Cardiogen: what the studies show, status and safety
Summary
Cardiogen is a synthetic chain of four amino acids from a St Petersburg institute, sold as a heart peptide. Every finding about a living heart comes from a patent application from 2004 that was never published in a journal, and no study in people exists. It is approved as a medicine nowhere. The approved product called CardioGen-82 is a radioactive generator for heart imaging and a different thing entirely.
Key findings at a glance
- No trial in people, ever. The ClinicalTrials.gov registry held no study of the peptide on 20 September 2026. The single entry containing the string "cardiogen" belongs to a different product [1].
- The approval people point to belongs to something else. CardioGen-82 is a rubidium-82 generator for heart scans, made by Bracco Diagnostics, approved in the United States under NDA 019414 and in Switzerland under number 62332. The peptide itself is approved nowhere [2], [3], [4].
- The heart evidence sits in a patent. The figure quoted everywhere, a fall in rat death rates after an induced heart attack from 45 to 15 per cent, comes from example 2 of US patent 7,662,789 B2. The inventors' own reviews cite that patent, as reference 164 in one and 123 in the other [5], [6], [7].
- Five papers, the last in 2012. Exactly five substance-specific papers exist in PubMed, three of them in a Russian-language journal, and in only two of them is this peptide the sole substance tested. For comparison, a PubMed survey for its sister peptide Epitalon returned about 160 records [8].
- Russia sells it as food, the West as an injection. Russian capsules hold 100 micrograms of a peptide complex, taken by mouth. Western vials hold 20 milligrams of powder for injection, around four hundred thousand times a single animal dose per vial [9], [10].
- Nothing official to check it against. There is no pharmacopoeia monograph and no reference standard for the peptide, so the identity and purity of a 20 mg vial rest on the seller's word [10].
- Banned in sport around the clock. Category S0 catches every drug-like substance no health authority has approved for people, which is this one exactly [11].
What it is
Cardiogen is a laboratory-made peptide of four amino acids, sold as Кардиоген in Russia and as a research chemical in the West. It comes from the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, the group around Vladimir Khavinson, and is presented as a peptide for the heart muscle [5].
The starting point was an extract of heart tissue from young animals. The group reports having detected this four-part peptide inside that mixture by mass spectrometry, then made it synthetically [7]. The measurement behind that claim has never been published on its own.
The labels "bioregulator" and "cytogen" come from the same group. They are house terms rather than pharmacological categories, and appear in no pharmacopoeia and in no regulator's classification [12], [13].
The chemical identity is clear, but the paper trail around it is thin. The peptide has no entry in the American substance database, none in the chemistry database ChEMBL, none in the medical subject headings and none in Wikidata [12], [13], [14], [15].
The public chemistry database PubChem was unreachable throughout these checks. No registry number could be retrieved at all [16].
Quick facts
| Field | Value | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| Chain | Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg, four amino acids | [5] |
| Formula and mass | C18H31N7O9, 489.48 g/mol | [5] |
| Code in the literature | AEDR | [5], [6] |
| Physical form described | White odourless powder, paired with acetate | [5] |
| Chemical record | None retrievable; the database was unreachable | [16] |
| Code with the American regulator | None; a search returns a rubidium compound instead | [12] |
| Classification code for medicines | None | [12] |
| How long it lasts in the body | No published value, for any route or species | [8] |
| Registered studies in people | None | [1] |
| Approval status | Approved nowhere, for nothing | [4], [12] |
| Sold as | Capsules and tablets in Russia, 20 mg vials of powder in the West | [9], [10] |
| Originating group | St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology | [5] |
| Patent | US 7,662,789 B2, priority 22 June 2004, granted 16 February 2010; European parallel EP 1758923 A1 | [5], [17] |
How it works
Nobody knows. No receptor has been identified and no binding to a human target has been measured. Every mechanism on offer comes from a computer model, from a plant protein or from cells in a dish.
The group's own explanation runs like this. The peptide would enter the cell through a transport protein and reach the nucleus. There it would attach to DNA, or to the tails of the packing proteins around it, and change which genes are read. Each step deserves to be looked at on its own.
- Attaching to packing proteins. In a test tube, the peptide bound to the tails of histones, the proteins DNA is wound around. Those histones came from wheat, and the peptide was one of six tested together. The authors themselves phrase the conclusion as a suggestion [18].
