Important limitations
- Individual claims and source links have not yet completed editorial verification.
- Evidence level, applicable study model, formulation, route and population remain unassigned.
Thymagen
Thymagen is the research-chemical spelling of Thymogen, the dipeptide L-glutamyl-L-tryptophan (Glu-Trp, INN oglufanide), which Khavinson.
Dosing & scaling, explained
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Evidence context
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Storage, handling and interpretation
Product identity
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Storage & handling
Follow the product label, certificate and validated laboratory SOP; no universal storage assumption is applied here.
Prepared solutions
Label concentration and preparation date, use sterile technique where applicable, and follow a validated stability protocol.
Reported protocols for Thymagen
What published studies and recent community write-ups report about amounts, timing and course length. 5 clinical, 1 preclinical and 3 community-reported rows, each linked to its source. These are descriptions of what others report, not instructions, and nothing here is medical advice.
| Context | Dose | Frequency | Route | Course | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical5 rows | |||||
| Russian prescribing information, intramuscular solution 100 mcg/mLAdults and children from 6 months (children dosed 10-50 mcg a day by age) | 100 mcg (300-1,000 mcg per course) | Once daily | Intramuscular | 3-10 daysA repeat course no sooner than 1 month later; up to 4 courses a year | Community resource2023 |
| The 2023 summary of product characteristics from the manufacturer gives a fixed 100 mcg daily adult dose for 3 to 10 days, with hypersensitivity as the only contraindication and no special first-dose or withdrawal effects. The indication is adjunctive use in acute and chronic infections and immune deficiency states; the evidence behind the registration is published mainly in Russian-language journals. | |||||
| Russian prescribing information, metered nasal spray 25 mcg per doseAdults and children from 1 year (one spray in one nostril once daily at ages 1-6; each nostril once daily at 7-14) | 25 mcg per spray, one spray in each nostril (50 mcg per administration for adults) | Twice daily | Intranasal | 10 days for treatment or 3-5 days for preventionA repeat course no sooner than 1 month later | Community resource2023 |
| The spray label covers prevention and adjunctive treatment of respiratory infections, with a 10-day treatment course and a 3-5 day prophylactic course, and lists no precautions beyond hypersensitivity. Pediatric dosing is reduced to one spray once daily. | |||||
| Open-label immunology study of the nasal spray in healthy volunteers20 healthy men aged 18-40 in St Petersburg | 25 mcg in each nostril (50 mcg per administration) | Twice daily, morning and evening | Intranasal | 10 days, with follow-up to day 24Not applicable | Acta Biomedica Scientifica2023 |
| Virus-induced interferon-alpha production by cultured blood cells rose significantly by the end of the 10-day course and kept rising for two weeks afterwards, while serum interferon and phagocytic measures did not change, and no serious adverse events occurred. There was no placebo group and the study was run with the manufacturer's product in 20 people. | |||||
| IM862 phase 1/2 in AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (same dipeptide, US development)44 adults with AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma, median age 38 | 5 mg in 0.7 mL | 5 days on and 5 days off, or every other day | Intranasal drops | Repeated 90-day cycles until progressionBuilt into the 5-on, 5-off arm; the every-other-day arm had no rest period | Journal of Clinical Oncology (PubMed)2000 |
| Sixteen patients (36%) had a major response, five of them complete, with a median time to response of 6 weeks, and side effects were limited to transient headache, fatigue, tingling and nausea. Two early patients progressed during longer rest periods, which is why the every-other-day schedule was carried forward. | |||||
| IM862 phase 3 placebo-controlled trial in Kaposi's sarcoma202 HIV-positive adults with Kaposi's sarcoma (104 on IM862, 98 on placebo) | 5 mg | Every other day | Intranasal | 24 weeksNone | Journal of Clinical Oncology (PubMed)2005 |
| Response rates were 23% on IM862 and 21% on placebo, and median time to progression was shorter on the drug (16 versus 35 weeks), so the authors concluded that IM862 was not superior to placebo and might accelerate progression. Antiretroviral therapy alone appears to have produced the responses credited to the peptide in the earlier uncontrolled study. | |||||
| Preclinical1 row | |||||
| Preclinical lifespan and tumor study in rats76 five-month-old outbred female rats (44 treated, 32 controls) | 5 mcg per rat in 0.2 mL saline | 5 times a week | Subcutaneous | 12 monthsNot applicable | Biogerontology (PubMed)2000 |
| Mean lifespan was unchanged, but the longest-lived 10% of treated rats reached 1,048 days versus 949 days in controls, and total, malignant and hematopoietic tumor incidence was 1.5, 1.7 and 3.4 times lower. One strain, one sex and one dose, run by the peptide's originators. | |||||
| Community-reported3 rows | |||||
| Research-vial math set against the historical microgram dose | 100 mcg (about 1 unit from a 20 mg vial in 2 mL at 10 mg/mL) | Once daily, morning by convention | Subcutaneous or intramuscular; intranasal in the original formulation | 3-10 days, sometimes repeatedShort courses rather than continuous use | Community resource2026 |
| This 2026 chart points out that the only documented human dose is the Russian 100 mcg figure, which is one two-hundredth of a 20 mg research vial and draws as a barely measurable one unit at common dilutions. It treats that mismatch as the reason no clean modern dosing convention exists. | |||||
| Capsule, dropper and vial conventions compared | 100-1,000 mcg per day (label-derived); 1-2 mg (research-vial convention) | Once daily | Intranasal or subcutaneous; oral capsules for the Russian supplement version | 3-10 days (label-derived) or 10-30 day courses (vial convention)1-2 courses a year in the Khavinson pattern | Community resource2026 |
| This 2026 guide lists 100-1,000 mcg a day for 3-10 days as the dose range with any clinical anchor and calls the 1-2 mg subcutaneous courses circulating online folklore. It warns against transferring the microgram dropper dose to a milligram vial or to capsules, and describes the usual pairing with Thymalin and Epitalon. | |||||
| User reports following the Russian label | 100 mcg intramuscular or 25 mcg per nasal dose | Once daily (injection) or per the spray label | Intramuscular, intranasal, or sublingual use of research powder | 3-10 day coursesCourse-based use | Community resource2026 |
| A 2026 review page reports that users copy the Russian pharmaceutical schedule and that some take research-grade powder sublingually, a route with no data. It stresses that the trials behind the 1990 Russian approval have not been reviewed by any Western regulator and that the compound has never been submitted to the FDA. | |||||
How a course is commonly described
- Days 1-10: labeled courseClinical
The Russian label describes 100 mcg intramuscularly once a day for 3 to 10 days, or one 25 mcg spray in each nostril twice a day for 10 days (3 to 5 days for prevention). The label states that the drug has no particular first-dose or withdrawal effects.
