Tesamorelin Dosage Chart: Units, Timing, Cost

The Tesamorelin Dosage Chart

Most peptides in the compounding space have no official dose, only conventions. Tesamorelin is the exception. It is FDA approved under the brand name Egrifta for HIV-associated lipodystrophy, and the original label states the dose plainly: 2 mg by subcutaneous injection, once a day. Both Phase 3 trials that earned the approval used that number. So when someone asks what the tesamorelin dose is, there is an actual answer on file with the FDA, which is rare enough in this space to be worth saying twice.

What the Egrifta label cannot tell you is how to draw that dose from a compounded vial, because the branded product and the compounded one are packaged differently. PeRx tesamorelin ships fully reconstituted and ready to use at a fixed concentration of 3 mg per mL in a 5 mL vial. The chart below converts milligram doses into insulin-syringe units at that concentration. The top rows are there so you can translate figures quoted elsewhere; the 2 mg row is the FDA reference. The dose you actually inject is the one your provider prescribed, printed on your label.

Why Egrifta Says 2 mg, 1.4 mg, and 1.28 mg

Search for an Egrifta dose and you will find three different numbers, all of them correct. The confusion comes from the fact that Theratechnologies has shipped tesamorelin in three formulations since the 2010 approval, and each got its own labeled dose. The original Egrifta was 2 mg once daily, drawn from two 1 mg vials of powder that had to be mixed with diluent before each injection. Egrifta SV arrived in 2019 as a single 2 mg vial mixed with 0.5 mL of diluent, with a labeled dose of 1.4 mg in 0.35 mL. Egrifta WR, labeled in March 2025, is a multi-dose vial holding a week of injections at 8 mg per mL, with a labeled dose of 1.28 mg in 0.16 mL.

The shrinking milligram number is not a dose reduction and not a sign that 2 mg was too much. Each newer formulation delivers tesamorelin more efficiently, so a smaller labeled amount produces exposure comparable to the original 2 mg. That is also why the FDA labels state flatly that the formulations are not substitutable: 1.4 mg of SV is not a lower dose than 2 mg of the original, it is the same treatment in a different package. If you see a forum post claiming the FDA cut the tesamorelin dose, this is the misreading behind it.

For a compounded vial, the number that matters is the pharmacology, and the pharmacology was established at 2 mg. In the pivotal trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 2 mg daily reduced visceral fat by about 15 percent over 26 weeks. The second Phase 3 trial used the same dose and confirmed the result. That is why 2 mg daily remains the reference point prescribers start from, whatever the branded packaging currently says.

Falutz J, Allas S, Blot K, et al. "Metabolic effects of a growth hormone-releasing factor in patients with HIV." New England Journal of Medicine. 2007;357(23):2359-2370. View study

How Many Units of Tesamorelin on an Insulin Syringe at 3 mg/mL?

The arithmetic, once. A U-100 insulin syringe holds 100 units per mL, so one unit is 0.01 mL. At 3 mg per mL, one unit therefore holds 0.03 mg of tesamorelin. To go from milligrams to units, multiply by 33.3. To go from units to milligrams, multiply by 0.03. One milligram is 33 units, and the full 2 mg reference dose is 67 units, which is 0.67 mL.

That last number has a practical consequence. A 2 mg draw at this concentration does not fit in the 0.3 mL and 0.5 mL insulin syringes many people use for other peptides; it needs a 1 mL syringe. Smaller prescribed doses fit smaller syringes. PeRx includes syringes appropriate for your prescription with every order, so match the barrel to the volume on your label rather than forcing a large dose into a small syringe across two injections.

Drawing technique is simple but worth doing precisely at these volumes: pull air into the syringe equal to your dose, inject the air into the vial, invert, draw past your mark, then push back to the exact line to clear bubbles. The where to inject tesamorelin guide Read nextWhere to Inject Tesamorelin: Sites and RotationTesamorelin is the rare peptide with FDA-approved labeling that tells you exactly where it goes: a subcutaneous injection into the abdomen, rotated. As of July 2026, that approved route is the anchor for how patients use it. Here is the practical site map, the rotation habit that keeps absorption consistent, and the technique details patients ask about after their first vial arrives.Read article walks through site selection on the abdomen, rotation, and the full step-by-step, and how to take peptides Read nextHow to Take Peptides: Injection, Capsule, or StripMost prescription peptides are injected under the skin, a few are swallowed, and a small category dissolves under the tongue. This is the route-of-administration hub: why the route matters, exactly how a subcutaneous injection works, when each peptide is usually taken, what arrives in a PeRx kit, and a directory of per-peptide injection-site guides.Read article is the general primer if this is your first subcutaneous injection. For what tesamorelin actually does once it is in, the tesamorelin guide Read nextTesamorelin 2026: FDA-Approved GHRH for Visceral FatMost peptides in the compounding space have animal studies and early clinical signals. Tesamorelin has two Phase 3 randomized controlled trials, 816 patients, CT-measured visceral fat data, and an FDA approval. It is a synthetic analog of growth hormone-releasing hormone that triggers your pituitary to produce its own GH in a natural, pulsatile pattern. The result: targeted visceral fat loss without the side effects of injecting growth hormone directly.Read article covers the mechanism and the clinical evidence in depth.

