# Thymogen

Russian-registered immunostimulant dipeptide Glu-Trp; grey-market vials are dosed 10-25 times the label.

- Page: https://peprank.xyz/peptides/thymogen
- Goals: Immune, Recovery & healing (Research peptide)
- Also known as: Thymagen; Timogen; oglufanide; oglufanide disodium; IM862; EW; Glu-Trp; alpha-glutamyl-tryptophan; L-glutamyl-L-tryptophan; Тимоген
- Routes: Injection / Nasal / Oral
- Safety tier: Strict: Caution · Balanced: Caution · Evidence only: Caution
- Risk axes (0 none to 3 severe): Seen harm 1, Mechanism 2, Data gap 1, Silent harm 1, Product 3
- Positive: 58% of 4 graded reports glowing or positive, shrunk toward the 49% all-report average by 8 reports' weight
- Rank: #5 of 88 research peptides
- Graded reports: 4 (Positive 3, Mixed 1)
- Evidence: Approved drug — Registered in Russia since the early 1990s (Cytomed: 100 mcg/ml IM ampoules, nasal spray) as an immunostimulant for infections, wounds and pre-operative preparation, on small Russian studies. As oglufanide (IM862) it went through US and UK cancer trials, including a 202-patient placebo-controlled phase III that found it no better than placebo and well tolerated.
- Access: Grey market
- Onset: The costochondritis user felt relief within hours of injecting; the MCAS user within the first week.
- Lasts: Label courses are 3-10 days, up to four a year; users say the benefit fades within a day or so of stopping.
- Cost per month: Grey-market 20 mg vials from about $55; Russian ampoules (1 mg per 10-day course) cost far less where available
- Updated: 2026-10-30

## What users report

Few reports, from people with mast-cell activation, mould illness or costochondritis, all on other treatments too. An MCAS patient injecting about 1.6 mg a day found it more effective than thymosin alpha-1 (eating without feeling poisoned, less malaise), but it brought water retention, severe constipation and weeks of 'hormonal drama' that made her stop; lower doses did nothing. A costochondritis sufferer says 2.5 mg injected took his chest pain away within hours, though he also calls it thymalin. Two others take Integrative Peptides' oral 'Thymogen Alpha-1' capsules, which also contain Vilon, and credit them with fewer infections or MCAS relief that stops when they stop. Many Reddit mentions of 'Thymogen Alpha-1' are about thymosin alpha-1 instead. Felt nothing: None of 4 first-hand reports; too few to count.

**Effects:** less reaction to food, less malaise and mouth and throat irritation in MCAS (one user, at about 1.6 mg a day); chest-wall pain gone within hours of an injection in costochondritis (one user); fewer infections with the oral Thymogen Alpha-1 blend (one confounded user); claimed: fewer post-operative complications in elderly cancer surgery patients given it intranasally (Russian RCT)

**Downsides:** water retention and severe constipation (one user); weeks of hormonal symptoms ('felt pregnant') at high dose (one user); benefit stops within a day or so of stopping; nothing at label-like doses for one user; name confusion with thymosin alpha-1, thymalin and thymulin

**Risks:** In the 202-patient US phase III trial of intranasal oglufanide (IM862) in AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma, time to tumour progression was shorter on the drug (16 vs 35 weeks), though the placebo arm had more patients on antiretrovirals; An immunostimulant: immune and inflammatory flares are plausible, as with thymosin alpha-1; Grey-market injectable vials: purity, sterility and identity unverified, at doses far above the Russian label

**Caveat:** The registered dose is 100 mcg once a day for 3-10 days; grey-market users inject 1-2.5 mg, which matches only the doses the US cancer trials gave intranasally. The phase III Kaposi's sarcoma result (faster progression on the drug) is confounded by more antiretroviral use in the placebo arm, and earlier rat work found fewer tumours, so the cancer question is open rather than answered. Users' reports are four, confounded, and in one case possibly about thymalin.

**Typical use:** Grey-market vials: 1-2.5 mg subq a day, a dose borrowed from the oglufanide cancer trials. Russian label: 100 mcg IM once a day for 3-10 days (300-1000 mcg a course), up to four courses a year. Oral Thymogen Alpha-1: 1-2 capsules a day (250 mcg each of Thymogen and Vilon), users up to 5.

**Getting it:** A registered prescription drug in Russia (Cytomed: 100 mcg IM ampoules, nasal spray), imported by a few users. Outside Russia most is grey-market 20 mg vials sold as Thymogen or Thymagen. Integrative Peptides' oral 'Thymogen Alpha-1' (250 mcg Glu-Trp plus 250 mcg Vilon per capsule) is a supplement blend and contains no thymosin alpha-1, despite the name. Thymalin, the calf-thymus extract Thymogen was isolated from, and thymulin are different products.

**Stacked with:** Thymosin alpha-1 (Often compared or alternated with it in MCAS and mould-illness protocols; one user found Thymogen stronger at the same dose.); Vilon (Combined in Integrative Peptides' Thymogen Alpha-1 capsules and in the Holtorf CIRS protocol.); KPV (The oral KPV spray plus Thymogen capsules pairing from Integrative Peptides in CIRS threads.)

