GH and myostatin — what was still missing
PEG-MGF has 5 articles and 0 studies. The follistatin sold in vials has never been tested in people — what exists in the registry is gene therapy. ACE-031 was stopped for safety
Experimental material. Read before using anything from here.
Nothing on this page is a medical recommendation, prescription or treatment plan. It is an organized translation of protocols circulating in research communities and, where it exists, of what published trials tested. The two are marked differently — and they are not equivalent.
Most of the compounds here have no FDA approval for human use. Several are sold labeled "research use only", which means they have not gone through purity, sterility or dosage controls for human consumption. A community-reported dose is not a validated dose: it is what someone reported having done.
Talk to a licensed health professional before considering any of these compounds. If you already use one and feel anything unexpected, seek care — do not wait for the next routine test.
Summary
The GH-axis names still missing from the site — GHRP-1, somatorelin, ghrelin, PEG-MGF — and the other side of muscle growth, the myostatin inhibitors: follistatin 344 and 288 and ACE-031. The pattern is the usual one, only heavier: bench literature, almost nothing registered in people and, in the only one that reached a myostatin trial, a stop for safety.
What was missing on both sides of muscle
This site already covers the growth hormone axis on a page of its own, plus the pages for GHRP-6, ipamorelin, sermorelin and IGF-1 LR3. Four names from the same axis were missing — GHRP-1, somatorelin (the full GHRH, 44 amino acids long), ghrelin and PEG-MGF — and the other side of muscle growth: the myostatin inhibitors, follistatin and ACE-031.
Three method caveats, before the numbers. One: the somatorelin search on ClinicalTrials.gov also returns records for tesamorelin, which is an analogue of the same GHRH 1-44 — 13 of the 37 records mention TH9507, EGRIFTA or tesamorelin in the title, and the largest phase 3 is one of them. Two: ghrelin and follistatin are substances the body produces, and most of the records measure them in the blood rather than administer them. The number in those two rows is attention to the molecule, not a test of the vial. Three: the only phase 3 record the follistatin search returns is for atorvastatin in myocardial edema, with follistatin as a marker.
No number on this page came from the site's secondary source.
How much evidence exists, compound by compound
The numbers below were gathered by me on October 5, 2026, on PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov. Each row's query is written out in full, next to the number, so anyone can repeat it and contradict me — and so the script that rechecks this site's counts can run all of them.
The condition column is not a claim about mechanism: it is the Condition field copied from the largest phase 3 record that the search itself returned. When there is no phase 3 record, the cell says so.
| Compound | Condition in phase 3 registrations | Query | Articles in PubMed | Studies on ClinicalTrials.gov |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHRP-1 | no phase 3 registration in this search | "GHRP-1" | 34 | 1 |
| Somatorelin (GHRH 1-44) | HIV Infections; Lipodystrophy | somatorelin OR "GHRH(1-44)" OR "GHRH 1-44" | 97 | 37 |
| Ghrelin | Weight Loss | ghrelin | 13.877 | 252 |
| PEG-MGF | no phase 3 registration in this search | "PEG-MGF" OR "pegylated mechano growth factor" | 5 | 0 |
| Follistatin (any form) | Myocardial Edema | follistatin | 3.241 | 15 |
| Follistatin-344 | no phase 3 registration in this search | "follistatin 344" OR "follistatin-344" OR FS344 | 11 | 1 |
| Follistatin-288 | no phase 3 registration in this search | "follistatin 288" OR "follistatin-288" OR FS288 | 69 | 0 |
| ACE-031 | no phase 3 registration in this search | "ACE-031" OR ramatercept | 12 | 4 |
What exists in phase 3, and who it belongs to
An article count measures academic attention, not outcome evidence. The table below separates what has a registered phase 3 trial — and shows the largest record the search returned, with the declared number of participants and the sponsor. A registration is not a result.
| Compound | Query | Registered phase 3 trials | The largest registration I opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| GHRP-1 | ("GHRP-1") AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 0 | — |
| Somatorelin (GHRH 1-44) | (somatorelin OR "GHRH(1-44)" OR "GHRH 1-44") AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 4 | NCT00123253 · n = 412 · Theratechnologies HIV Infections, Lipodystrophy |
| Ghrelin | (ghrelin) AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 11 | NCT02810925 · n = 200 · Hospital General Universitario Elche Weight Loss |
| PEG-MGF | ("PEG-MGF" OR "pegylated mechano growth factor") AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 0 | — |
| Follistatin (any form) | (follistatin) AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 1 | NCT02901379 · n = 40 · National Cardiovascular Center Harapan Kita Hospital Indonesia Myocardial Edema |
| Follistatin-344 | ("follistatin 344" OR "follistatin-344" OR FS344) AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 0 | — |
| Follistatin-288 | ("follistatin 288" OR "follistatin-288" OR FS288) AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 0 | — |
| ACE-031 | ("ACE-031" OR ramatercept) AND AREA[Phase]PHASE3 | 0 | — |
Where the numbers don't add up
- GHRP-1 has 1 registered study, and it stopped with 3 participants. Record NCT00381602, phase 2, was testing a GHRP-1 depot in end-stage renal disease and was terminated for lack of recruitment, according to the record itself. There is no other record with the name.
- PEG-MGF has 5 articles and 0 studies. The pegylated version of mechano growth factor barely exists in the literature. The row for MGF without PEG is on the GH axis page, with the caveat that the search returns mecasermin records.
- No one has tested follistatin in a vial. Of the search's 15 records, the ones that administer follistatin are gene therapy: 5 gene therapy records — gene therapy, gene transfer, plasmid or AAV in the title —, in early phase 1, phase 1 and phase 1/2. The others measure follistatin in the blood. The ready-made protein, which is what a "Follistatin-344" vial claims to contain, does not appear administered in any record from this search.
- ACE-031 was stopped for safety. The two phase 2 records in Duchenne muscular dystrophy were terminated "based on preliminary safety data", in the record's words. The trial's paper, from 2017, attributes the stop to nosebleeds and telangiectasias — small dilated vessels in the skin and mucous membranes — and reports only trends, with no statistical difference in the six-minute walk test.
- Ghrelin has 13,877 articles and 11 phase 3 records — and the largest of them tests percutaneous electrical stimulation for weight loss, not ghrelin given to anyone.
In Brazil
I searched every active ingredient in the open data on registered medicines in Brazil, downloaded on October 5, 2026 — 43,596 rows, counting only Active status, in the active ingredient and in the product name, ignoring accents and case. The therapeutic class is the one the dataset itself declares.
PEG-MGF and the two follistatin isoforms are left out of this table: they are not the active ingredient of a medicine anywhere, and there is no official name to look up. Absence from the database doesn't mean prohibition — it means there is no legal product with that active ingredient.
| Active ingredient | Search pattern | Active registrations | Declared therapeutic class | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHRP-1 | GHRP | 0 | — | — |
| Somatorelin (GHRH 1-44) | SOMATOREL | 0 | — | — |
| Ghrelin | GRELIN | 0 | — | — |
| Follistatin (any form) | FOLISTAT | 0 | — | — |
| ACE-031 | RAMATERCEPT | 0 | — | — |
References
- Public ClinicalTrials.gov API, version 2 — the source for all the study and phase 3 counts on this page.
- PubMed E-utilities (esearch) — the basis for all article counts on this page.
- Campbell C et al. Myostatin inhibitor ACE-031 treatment of ambulatory boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: results of a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Muscle Nerve. 2017;55(4):458-464.
- Record NCT01099761 on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Record NCT00381602 on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Record NCT06411366 on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Record NCT01519349 on ClinicalTrials.gov.