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SS-31 Half-Life: How Long It Stays in Your System

How long SS-31 stays in the body, how that shapes dosing frequency, and what is known about drug testing.

Medical review pendingMitochondria-targeting peptideUpdated
Half-life
Not found
No published half-life found (PubMed search, 11 Oct 2026)
Dosing interval
daily
as used in studies
WADA
Not listed
2026 Prohibited List
Detection window
Not found
None reported as of 2 Oct 2026

SS-31 half-life

Half-life: no published half-life found (PubMed search, 11 Oct 2026). A half-life depends on the route (under the skin, into a vein, by mouth or nasal spray), so we report it per route with the study it came from.

Other pharmacokinetic findings (these are not half-life values):

SS-31: other pharmacokinetic findings
RouteHalf-lifeMeasured inSource
subcutaneous (Tmax, no elimination half-life stated in label)Tmax 0.5 to 1 hour; absolute bioavailability approximately 92%PeopleFDA label (Forzinity)
intravenous infusionPeak at end of 4-hour infusion; undetectable by 24 hours after infusion startPeopleCirculation. Heart failure 2017, PMID 29217757

What half-life means

Half-life is the time it takes for the amount of a drug in the blood to fall by half. After one half-life, about 50% is left; after two, about 25%; after four to five, only a few percent remain.

  • A long half-life lets a drug be dosed less often, for example once a week.
  • A short half-life means levels rise and fall quickly, which is why some peptides are given daily or more often.
  • Effects can outlast blood levels, so half-life alone does not tell you how long a drug works.

What it means for dosing frequency

Dosing intervals used in published studies of SS-31:

Changing the interval changes how much drug builds up between doses, so it is not a free choice.

Drug tests and sport

Not on the WADA Prohibited List

SS-31 (elamipretide) is not named on the list. It received FDA accelerated approval in 2025, so the S0 catch-all does not apply to it.

Anti-doping labs use tests built for specific substances. Whether a given test detects SS-31, and for how long, is not reported in the anti-doping literature we checked (as of 2 Oct 2026).

Pharmacokinetics from the approved label

After subcutaneous injection, maximum concentrations were reached between 0.5 and 1 hour, with absolute bioavailability of about 92%.[2]

The volume of distribution is about 0.5 L/kg, and plasma protein binding is low at approximately 39%.[2]

About 48 hours after a dose, approximately 100% of it was recovered in urine as elamipretide or its two metabolites in people with normal kidney function.[2]

Exposure rises in proportion to dose across 2 to 80 mg given daily, with minimal accumulation.[2]

Timing seen in trials

In the heart failure infusion trial, peak plasma concentrations occurred at the end of the infusion and were undetectable by 24 hours afterwards.[3]

In older adults, a single-dose mitochondrial effect seen right after a 2-hour infusion was gone by day 7, which the authors call consistent with the half-life of the drug in human blood.[15]

What the sources do not give

Kidney function changes exposure: AUC rose 39%, 75% and 125% across three grades of reduced creatinine clearance, but the label section quoted here gives no single half-life figure.[2]

Common questions

How long does SS-31 stay in your system?

We found no published half-life for SS-31 (PubMed search, 11 Oct 2026). As a rule, most of a dose is cleared after about four to five half-lives.

What is the half-life of SS-31?

No published half-life was found in our PubMed search, 11 Oct 2026. We add one with its source and route if a study reports it.

Is SS-31 on the WADA prohibited list?

No, it is not listed. SS-31 (elamipretide) is not named on the list. It received FDA accelerated approval in 2025, so the S0 catch-all does not apply to it.

More on SS-31

DosageDoses used in published studies, with the source for each.CalculatorVial, water and dose to syringe units.Side effectsWhat labels and studies report, and what is unknown.ResultsStudy outcomes and when they were measured.BenefitsClaimed benefits next to what published studies measured.How it worksTarget, mechanism and how long it acts, from the label or studies.

