Safety
Not for use in pregnancy, with active cancer or with a disrupted pituitary gland. The label warns about higher blood sugar and diabetes risk (an HbA1c of 6.5% or more in 5% of patients vs 1% on placebo), fluid retention with swelling, joint pain or carpal tunnel syndrome, raised IGF-1, allergic reactions (4%) and injection-site reactions.
Talk to a licensed clinician about your health history and every medication you take before you start.
Legal status
Prescription only; FDA-approved. Tesamorelin is a biological product: its application was deemed a biologics license on Mar 23, 2020, and section 503A compounding covers drugs, not biologics. Only brand-name Egrifta SV can be prescribed, so a compounded tesamorelin offer is not lawful.
What Tesamorelin (Egrifta SV) is
Tesamorelin (Egrifta SV) is made by Theratechnologies. First approved as Egrifta on Nov 10, 2010. Its label says it is not for weight loss, and its long-term heart safety has not been established. Any other use is off-label.
FDA-approved for reducing excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV who have lipodystrophy.
Dosing
Daily injection under the skin (single-dose vial). 1.4 mg under the skin of the abdomen once a day (Egrifta SV 2 mg vial, mixed before use). Your clinician sets the dose for you.
How well it works
In two 26-week trials of adults with HIV and lipodystrophy, belly (visceral) fat fell 18% and 14% on tesamorelin, vs a 2% rise and a 2% fall on placebo. Individual results vary.
Tesamorelin (Egrifta SV) cost
None of the providers we track prescribes it, and the maker doesn’t publish a cash price.