Epitalon and Thymalin Stack: What the 2003 Study Gave

The epitalon and thymalin stack traces to a 2003 study that gave Epithalamin, a pineal extract, not epitalon. What was studied, course totals and units.

Medibact Guides · Published 2026-11-11

Illustration: Two clear glass vials, one with pale blue liquid, one with white lyophilized powder, on a white surface. — Illustration

Epitalon and thymalin are sold together as a longevity pairing, one named for the pineal gland and one for the thymus. The pairing has a real origin: a research institute in St. Petersburg studied a pineal preparation and a thymus preparation side by side and published a long follow-up of the two in elderly people. What that study gave was not what the vials sold today contain. This page reports what was combined, what was not, what the registered and circulating figures are, and the units for each.

Each compound's own record is on epithalon dosage and thymalin dosage. Other combinations and what is on record for them are listed in the stacks section.

What the 2003 study combined

The paper is titled "Peptides of pineal gland and thymus prolong human life". Its abstract describes 266 "elderly and older persons" observed for 6 to 8 years by two institutes, in St. Petersburg and Kiev, with the preparations applied for the first 2 to 3 years. The preparations were Thymalin, described as thymic, and Epithalamin, described as pineal.

Group in the abstract	Mortality compared with control
Thymalin	Lower by a factor of 2.0–2.1
Epithalamin	Lower by a factor of 1.6–1.8
Thymalin plus Epithalamin	Lower by a factor of 2.5
Separate group, both annually for 6 years	Lower by a factor of 4.1

Three things about this table matter for anyone reading it as support for a stack. The abstract states no dose for either preparation. It describes a clinical assessment against a control group, with no mention of randomisation or blinding. And the report comes from the institute that developed both preparations. A Russian-language report of the same study appeared a year earlier (Advances in Gerontology 2002, PMID 12577695) with the same figures.

Bacteriostatic Water

USP-grade, 0.9% benzyl alcohol, 30 mL multi-dose vial. Research use only.

$30.99

Buy at Medibact

Extract and tetrapeptide are different things

Epithalamin is a mixture extracted from cattle pineal glands. Epitalon is the single tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, designed afterwards from the extract's amino acid composition; a 2002 review by the same first author describes that design step and says epitalon "reproduces the effects of Epithalamin" in animals (Khavinson, Neuro Endocrinology Letters 2002, PMID 12374906). That is the developer's claim about animal work. It is not a human trial of the tetrapeptide with Thymalin, and there is none:

PubMed records naming epitalon or epithalon together with thymalin (2026-11-11)	Kind
Avolio et al., Int J Mol Sci 2022 (PMID 35408963)	Five peptides tested on a human cell line in culture
Adv Gerontol 2002 (PMID 12096446)	Rat tissue culture
Khavinson 2002 (PMID 12374906)	Review
Adv Gerontol 2010 (PMID 21510076)	Review
Adv Gerontol 2011 (PMID 21809618)	Review

Five records, none of them a study in people. For the extract the count is larger — 12 records name Epithalamin with Thymalin — and that is where the 2003 follow-up sits.

Thymalin has the same split in a different form. The registered Russian product is an extract of calf thymus, 10 mg per vial. Whether a research-market vial labelled thymalin holds that extract or a synthetic peptide is not something its label establishes.

The one registry record

ClinicalTrials.gov held no record for thymalin on 2026-11-11 and one for epitalon. NCT07888595, registered by a sponsor named Frontiers in Bioscience Research Institute and Aging, with one site in Irvine, California, was first posted on 2026-10-22: an early phase 1, single-group study of 48 people, enrolling by invitation. Epitalon appears in it as one of five small peptides (with GHK-Cu, AHK-Cu, PGP and CLV) in a water-based serum applied to skin at about 1 to 3 mg/mL, with untreated skin as the comparison. The record is reported here as it appears. It does not inject epitalon, does not include Thymalin and has posted no results.

The figures on record, per course

Preparation	Source	Daily amount	Days	Course total	10 mg vials
Thymalin	Russian registration (Vidal entry, recorded 2026-10-10)	5–20 mg, intramuscular	3–10	30–100 mg	3–10
Thymalin	One randomised COVID-19 trial (PMID 33575961, recorded 2026-10-10)	10 mg, intramuscular	5	50 mg	5
Epitalon	Vendor figures (this site's chart, 2026-09-18)	5 mg	20	100 mg	10
Epitalon	Vendor figures (same)	10 mg	10	100 mg	10
Epitalon	Largest published human daily amount (recorded 2026-09-20)	0.5 mg, sublingual	20	10 mg	1

The two circulating epitalon schedules are the same 100 mg arranged two ways. That total is ten times the 10 mg of the largest published human course, which was given under the tongue, not injected. Thymalin's circulating figures follow its registration. No row in this table is a combined schedule, because no source states one.

Both in syringe units

On a U-100 syringe, units = amount ÷ concentration × 100. Both are sold as 10 mg vials.