Sources

  1. 1World Anti-Doping Code International Standard Prohibited List 2026World Anti-Doping Agency · 2026wada-ama.orgAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  2. 2FORZINITY (ELAMIPRETIDE HYDROCHLORIDE) INJECTION [STEALTH BIOTHERAPEUTICS INC.]FDA label (Forzinity), DailyMed · current labeldailymed.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  3. 3Novel Mitochondria-Targeting Peptide in Heart Failure Treatment: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Elamipretide.Circulation. Heart failure · 2017PMID 29217757Accessed 2 Oct 2026
  4. 4ReCLAIM-2: A Randomized Phase II Clinical Trial Evaluating Elamipretide in Age-related Macular Degeneration, Geographic Atrophy Growth, Visual Function, and Ellipsoid Zone Preservation.Ophthalmology science · 2025PMID 39605874Accessed 2 Oct 2026
  5. 5Efficacy and Safety of Elamipretide in Individuals With Primary Mitochondrial Myopathy: The MMPOWER-3 Randomized Clinical Trial.Neurology · 2023PMID 37268435Accessed 2 Oct 2026
  6. 6A phase 2/3 randomized clinical trial followed by an open-label extension to evaluate the effectiveness of elamipretide in Barth syndrome, a genetic disorder of mitochondrial cardiolipin metabolism.Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics · 2021PMID 33077895Accessed 2 Oct 2026
  7. 7A randomized crossover trial of elamipretide in adults with primary mitochondrial myopathy.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2020PMID 32096613Accessed 2 Oct 2026
  8. 8PubMed search: (elamipretide[tiab] OR Bendavia[tiab] OR "MTP-131"[tiab] OR Forzinity[tiab] OR (("SS-31"[tiab] OR SS31[tiab]) AND (peptide*[tiab] OR mitochondri*[tiab] OR cardiolipin[tiab] OR Szeto[tiab]))) (526 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  9. 9PubMed search: (elamipretide[tiab] OR Bendavia[tiab] OR "MTP-131"[tiab] OR Forzinity[tiab] OR (("SS-31"[tiab] OR SS31[tiab]) AND (peptide*[tiab] OR mitochondri*[tiab] OR cardiolipin[tiab] OR Szeto[tiab]))) AND (randomized[tiab] OR trial[tiab] OR patients[tiab]) (133 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  10. 10PubMed search: (elamipretide[tiab] OR Bendavia[tiab] OR "MTP-131"[tiab] OR Forzinity[tiab] OR (("SS-31"[tiab] OR SS31[tiab]) AND (peptide*[tiab] OR mitochondri*[tiab] OR cardiolipin[tiab] OR Szeto[tiab]))) AND (half-life[tiab] OR pharmacokinetic*[tiab]) (11 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  11. 11PubMed search: elamipretide[tiab] AND (TAZPOWER[tiab] OR "Barth syndrome"[tiab]) AND (randomized[tiab] OR crossover[tiab]) (6 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  12. 12PubMed search: elamipretide[tiab] AND (macular[tiab] OR "geographic atrophy"[tiab]) (9 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  13. 13PubMed search: elamipretide[tiab] AND (fibromyalgia[tiab] OR fatigue[tiab] OR "chronic pain"[tiab]) (19 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
  14. 14PubMed search: (elamipretide[tiab] OR Bendavia[tiab] OR "MTP-131"[tiab] OR Forzinity[tiab] OR (("SS-31"[tiab] OR SS31[tiab]) AND (peptide*[tiab] OR mitochondri*[tiab] OR cardiolipin[tiab] OR Szeto[tiab]))) AND (adverse[tiab] OR "side effect*"[tiab] OR safety[tiab] OR tolerab*[tiab] OR toxicity[tiab] OR "case report"[pt]) (77 results)PubMed · 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAccessed 11 Oct 2026
  15. 15In vivo mitochondrial ATP production is improved in older adult skeletal muscle after a single dose of elamipretide in a randomized trial.PloS one · 2021PMID 34264994Accessed 2 Oct 2026

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