## Risk profile

- **Seen harm 1/3:** The Russian label lists only allergic reactions, and the oglufanide cancer trials found mild, transient headache, fatigue and nausea. The one serious signal is confounded: in the 202-patient phase III Kaposi's sarcoma trial, median time to tumour progression was shorter on the drug (16 vs 35 weeks, p=0.012), but the placebo arm had more patients on antiretroviral therapy, which the investigators held responsible for the responses they saw. First-hand reports describe water retention, severe constipation and weeks of hormonal symptoms at a high dose, unpleasant but not serious.
- **Mechanism 2/3:** Immune activation is its purpose: the label calls it an immunostimulant (T-cell differentiation, more T-helpers and cytotoxic T cells), and in mice its antitumour effect works through NK-cell activation, so autoimmune or inflammatory flares are credible, as with thymosin alpha-1. It also lowered plasma VEGF in the renal-cancer trial.
- **Data gap 1/3:** Registered in Russia for about 30 years, with thin pharmacovigilance, and its controlled human trials add up to well over a hundred people on the molecule: the 202-patient US phase III (104 on drug), a 44-patient randomised phase II, a 25-patient phase II and a Russian placebo-controlled surgical trial.
- **Silent harm 1/3:** Immune flares, allergic reactions and the fluid retention and bowel effects users describe appear within days and settle on stopping, though one user's hormonal symptoms took two to three weeks to fade.
- **Product 3/3:** Outside Russia, users mostly inject grey-market 20 mg vials sold as Thymogen or Thymagen, at 10-25 times the registered dose, with unverified purity and sterility. Russian pharmacy ampoules (regulated) and the oral Integrative Peptides blend (a supplement) are minority channels.
- **Never if:** Hypersensitivity to alpha-glutamyl-tryptophan (label); Pregnancy or breastfeeding (label: only if the benefit outweighs the risk, for lack of data); Active autoimmune disease or deliberate immunosuppression; Active cancer, given the faster Kaposi's sarcoma progression in the phase III trial

## Top reports

- Positive, immune: “It is oral and also crazy expensive. And yes, it stops working if I stop or if I have a reoccurring exposure.” — [r/MCAS](https://www.reddit.com/r/MCAS/comments/1j9htjy/thymogen_alpha1/mr3qn73/)
- Positive, immune, 3 capsules in the morning, 2 in the afternoon: “The thymosin/thymogen has helped my immune system too and I don’t get sick as often.” — [r/CIRS](https://www.reddit.com/r/CIRS/comments/1e1kfao/starting_immune_peptides/ld1mrim/)
- Positive, recovery, 2.5 mg, then 1 mg: “I just injected myself with 2 1/2 mg of a peptide called thtmagen and I’m noticing my symptoms go away immediately.” — [r/costochondritis](https://www.reddit.com/r/costochondritis/comments/1d7afqp/thymagen_a_potential_solution/)
- Mixed, immune, about 1.6 mg a day (from Russian papers): “For me, thymogen is more effective than thymosin alpha 1 at the same dose for sure.” — [r/MCAS](https://www.reddit.com/r/MCAS/comments/1j9htjy/thymogen_alpha1/mtcj2tk/)

## Studies

- [Noy et al. 2005: IM862 is ineffective against AIDS-Kaposi's sarcoma in a phase III trial (J Clin Oncol)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15598977/) (rct, n=202, 2005): 5 mg intranasally every other day for 24 weeks: response 23% vs 21% on placebo; median time to progression shorter on IM862 (16 vs 35 weeks, p=0.012), with more placebo patients on antiretroviral therapy (96% vs 88%).
- [Tulpule et al. 2000: Randomized study of IM862 nasal solution in AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (J Clin Oncol)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10673512/) (controlled, n=44, 2000): Two schedules of 5 mg intranasal drops; 36% major responses. Side effects limited to mild, transient headache, fatigue, tingling and nausea.
- [Deplanque et al. 2004: Phase II trial of IM862 in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Br J Cancer)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15354209/) (open-label, n=25, 2004): 20 mg intranasally three times a day for 8-week cycles: no objective responses, no grade 2-3 toxicity, and plasma VEGF fell.
- [Smirnov et al. 2011: Thymogen for preoperative preparation of elderly patients with abdominal tumours (Russian)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21957588/) (rct, 2011): Double-blind, placebo-controlled: intranasal Thymogen for 7 days before surgery restored cellular immunity markers and reduced post-operative complications; numbers not in the abstract.
- [Anisimov et al. 2000: Immunomodulatory synthetic dipeptide L-Glu-L-Trp slows down aging and inhibits spontaneous carcinogenesis in rats](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11707921/) (animal, n=76, 2000): 5 micrograms subcutaneously 5 times a week for a year: longest-lived rats lived longer, total tumours 1.5 times and leukaemias and lymphomas 3.4 times fewer than in controls.
- [Smith et al. 2003: NK cell cytolytic activity is necessary for in vivo antitumor activity of L-glutamyl-L-tryptophan (Int J Cancer)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12845648/) (animal, 2003): The dipeptide slowed tumour growth in mice through NK-cell activity, partly IL-12 dependent, without direct toxicity to tumour cells.

## Sources

- [Thymogen 100 mcg/ml IM solution, Russian SmPC (Cytomed)](https://cytomed.ru/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/timogen-rastvor_ohlp.pdf)
- [Thymogen, Russian label (Vidal)](https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/thymogen__3711)
- [Noy et al. 2005: IM862 phase III in AIDS-Kaposi's sarcoma](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15598977/)
- [Integrative Peptides Thymogen Alpha-1: 250 mcg Thymogen plus 250 mcg Lys-Glu per capsule](https://www.nhc.com/products/thymogen-alpha-1-by-integrative-peptides)
- [PepGrades: Thymagen 20 mg vial prices (Oct 2026)](https://pepgrades.com/prices/thymagen-20mg)
- [PubChem: Oglufanide (Glu-Trp)](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Oglufanide)