Tesamorelin

The units math above assumes the PeRx vial: tesamorelin at 3 mg/mL, prescribed by a licensed provider and compounded at a US-based 503A pharmacy with third-party testing. It ships fully reconstituted and ready to use, with insulin syringes included, so none of the Egrifta diluent steps on this page apply to it.

One vial covers the prescription month at $229, and your prescription label carries the exact draw your provider chose. No specialty-pharmacy insurance maze, no vial-and-diluent kit.

The 3 mg/mL ready-to-use vial the units math assumes.

Shop Now

When to Inject Tesamorelin

Tesamorelin is a once-daily injection, and the approved labeling is specific about the where and silent about the when. The site is the abdomen, rotated between injections. The hour of the day is not specified, and neither Phase 3 trial required one. What matters is even exposure, which means picking a time you can hit every day and keeping it.

In practice patients split into two camps. Morning injectors like the routine: the vial comes out with the coffee, and travel or late dinners never interfere. Evening injectors reason that growth hormone is naturally released in its largest pulse during early deep sleep, so a bedtime dose lines up with the rhythm the peptide is trying to amplify. Both are defensible, the difference is small next to the value of consistency, and your provider may specify one on your label. If the label names a time, that settles it.

One related question comes up often: does tesamorelin require an empty stomach? The Egrifta label imposes no fasting rule, so no. Some prescribers still suggest keeping the injection a couple of hours away from large meals, on the general endocrine logic that rising blood glucose blunts growth hormone release. Treat that as optimization, not requirement, and follow your own label if it says otherwise.

Tesamorelin Cycle and Duration

The clinical trials measured their primary endpoints at 26 weeks, and the extension phases ran to 52. Two findings from those extensions shape how prescribers think about duration. Patients who stayed on tesamorelin through the full year held their visceral fat reductions. Patients switched to placebo at 26 weeks watched the fat return toward baseline. Tesamorelin augments a signal; it does not rebuild the machinery that generates it, so the effect lasts as long as the signal does.

Falutz J, Potvin D, Mamputu JC, et al. "Effects 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. 2010;53(3):311-322. View study

Compounded protocols therefore tend to run in multi-month blocks with reassessment rather than indefinitely by default. At PeRx a prescription covers a defined number of monthly vials, and continuing past it means a renewal check-in with the provider. The useful labs to bring to that conversation are IGF-1, which integrates your growth hormone exposure into one number, and fasting glucose or HbA1c, because GH nudges glucose handling and the trials tracked both. A waist measurement taken the same way each month is the cheapest outcome measure there is. If you came to tesamorelin to deal with a stubborn midsection after weight loss medication, tesamorelin after GLP-1s Read nextTesamorelin After a GLP-1: Visceral FatPeople finishing a GLP-1 usually ask the same two questions. Will it come back, and will it come back in the worst place? Tesamorelin gets recommended constantly in that conversation, and it is one of the few peptides here with Phase 3 randomized data and an FDA approval behind the molecule. It is also not a weight-loss drug, and the trials that produced its best data were run in a population that is probably not you. Both things are true.Read article covers that specific timeline and what the non-HIV trial data shows.

What a Month of Tesamorelin Costs

Tesamorelin at PeRx is $229 per vial, one vial per prescription month. The price includes the provider review, compounding by a US-based 503A pharmacy, third-party purity testing, overnight refrigerated shipping, insulin syringes, and alcohol swabs. Nothing is charged until a licensed provider approves the prescription; checkout saves your card, and the charge fires on approval. Current pricing is on the tesamorelin product page Explore PeRxTesamorelinMetabolic Optimization PeptideView peptide once you have an account.

The branded comparison is less useful than it sounds. Egrifta is a specialty drug priced for an insurance-reimbursed rare-indication market, and patients who qualify for it access it through coverage rather than cash. The compounded and branded products also sit in different regulatory lanes: one is FDA approved for a specific diagnosis, the other is prescribed off-label patient by patient. If you are weighing tesamorelin against the other growth hormone peptides at a similar price point, sermorelin vs ipamorelin vs tesamorelin Read nextSermorelin vs Ipamorelin vs Tesamorelin: Which Fits?All three raise your own growth hormone, but they pull different levers, last for different amounts of time, and suit different goals. This is a decision guide, not a spec sheet: match the peptide to what you actually want.Read article is the head-to-head comparison.

If You Miss a Tesamorelin Dose

Skip it and take the next dose at the normal time. Do not double up. Tesamorelin works by adding to a daily growth hormone pulse, and two injections stacked into one day do not produce twice the release, because somatostatin feedback caps how hard the pituitary will respond. A single missed day in a multi-month protocol is noise.

A missed week is different, mostly logistically. The vial keeps: PeRx tesamorelin stays refrigerated at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and is stable for several weeks handled cleanly, so pausing for travel does not waste the vial as long as it stays cold. Just resume the daily schedule when you are back and let the prescription month run its course. If injections keep getting missed because of side effects rather than schedule, that is a message to your care team, and the peptide side effects guide Read nextPeptide Side Effects: Normal vs. Red Flag (2026)Most peptide side effects are mild local reactions that resolve in a day. A smaller set of systemic effects depends on the pathway the peptide acts on. And a third category, the one worth paying attention to, points to a problem with the product or the patient that should pause the protocol. Here is how to tell them apart.Read article covers which reactions are routine and which are not.

Common Questions