bi-ped. it seemed to blow up each muscle

    PositiveRecovery · Injection · one vial

    one vial each of IGF-1 DES and PEG-MGF during an LGD-4033 and MK-677 cycle on a testosterone base

  • r/BodyHackGuide· · 1 upvotesOriginal ↗

    I used igf-1 years ago, but back then it was short acting and localized muscle growth in areas of injection. Never used lr3.

    PositiveRecovery

    used 'short acting' IGF-1 years ago, most likely DES though he does not name it; long-time steroid user

  • r/BiohackingU· · 1 upvotesOriginal ↗

    I tried the First time 25mcg only left Bizeps and i didnt felt a pump or something. Just after one day my muscle on the left biceps was more hurting than after a normal training.

    NothingRecovery · 25 mcg into one bicep

    first dose, with 50 g dextrose before training; later suspected the 12.5 mm needle put it subQ rather than IM

Strict case
An IGF-1 receptor agonist about ten times as potent as IGF-1 in cells and the most hypoglycaemic of the IGF-1 variants in primates, with no human data, the same tumour-promotion concern as LR3, and grey-market vials that are rarely tested.
Users report
Very few first-hand reports exist; most Reddit mentions are questions, vendor guides or comparisons with LR3. Its appeal is 'site injection': users inject it into the muscle they just trained, hoping for local growth, and some women ask about it for glutes after TikTok called it a 'BBL peptide'. The handful of users describe a muscle 'blowing up' or localised growth, usually on top of steroids or SARMs. Others felt nothing, and one overdosed calf brought on an odd full-body reaction mid-workout. One user warns it drops blood sugar harder than LR3, and another notes that DES vendors rarely post a third-party test. Felt nothing: Too few reports to judge: one first-time user felt no pump, only extra soreness in the injected bicep..
Best effects
Local pump and fullness in the injected muscle · claimed local growth ('site injection')
Downsides
Hypoglycaemia risk, described as worse than LR3 without carbs · painful intramuscular injections into many sites · extra soreness in the injected muscle · short-lived, so it has to be injected around every session
Watch
IGF-1 receptor agonist that binding proteins do not restrain at all: theoretical promotion of existing or undiagnosed cancers, as with LR3, which accelerated tumour growth in mice · The most potent hypoglycaemic of the IGF-1 variants in pigs and marmosets; full-length IGF-1 causes hypoglycaemic seizures in humans · Organ growth: severalfold more potent than IGF-1 at enlarging the gut in rats · No human data; vendors rarely publish third-party tests and the peptide degrades easily
Evidence
Animal only — No human study of des(1-3)IGF-1. It occurs naturally in small amounts (in colostrum, brain and uterus), was characterised in Adelaide in the late 1980s and 1990s, and was tested only in cells, rats, pigs and marmosets. Full-length IGF-1 (mecasermin) is the closest human comparison, and DES is several times more potent per microgram.
Caveat
There are almost no first-hand reports to judge it by, and no data at all on whether local injection gives local growth in people. Its short half-life is sometimes sold as making it safer than LR3, but its glucose-lowering potency per dose is higher.
Typical use
No clinical dose exists. Community guides suggest roughly 25-100 mcg injected into the just-trained muscle, with fast carbs, for about 4 weeks.
Getting it
Research-peptide vials only; fewer vendors stock it than LR3 and third-party test reports are rare. Banned in sport by WADA (S2).
Stacked with
PEG-MGF: Forum protocols pair it with PEG-MGF for injury recovery or local growth; DES is said to be compatible on the same day where LR3 is not. No data supports either claim. · Testosterone, SARMs and MK-677: The few positive reports all come from users on other anabolics at the same time.

User reports 5

  • r/moreplatesmoredates· · 2 upvotesOriginal ↗

    the bottles went quick as I had to inject into each muscle group and there are pairs of those muscle groups because I am a symetrical bi-ped. it seemed to blow up each muscle

    PositiveRecovery · Injection · one vial

    one vial each of IGF-1 DES and PEG-MGF during an LGD-4033 and MK-677 cycle on a testosterone base

  • r/BodyHackGuide· · 1 upvotesOriginal ↗

    I used igf-1 years ago, but back then it was short acting and localized muscle growth in areas of injection. Never used lr3.

