AOD-9604 and sermorelin appear on the same clinic menus and in the same review tables, usually under a heading about growth hormone. They sit on opposite sides of that hormone. Sermorelin causes the pituitary to release it. AOD-9604 is a fragment cut from it, built so that it would not act like it. This page sets out what each dosing record contains, where a recent review describes AOD-9604 in a way its own trials do not support, and what the circulating figures come to in syringe units.
The full record for each is on AOD-9604 dosage and sermorelin dosage. The fragment beside an approved releaser with a current label is on AOD-9604 vs tesamorelin.
Side by side
| AOD-9604 | Sermorelin | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Growth hormone residues 177–191 plus an N-terminal tyrosine; 16 amino acids | GHRH(1-29); 29 amino acids |
| Releases growth hormone | No — it is a fragment of the hormone | Yes — acts on the pituitary |
| IGF-1 in its trials | No change at any dose (sponsor's 2013 summary) | Rises as a consequence of growth hormone release |
| Approval | Never approved | Approved as GEREF, discontinued |
| Registry records (ClinicalTrials.gov, 2026-11-11) | 0 | 42 mention it; 27 as an intervention |
| PubMed records (2026-11-11) | 23 | 334 |
| Human dosing on record | Oral 0.25–54 mg; intravenous 25–400 mcg/kg | 30 mcg/kg under the skin nightly in children |
| Route in the circulating figures | Subcutaneous — not used in any trial | Subcutaneous |
The IGF-1 point, and a review that blurs it
AOD-9604 was developed in Melbourne as an obesity drug on the premise that the tail of the growth hormone molecule carries its fat-releasing action while the rest carries its growth action. The sponsor's own safety summary of the six trials is consistent with the design: across 893 subjects, IGF-1 did not change at any dose and glucose tolerance did not worsen. The same paper does not report the weight results of the two long studies, and the obesity programme ended after the last one.
Sermorelin's mechanism runs through the thing AOD-9604 avoids. It prompts pulses of growth hormone, and IGF-1 follows; that chain is why it was approved for growth-hormone-deficient children, in whom mean height velocity rose from 4.1 to 8.0 cm a year at six months (Thorner et al., 1996).
A 2026 review of peptides in orthopaedics places the two in one sentence, listing ipamorelin, CJC-1295, tesamorelin, sermorelin and AOD-9604 as growth hormone secretagogues that "activate IGF-1 signaling" (Rahman et al., 2026). For sermorelin that matches the record. For AOD-9604 it contradicts the only human trial data there is. A second 2026 review, in Frontiers in Endocrinology, classifies AOD-9604 separately as a growth hormone fragment rather than a secretagogue (Dominikowski et al., 2026), which is what the molecule is. A reader comparing the two compounds on the strength of the first description is comparing sermorelin with something AOD-9604 has not been shown to do.
The dosing records
| Compound | Study or source | Dose | Route |
|---|---|---|---|
| AOD-9604 | Two single-infusion studies (15 and 23 men) | 25–400 mcg/kg | Intravenous |
| AOD-9604 | 12-week study, 300 adults | 1, 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg daily | Oral |
| AOD-9604 | 24-week study, 502 adults randomised | 0.25, 0.5 or 1 mg daily | Oral |
| AOD-9604 | Vendor and protocol pages (2026-09-18) | 250–500 mcg daily, most often 300 mcg | Subcutaneous |
| Sermorelin | GEREF pivotal trial, 110 children | 30 mcg/kg nightly | Subcutaneous |
| Sermorelin | Circulating figures (2026-09-18) | 200–500 mcg nightly | Subcutaneous |
The trial rows are as recorded on this site's dosage pages from the 2013 paper and the 1996 abstract. Two things stand out. The vendor figure for AOD-9604, 300 mcg under the skin, matches the bottom of the 24-week trial's oral range (0.25 mg is 250 mcg) only on paper: an oral peptide and an injected one are not comparable microgram for microgram, and no study measured the injected route. And the circulating sermorelin figure is far below the approved product's regimen, which at 70 kg would be 2.1 mg a night.
Both in syringe units
On a U-100 syringe, units = amount ÷ concentration × 100.
| Vial and water | Concentration | 200 mcg | 300 mcg | 500 mcg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AOD-9604 5 mg + 2 mL | 2,500 mcg/mL | 8 | 12 | 20 |
| AOD-9604 5 mg + 3 mL | 1,667 mcg/mL | 12 | 18 | 30 |
| Sermorelin 5 mg + 2 mL | 2,500 mcg/mL | 8 | 12 | 20 |
| Sermorelin 10 mg + 2 mL | 5,000 mcg/mL | 4 | 6 | 10 |
The first and third rows are identical. At the same vial size and water volume, the syringe reads the same for both compounds, because units measure volume and nothing else. Water volumes per vial are on reconstituting sermorelin, and the AOD-9604 calculator takes any vial and water volume.
What is not established
No study compares AOD-9604 with sermorelin or combines them. AOD-9604 has no published weight result from its two long trials, no subcutaneous human data and no approval; its "generally recognised as safe" status in the 2013 paper is a self-determination by a panel, as this site's AOD-9604 page records. Sermorelin's trial data are in growth-hormone-deficient children, and the approved product is no longer sold. Nothing on this page is a dose or a suggestion to use either; Medibact's AOD-9604 guide and its sermorelin guide cover the molecules and their evidence.
Sources and dates
Opened 2026-11-11: ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API searches for sermorelin (42; 27 as intervention), "AOD-9604" (0), "AOD9604" (0), both together (0) and tirzepatide as a control (334); PubMed searches for AOD-9604 (23), sermorelin (334) and both together (3); the PubMed abstracts of Rahman et al., 2026 (PMID 41490200), Dominikowski et al., 2026 (PMID 42395176), Mendias and Awan, Sports Medicine 2026 (PMID 41966639) and Thorner et al., JCEM 1996 (PMID 8772599). The six AOD-9604 trials, their doses and the IGF-1 finding are as recorded on this site's AOD-9604 page from the full text of Stier, Vos and Kenley (2013), read 2026-09-18; the GEREF approval history and the circulating sermorelin figures are as recorded on its sermorelin pages (2026-09-18 and 2026-11-10). Units and the 70 kg conversion are arithmetic by this site. Corrections go to the contact page.