Vial and water	Concentration	5 mg	10 mg	20 mg
10 mg + 1 mL	10 mg/mL	50	100	two vials
10 mg + 2 mL	5 mg/mL	100	200 (two syringes)	two vials

The rows apply to either compound. The epithalon calculator and the thymalin calculator work any other volume. The registered Thymalin route is intramuscular; the circulating epitalon figures are described as subcutaneous, a route no published human epitalon study used.

What is not established

No human study has given synthetic epitalon with Thymalin, at any dose. The 2003 mortality figures belong to two extracts, come from an abstract with no dose and no description of randomisation, and were reported by the preparations' developers. Neither compound is approved in the United States or the European Union. Nothing on this page is a dose or a suggestion to use either or both; Medibact's epithalon guide and its thymalin guide cover the molecules and their evidence.

Sources and dates

Opened 2026-11-11: the PubMed abstracts of Khavinson and Morozov, Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2003 (PMID 14523363), its Russian-language report (PMID 12577695), Khavinson 2002 (PMID 12374906), Avolio et al., 2022 (PMID 35408963) and the 2010 review (PMID 21510076); PubMed searches for epitalon or epithalon with thymalin (5, each record's type read), Epithalamin with thymalin (12), epitalon or epithalon (144) and thymalin (293); ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API searches for thymalin (0), epithalamin (0) and epitalon (1), and the full record of NCT07888595. The Thymalin registration, the COVID-19 trial, the vendor figures and the sublingual study are as recorded on this site's thymalin and epithalon pages with the dates shown. Course totals, vial counts and units are arithmetic by this site. Corrections go to the contact page.

Bacteriostatic Water

USP-grade, 0.9% benzyl alcohol, 30 mL multi-dose vial. Research use only.

$30.99

Buy at Medibact

Medibact Guides facts

The study cited for combining these two gave Thymalin with Epithalamin, a peptide extract of cattle pineal gland, not with the synthetic tetrapeptide epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly): 266 people over 60 were followed for 6 to 8 years, with the preparations applied in the first 2 to 3 years (Khavinson and Morozov, Neuro Endocrinology Letters 2003, PMID 14523363, abstract read 2026-11-11).
That abstract reports mortality lower by a factor of 2.0 to 2.1 with Thymalin, 1.6 to 1.8 with Epithalamin and 2.5 with both, and 4.1 in a separate group given both annually for six years. It states no dose, no randomisation and no blinding.
No human study has given epitalon the tetrapeptide together with Thymalin: PubMed returned 5 records naming both on 2026-11-11 — one human cell-line experiment, one rat tissue-culture experiment and three reviews.
Thymalin as registered in Russia is itself an extract, 10 mg of calf thymus peptides per vial, with a registered adult dosage of 5 to 20 mg into a muscle once daily for 3 to 10 days, 30 to 100 mg per course (Vidal Russia entry, as recorded on this site 2026-10-10).
ClinicalTrials.gov returned 0 records for thymalin and 1 for epitalon on 2026-11-11. The one record, NCT07888595 (first posted 2026-10-22, 48 participants, enrolling by invitation), lists epitalon as one of five peptides in a skin serum applied at about 1 to 3 mg/mL; it does not inject it and does not include Thymalin.
The circulating epitalon figures, 5 mg a day for 20 days or 10 mg a day for 10 days, both total 100 mg per course, which is ten 10 mg vials; the registered Thymalin course of 30 to 100 mg is three to ten 10 mg vials (arithmetic by this site on figures recorded on its dosage pages).
From a 10 mg vial of either in 1 mL of water (10 mg/mL), 5 mg is 50 units on a U-100 syringe and 10 mg is 100 units, the whole vial in one full 1 mL syringe (arithmetic by this site).

Frequently asked questions

Is there a study of epitalon and thymalin together?

Not of the synthetic tetrapeptide. The study usually cited, published in 2003, combined Thymalin with Epithalamin, a pineal gland extract. Epitalon was designed later from that extract's amino acid composition and is a different preparation. PubMed held no human study giving epitalon with Thymalin on 2026-11-11.

What did the 2003 study report?

In 266 elderly people followed for 6 to 8 years, its abstract reports mortality lower by a factor of 2.5 in those given both extracts and 4.1 in a separate group given both annually for six years, compared with controls. The abstract gives no dose and describes no randomisation or blinding, and it comes from the institute that developed the preparations.

What doses circulate for the stack?

For Thymalin, the Russian registration states 5 to 20 mg into a muscle daily for 3 to 10 days. For epitalon there is no registration; the figures on vendor pages are 5 mg a day for 20 days or 10 mg a day for 10 days. No source states a dose for the two together.

Is epitalon the same as Epithalamin?

No. Epithalamin is a mixture of peptides extracted from cattle pineal glands. Epitalon, also written epithalon, is one four-amino-acid peptide made synthetically. Most of the human literature belongs to the extract.

How many units is 5 mg of epitalon or thymalin?

From a 10 mg vial with 1 mL of water, 5 mg is 50 units on a U-100 syringe; with 2 mL it is 100 units. The count is the same for both because both are sold as 10 mg vials and units measure volume.