    PositiveRecovery

    used 'short acting' IGF-1 years ago, most likely DES though he does not name it; long-time steroid user

  • r/BiohackingU· · 1 upvotesOriginal ↗

    I tried the First time 25mcg only left Bizeps and i didnt felt a pump or something. Just after one day my muscle on the left biceps was more hurting than after a normal training.

    NothingRecovery · 25 mcg into one bicep

    first dose, with 50 g dextrose before training; later suspected the 12.5 mm needle put it subQ rather than IM

  • r/moreplatesmoredates· · 1 upvotesOriginal ↗

    one time i put too much into my calves and got a weird reaction where i literally had to do a full body stretch every minute or so. i had to leave the gym

    NegativeRecovery · Injection

    same user as above; unsure whether DES or PEG-MGF caused it

  • r/BiohackingU· · 6 upvotesOriginal ↗

    While IGF-LR3 is more powerful systemically, IGF-DES is considered safer and more localized, with activity concentrated to the tissue it’s injected into.

    GlowingRecovery · vendor-adjacent

    subreddit-owner guide with a vendor referral link and discount code

Safety

Tier by safety barStrict ExcludedBalanced ExcludedEvidence only Caution

Seen harmMechanismData gapSilent harmProduct

Seen harm 0/3
No published case report, trial or regulator warning involves des(1-3)IGF-1, and the few first-hand Reddit reports describe no serious harm. The zero reflects almost no documented human exposure, not reassurance; the gap is carried by dataGap. r/moreplatesmoredates: PEG-MGF and IGF-DES first-hand thread ↗
Mechanism 3/3
DES is an IGF-1 receptor agonist that IGF-binding proteins do not restrain, about ten times as potent as IGF-1 in cells. In pigs and marmosets it lowered glucose more, and for longer, than any other variant. Its class has shown serious harm in vivo: the sister analogue LR3 accelerated tumour growth in mice, and full-length IGF-1 causes hypoglycaemic seizures in humans. It also grew the rat gut at severalfold lower doses than IGF-1. Tomas et al. 1997: des(1-3)IGF-I has the most potent and prolonged hypoglycaemic action of the IGF-I variants ↗Levolger et al. 2019: LR3 IGF-I accelerated tumour growth in tumour-bearing mice ↗Read et al. 1992: des(1-3)IGF-I and LR3 induce marked gut growth in rats ↗
Data gap 3/3
No human has received des(1-3)IGF-1 in any published study, and the original developers noted it was never clinically evaluated. Full-length IGF-1 (mecasermin) trials do not transfer, because DES escapes binding proteins and is several times more potent per microgram. Ballard et al. 1996: des(1-3)IGF-I review (clinical opportunities not yet evaluated) ↗
Silent harm 3/3
Its short action makes hypoglycaemia acute and noticeable, but the more serious feared harm, promotion of an existing tumour by repeated IGF-1 receptor activation, would be silent and delayed and invisible to testimonials. Renehan et al. 2004: circulating IGF-1 and cancer risk (Lancet meta-analysis) ↗
Product 3/3
Sold only as grey-market vials and injected IM into the trained muscle, often into several sites per session. Fewer vendors stock it than LR3, and users point out that DES sellers rarely publish an independent test. r/Peptidesource: no Janoshik report for IGF-DES vendors ↗Mendias & Awan 2026 preprint: 41.6-71.1% of grey-market peptide samples failed quality criteria, 15% endotoxin ↗
Never if
Active or past cancer, or a known predisposition to cancer · Pregnancy or breastfeeding (no human reproductive data) · Children and teenagers with open growth plates · Diabetes, insulin or sulfonylurea use, or a history of hypoglycaemia · Use without food or before driving

