The reasons stay open to another reading.
Here are the papers and official pages behind the claims. Each one answers a particular question.
A link is a place to look closer.
Studies, grouped by what they tell us
These sources don't all do the same job. A mouse experiment can explore how something works. A human trial can test a benefit. A label explains an approved product's uses and warnings.
AOD-9604
Human safety and tolerability — Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2013; authors Stier, Vos and Kenley. This report covers the human program's safety observations. Tolerability similar to placebo doesn't establish a weight-loss benefit.
Fat metabolism in obese mice — Heffernan and colleagues, Endocrinology, 2001. Animal work helped explain interest in AOD-9604. It can't establish that people will lose weight.
Tesamorelin
Visceral and liver fat in adults with HIV — Stanley and colleagues, JAMA, 2014. This small study measured fat around internal organs and in the liver. Fatty liver isn't an FDA-approved use of tesamorelin.
EGRIFTA WR (tesamorelin) prescribing information — DailyMed. The label covers the approved HIV-related abdominal-fat purpose, monitoring and warnings. It also summarizes fat regain after trial participants switched to placebo. Weight-loss management is explicitly excluded in its approved purpose.
Tirzepatide
Tirzepatide compared with semaglutide in obesity — New England Journal of Medicine, 2025; authors Aronne and colleagues. Both groups lost weight on average, with more lost on tirzepatide. Lilly funded the study, and participants and researchers knew which medicine each person received.
Zepbound (tirzepatide) prescribing information — DailyMed. Uses, side effects and reasons to rule out treatment belong beside the weight-loss findings.
The regulatory questions
FDA's explanation of compounding sets out why compounded medicines don't share an approved product's status. Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved. It also explains that biologics don't qualify for the 503A or 503B compounding exemptions.
FDA's tesamorelin application record identifies it as a biologic.
FDA's safety concerns and withdrawn requests gives AOD-9604's context. FDA dates the content April 22, 2026. The withdrawn-request list includes AOD-9604. Taking that request back doesn't authorize compounding.
Check the sentence as well as the link
A sound paper can still end up beside an overblown claim. Check who took part and what changed before applying a finding to another goal.
If a source doesn't support our wording, send the passage through our contact page. We welcome a correction.
Keep the different answers visible
The comparison brings these findings together without treating every fat measurement as body weight. The home page returns to the practical question: what are you trying to understand, and what would make you pause?