How Long Does AOD-9604 Last? Shelf Life & Stability
"Stable" is meaningless without saying stable against what. AOD-9604 has its own set of degradation routes, and they determine which storage precautions actually matter for it.
Overview
The weak point is the sulfur-sulfur bridge. Alkaline conditions or reducing agents can open it or make two molecules link together. Keep it near neutral pH and it is reasonably forgiving.
What AOD-9604 actually is
AOD-9604 is a 16-part lab-made peptide copied from the very end of human growth hormone, with one extra building block (tyrosine) added at the front and a single sulfur-sulfur bridge holding it in a loop. Animal studies from the early 2000s looked at how it affects fat metabolism, and a later rabbit study looked at joint cartilage. It was developed in Australia as an obesity drug candidate, but that programme was stopped in 2007 and it was never approved as a medicine.
Supplied for laboratory research use only — not for human or animal use.
Third-party tested by HPLC and LC-MS, ≥99% purity, with a Certificate of Analysis on every order. Ships across Canada.
Technical detail below
Degradation routes specific to AOD-9604
- Disulfide exchange (scrambling) and formation of disulfide-linked dimers, accelerated above about pH 8.
- Reduction of the Cys7–Cys14 bridge by reducing agents, giving an open-chain form 2 Da heavier.
- Slow glutamine deamidation over long storage.
It carries no methionine or tryptophan, so light and oxygen are minor concerns compared with many peptides here. The chemistry to protect is the disulfide: keep pH near neutral and keep reducing agents out of the vial.
Freeze–thaw tolerance
Aliquot on first reconstitution and freeze aliquots once; repeated cycles concentrate peptide at the ice interface and favour intermolecular disulfide pairing.
How storage addresses these routes
Practical window once reconstituted: 2-3 weeks at 2-8 °C in bacteriostatic water.
Full AOD-9604 storage conditionsWhat AOD-9604 is studied for
Heffernan et al. (Endocrinology 2001) compared hGH and AOD9604 over 14 days in obese mice and in β3-adrenergic-receptor knockout mice. Both raised the repressed β3-AR expression in obese mice, but neither changed body weight or lipolysis in the knockout mice over the long-term protocol, leading the authors to conclude the lipolytic actions were not mediated directly through β3-AR.
Ng et al. (Horm Res 2000) studied oral administration of AOD9604 in obese Zucker rats, reporting reduced body-weight gain and increased adipose lipolytic activity, and — unlike intact hGH — no impairment of insulin sensitivity on euglycaemic clamp.
Stier et al. (J Endocrinol Metab 2013) pooled six randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials and reported no change in serum IGF-1, no adverse effect on carbohydrate metabolism, and no anti-AOD9604 antibodies in tested participants. The same development programme did not show a clinically meaningful weight outcome.
Kwon and Park (Ann Clin Lab Sci 2015) gave intra-articular AOD9604, with or without hyaluronic acid, in a collagenase-induced knee osteoarthritis model in rabbits and scored cartilage morphology, histology and lameness.
Summarizes published preclinical literature — see the selected references below. Provided for research reference only; not a claim of efficacy or a description of human use.
- Heffernan M, Summers RJ, Thorburn A, et al. The effects of human GH and its lipolytic fragment (AOD9604) on lipid metabolism following chronic treatment in obese mice and beta(3)-AR knock-out mice. Endocrinology. 2001.
- Ng FM, Sun J, Sharma L, Libinaka R, Jiang WJ, Gianello R Metabolic studies of a synthetic lipolytic domain (AOD9604) of human growth hormone. Hormone Research. 2000.
- Stier H, Vos E, Kenley D Safety and Tolerability of the Hexadecapeptide AOD9604 in Humans. Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2013.
- Kwon DR, Park GY Effect of Intra-articular Injection of AOD9604 with or without Hyaluronic Acid in Rabbit Osteoarthritis Model. Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science. 2015.
- Browse current AOD-9604 literature on PubMed
References describe in-vitro and preclinical research and are listed for reference only — not evidence of efficacy and not a description of human use.
More AOD-9604 reference
Lyophilized and reconstituted storage conditions, plus the practical working window.
Diluent selection, dissolution behaviour, and the calculator preset for this compound.
Which solvents work, why, and what abnormal dissolution behaviour indicates.
Which assays are informative for this molecule, and what to actually check on its COA.
Compound-specific bench practices, and the errors most often made with this molecule.
What to inspect on arrival, and which conditions actually warrant rejecting a vial.
Questions specific to this compound — structure, chemistry, and common misconceptions.
Stability reference for other compounds
Reviewed for research-use compliance by Kobi Williams, Founder — Popular Peptides Canada. Last reviewed 22 July 2026.
AOD-9604 is supplied strictly as a research chemical for in-vitro laboratory and research use only. It is not intended for human or animal consumption, diagnostic, or therapeutic use. This page is educational laboratory-handling reference information — not medical advice, not usage guidance, and not a protocol.