Studies 7

Sources 6

More in Hormones & libido all 12 →

  1. 1GHRP-6 Excluded Injection≈ €13–81 / month59%positive14 reportsFirst-generation GHRP used as an appetite drug for bulking; strong hunger, cortisol, glucose, GH axis.GH/IGF-1 axis elevation plus cortisol rise and reduced insulin sensitivity (FDA), with only single-dose human safety data.
  2. 2Kisspeptin YNWNSFGLRF (10 residues) Excluded Nasal / Injection≈ €4.1–12 / month52%positive30 reportsTop-of-axis GnRH stimulator for libido/testosterone; chronic use can crash the axis.Directly manipulates the HPG axis; continuous or long-acting exposure suppresses it.
  3. 3Hexarelin Excluded Injection≈ €27–110 / month45%positive5 reportsMost potent GHRP; fast desensitisation, acute cortisol/prolactin rise and direct CD36 heart effects.GH/IGF-1 axis elevation, acute cortisol and prolactin release, and GH-independent actions on heart and coronary vessels via CD36.
  4. 4MK-677 Excluded Oral≈ €18–54 / month48%positive29 reportsOral GH secretagogue (not a peptide); hunger, bloat, insulin resistance, CHF signal.GH/IGF-1 elevation, insulin resistance and a CHF safety signal in an RCT.
  5. 5Follistatin-344 Excluded Injection≈ €180–450 / month44%positive10 reportsMyostatin/activin-binding protein sold as 1 mg vials; about half of tested vials held no follistatin.Blocks myostatin and activin signalling (FSH axis, angiogenesis, glucose) with no human safety data for the injected protein; vials often hold other drugs.
  6. 6IGF-1 LR3 Excluded Injection≈ €36–140 / month40%positive24 reportsLong-acting IGF-1 analogue (a cell-culture reagent) for muscle; hypoglycaemia, tumour-growth signal.A potent, long-acting IGF-1 receptor agonist with no human data at all: it accelerated tumour growth in mice, the same receptor causes hypoglycaemic seizures and carries a malignancy warning on the approved IGF-1 drug, and every vial is grey-market.
  7. 7Sermorelin YADAIFTNSYRKVLGQLSARKLLQDIMSR (29 residues) Excluded Sublingual / Injection≈ €38–94 / month46%positive29 reportsShort GHRH analogue; cheap, gentle, sleep-focused, still GH/IGF-1 axis.GH/IGF-1 axis elevation, though the mildest of the class.
  8. 8PT-141 DHFRWK (6 residues) Excluded Nasal / Injection≈ €24–170 / month39%positive30 reportsFDA-approved melanocortin libido drug; works strongly for many, raises blood pressure.Cardiovascular effects (BP spikes; contraindicated in CVD) and melanocortin pigmentation effects.
  9. 9GHRP-2 Excluded Injection / Nasal / IV≈ €18–45 / month39%positive7 reportsJapan-approved GH diagnostic sold as a vial; hunger, cortisol and prolactin spikes, GH axis.GH/IGF-1 axis elevation with cortisol and prolactin spikes; FDA notes raised insulin needs and deaths in critically ill subjects.
  10. 10Ipamorelin Excluded Injection≈ €11–100 / month42%positive51 reportsSelective ghrelin-receptor GH secretagogue; sleep and recovery, GH axis plus reactions.GH/IGF-1 axis elevation plus repeated anaphylaxis reports, including a coroner-attributed death.
  11. 11CJC-1295 YADAIFTQSYRKVLAQLSARKLLQDILSR (29 residues) Excluded Injection≈ €14–27 / month38%positive29 reportsLong-acting GHRH analogue stacked with ipamorelin; GH axis, vasodilatory reactions.GH/IGF-1 axis elevation plus FDA-noted tachycardia/vasodilatory reactions and anaphylaxis.

Sequence beads

Each bead is one amino acid in the peptide's chain, coloured by its side chain: grey for non-polar, cyan for polar, blue for positively charged and fuchsia for negatively charged. Length and mix tell related peptides apart at a glance, from a two-residue dipeptide like carnosine to a 43-residue protein like thymosin beta-4. The colours describe chemistry only and predict neither effect nor safety.

non-polarpolarpositivenegative

Report grades

Every first-hand Reddit or X report is graded on its own, from glowing through positive, mixed, nothing and negative to bad reaction, and the bar shows how those grades split. Posts that look vendor-adjacent stay on the peptide's page but are left out of the counts.