- Days 11-24: after the courseClinical
In the only recent human study, virus-induced interferon-alpha production by blood cells had risen by day 11 and was still rising two weeks after the last spray, which the authors offer as the rationale for short courses. The study had 20 participants and no placebo arm.
- Break of at least 1 monthClinical
Both labels require at least a month between courses, and the injectable label caps use at four courses a year. Community guides reproduce this as the Russian bioregulator convention of one or two courses a year.
- Research-vial coursesCommunity-reported
Online vial conventions stretch the course to 10-30 days at 1-2 mg a day, ten to twenty times the labeled dose, because a 20 mg vial cannot be measured in 100 mcg steps on an insulin syringe. No source offers evidence for the milligram figures.
- Clinical comparison: IM862Clinical
The longest controlled human exposure to this dipeptide was 5 mg intranasally every other day for 24 weeks in 202 Kaposi's sarcoma patients, roughly 50 times the Russian daily dose, and it did not beat placebo. Development of the dipeptide outside Russia did not continue after that result.
- The only validated schedules are the Russian label's 100 mcg intramuscular daily course of 3 to 10 days and the 25 mcg nasal spray; the clinical work behind the registration is published mainly in Russian and has not been reviewed by Western regulators.
- Research vials of 20 mg contain about 200 labeled doses. The 1-2 mg daily courses described online are convention driven by syringe arithmetic rather than by any human or animal dose-finding, and sublingual use of the powder has no data.
- In its US incarnation as IM862, 5 mg every other day for 24 weeks failed to beat placebo and was associated with faster progression of Kaposi's sarcoma. Thymogen is not approved in the United States or European Union and has never been submitted to the FDA.
Sources for this section (10)
- Influence of alpha-glutamyl-tryptophan on the background and induced activity of factors of adaptive immunity for prevention
- Thymogen in the complex treatment of inflammatory diseases of the female genital system (Russian)
- Results of a randomized study of IM862 nasal solution in the treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma
- Angiogenesis inhibitor IM862 is ineffective against AIDS-Kaposi's sarcoma in a phase III trial, but demonstrates sustained, potent effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy
- Immunomodulatory synthetic dipeptide L-Glu-L-Trp slows down aging and inhibits spontaneous carcinogenesis in rats
Plus 5 community resources (dosing guides, forum threads and vendor write-ups), reported above but not linked.
Overview
Thymagen is the research-chemical spelling of Thymogen, the dipeptide L-glutamyl-L-tryptophan (Glu-Trp, INN oglufanide), which Khavinson and Morozov isolated from the calf thymus extract Thymalin and synthesized as an immunomodulator. It has been a registered prescription drug in Russia since the early 1990s, sold by Cytomed as a 100 mcg/mL intramuscular solution and a 25 mcg per dose nasal spray for short courses in infections and immune deficiency. The same molecule was tested in the United States as the intranasal angiogenesis inhibitor IM862 for AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma, where a 202-patient phase 3 trial found it no better than placebo. It is not approved outside Russia and neighboring states, and the 20 mg vials sold online hold about 200 times the single labeled dose.
What researchers are exploring
These themes organize the educational information currently available. Individual claims remain under source review and are not treatment claims.
- 1
Research on Thymagen
Cyclic nucleotides are single-phosphate nucleotides with a cyclic bond arrangement between the sugar and phosphate groups. They are integral components of communication within cells, usually acting as second messengers…
What is known and what still needs verification
Available context is organized without assigning unsupported study models or evidence grades.
- Not graded
Research on Thymagen
Cyclic nucleotides are single-phosphate nucleotides with a cyclic bond arrangement between the sugar and phosphate groups. They are integral components of communication within cells, usually acting as second messengers within the cell after a protein on the…
Chemistry identifiers
Sequence, synonyms and registry identifiers as recorded in PubChem, the National Library of Medicine's open chemistry database. Formula, mass and CAS number are summarized at the top of the page.
Sequence
Glu-Trp (alpha-linked, free acid)
Also listed as
Thymogen, Oglufanide [INN], Timogen, IM 862, L-alpha-Glutamyl-L-tryptophan, H-Glu-Trp-OH, UNII 4RHY598T5U, CHEBI:73512
InChIKey
LLEUXCDZPQOJMY-AAEUAGOBSA-N
IUPAC name
(4S)-4-amino-5-[[(1S)-1-carboxy-2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]amino]-5-oxopentanoic acid
Limitations and unknowns
Sources
1 link carried over from the earlier page, awaiting verification.