AOD9604 – Why do people use it?

AOD9604 is promoted heavily by various manufacturers as a substance that is able to burn fat and assist in the repair of muscle and cartilage. The fact that this product derives from, and claims to mimic the effects of a powerfully anabolic banned substance provides a psychological incentive to many potential users, as does the attention drawn by the AFL “peptides” scandal of early 2013 and the subsequent report by the Australian Crime Commission (1).

Whilst AOD9604 is not approved by the Australian TGA, it can be legally obtained on a doctor’s prescription and dispensed by a compounding pharmacy (2). This is true of many experimental substances, but it does big favours for the reputation of AOD9604, giving the impression that, like other drugs issued by the medical profession, it is an efficacious and high quality product. These reasons, when considered together, give a powerful impression that peptides are highly effective – they wouldn’t ban them for no reason, would they?

Metabolic Pharmaceuticals have reported that recent in vitro trials have shown that AOD9604 may stimulate the growth of bone cells, and muscle and cartilage cells. These results have not yet been reproduced in animals or humans (4). There was a lot of speculation that Metabolic was providing AOD9604 to players at the Essendon Football Club as part of a secret clinical trial, but the company has flatly denied this claim, claiming it has not run any human trials since 2007 (2). AOD9604 has been scientifically proven safe and side-effect free (2), and is apparently very difficult to detect in the blood.