GlowingPositiveMixedNothingNegativeBad reaction

% positive

The share of a peptide's graded Reddit and X reports that are glowing or positive, vendor-adjacent posts left out. A peptide with few reports is pulled toward the average of all reports, as if it had eight average ones besides its own, so two glowing posts cannot top the list. Kept peptides rank by the same reports' mean grade, shrunk the same way, and excluded ones follow in that order.

Researcher estimate

No first-hand report of this peptide has been graded yet, so the figure is the researchers' own rating out of 10 from what they read about it. It ranks alongside the computed scores until reports arrive.

Safety tier

Each peptide is tiered clean, caution or excluded from its five risk axes under the chosen safety bar. An excluded peptide has a plausible route to serious harm, so it stays listed with the reason but ranks behind every other entry, however good its reviews.

Safety bar

The safety bar sets how much risk it takes to exclude a peptide. Strict: out on any serious mechanism with little human data, or any documented serious harm. Balanced: out on documented serious harm (unless it is obvious, reversible and from a regulated product), or a serious mechanism whose harm would be silent with no human data at all. Evidence only: out only on documented serious harm in humans that is lasting, delayed or from grey-market product.

Seen harm

Documented serious adverse events in humans, from 0 for none despite real exposure to 3 for deaths or several well-documented serious harms. Serious means a hospital or emergency visit or harm lasting weeks, so a headache or a bad night does not count.

Mechanism

A plausible biological route to serious harm at the doses people use, such as growth-factor signalling, hormone-axis suppression, heart or blood-pressure effects or immune activation. It runs from 0 when none is known to 3 when a dangerous pathway has been shown in living animals.

Data gap

How little human safety data exists for the molecule actually sold, from 0 for an approved drug with large trials and years of use to 3 for no human safety data at all. A modified analogue does not inherit its parent's trials.

Silent harm

Whether the feared harm would show quickly or stay hidden, from 0 when it is obvious and goes on stopping to 3 when it is silent and delayed, like tumour promotion or slow organ damage. User reports cannot reveal a harm that takes years to appear, so a high score here limits what good reviews can tell you.

Product

The risk of what people actually buy, from 0 for a regulated pharmacy or supplement product taken by mouth or on the skin to 3 for a grey-market injectable. In one dataset of 6,441 grey-market samples, 42–71% failed basic quality criteria and 15% carried endotoxin.

Evidence

The strongest kind of study behind the peptide's effects, from an approved drug through human controlled trials and small human studies to animal work or nothing of its own. Animal results often fail to carry over to people.

Access

How people get it: as an approved drug, a compounded prescription, an over-the-counter supplement or from the grey market, where nobody checks the vial. The channel decides both the legal position and the risk of a bad batch.

Price per month

Thirty days of the typical dose, from its low end to its high end, priced at the listing a careful buyer would choose: in stock, from a shop scoring 4 of 5 on trust (third-party tested where no score is set), failing that 3, a pure pack before a blend, a European shop first, then the cheapest per mg. The range is the dose's, not the shops'. A per-dose amount counts once a day unless the dose says otherwise. Prices are in euros at ECB rates of 2026-10-29, before shipping; the shop table keeps each listing's price per mg, per gram for bulk supplements. Where no listing can be priced the researchers' own estimate stands in, and says so.

Dose users report

The middle half of the daily doses stated in at least five first-hand reports, vendor posts left out. Where its middle sits more than twice above or below the declared dose, the month is priced at it as well, since what people take is what they pay for.

Testing

Whether the shop publishes lab results: third-party tested means an independent lab checks each batch, own COA means the shop's own certificate of analysis, and no public tests means neither. A certificate shows purity, not safety.

Added peptide

Some packs sold under one peptide's name hold a second one, such as 5 mg GHK-Cu in a nasal kit, stated only in the description. Sprayed in the nose or injected it reaches the blood like an injection, so it carries the risk of that route and is tiered as the injectable form, whatever its tier on the skin. A pack whose page gives no contents list may hold more than its name.