Does tesamorelin work?
In the pivotal trial of adults with HIV and abdominal fat, visceral fat fell 15.2% with tesamorelin and rose 5.0% with placebo.
Short answer
In the pivotal trial of adults with HIV and abdominal fat, visceral fat fell 15.2% with tesamorelin and rose 5.0% with placebo.[1]
What it does and what it does not
The fat loss reversed after stopping: patients switched to placebo lost their gains rapidly, while those who continued kept about an 18% reduction at 12 months.[2]
The label is clear that it is not a weight-loss drug, because overall body weight stays about the same.[3]
The same pivotal trial recorded a rise in IGF-I of 81.0% with tesamorelin, a marker that the drug is acting on the growth hormone axis.[1]
Common questions
How does tesamorelin work?
The label says tesamorelin acts like the body's own growth hormone-releasing hormone, prompting the pituitary to make and release growth hormone.[3]
More questions on Tesamorelin
More on Tesamorelin
Sources
- 1Metabolic effects of a growth hormone-releasing factor in patients with HIV.The New England journal of medicine · 2007PMID 18057338Accessed 2 Oct 2026
- 2Effects of tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing factor, in HIV-infected patients with abdominal fat accumulation: a randomized placebo-controlled trial with a safety extension.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2010PMID 20101189Accessed 2 Oct 2026
- 3EGRIFTA SV prescribing information (FDA label)FDA label, DailyMed · current labeldailymed.nlm.nih.govAccessed 2 Oct 2026
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