- Getting into the cell. Computer docking gives scores of −35.35 at the carrier LAT1, −27.54 at LAT2 and −27.50 at PEPT1, ranking it third of 26 peptides at two of them. An earlier table from the same group gives −29.81. No transport has ever been measured [6], [19].
- Building cell scaffolding. In mouse embryo cells in a dish, the peptide raised the scaffolding proteins actin, tubulin and vimentin two- to fivefold. The nuclear proteins lamin A and lamin C rose two- to threefold [20]. Those cells are fibroblasts, not heart muscle cells.
- Slowing cell death. In heart tissue from young and old rats kept in a dish, the tissue made less of the protein p53, one of the switches that send a damaged cell into self-destruction [21]. The paper reports directions, not figures.
There is a size problem underneath all of this. A chain of four amino acids carries far too little information to single out one gene in a whole genome. Alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid and arginine also circulate freely in the blood as ordinary amino acids.
The tissue-specific story does not hold up either. In the experiment used to support it, each peptide was only ever tested in its own assigned tissue, so nothing rules out an effect elsewhere [22]. Two other papers found effects in a tumour and in prostate cells, neither of which is the heart [23], [24].
What the studies found
Seven animal and tissue experiments in a patent, five papers in journals and nothing in people. Every one comes from the originating institute or from co-authors of it, and no outside laboratory has repeated any of it [8].
The distinction that matters most on this page is between the two kinds of source. A journal paper is read and criticised by other scientists before it appears. A patent application is a legal filing, checked for novelty rather than for method. This one does report how many animals were used and states that they were divided at random, but it describes no blinding, and in more than twenty years none of its experiments has been published in a journal [5].
Death rate after an induced heart attack
Animal data, patent example Forty rats of 180 to 200 g were divided at random into two groups of 20, and a coronary artery was tied off. Three doses of 0.05 µg per animal were given into the belly at one, three and five hours. Deaths within 24 hours fell from 45 per cent in the control group to 15 per cent [5].
From example 2 of US patent 7,662,789 B2, a legal filing that was never reviewed by other scientists: 20 rats per group, divided at random, no blinding described. Source [5].
The same example reports smaller areas of dead tissue and blood sugar lower by a factor of 1.5. An energy efficiency figure for the cell powerhouses came to 93.2 ± 2.3 against 41.5 ± 2.4 in controls (p < 0.05) [5]. This is the entire evidence for the heart claim in a living animal.
An isolated heart after loss of blood flow
Ex vivo data, patent example Hearts from 60 guinea pigs, in groups of six, were removed, perfused and starved of blood flow for 30 minutes. At 0.005 µg/ml in the perfusion fluid, the pumping strength after restart reached 75 ± 12 per cent of its starting value. Without the peptide it reached 43 ± 7 per cent. Flow through the heart's own vessels was 10.8 ± 1.6 against 8.5 ± 0.4 ml/min (p < 0.05) [5].
The patent gives 0.002 to 0.05 µg/ml as the range it works in generally; the result above belongs to the single concentration 0.005 µg/ml [5].
Heart damage caused by adrenaline
Animal data, patent example Thirty rats in three groups of ten were given adrenaline at 2 mg/kg into the belly, then 0.05 µg of peptide per animal after one and five hours. A marker of fat damage in the tissue measured 110 ± 17 against 176 ± 24 mmol/g at 24 hours (p < 0.05). Stored sugar held at 0.168 ± 0.021 against 0.112 ± 0.017 in units of optical density [5].
An irregular heartbeat
Animal data, patent example Sixty anaesthetised rats in six groups of ten were given calcium chloride at 220 mg/kg. Doses of 0.05 to 1.0 µg/kg reduced how often the heart fell into chaotic beating, and made a return to normal rhythm more likely. At 0.2 and 0.5 µg/kg the rate rose by 12.3 to 48.6 per cent in slow-beating animals and came down in fast-beating ones. The inventors call 0.2 µg/kg the best amount [5]. No frequencies and no p-values are given.
Heart tissue in a dish
Cell data Pieces of rat heart muscle grew more under the peptide across a wide range of concentrations, from 0.01 to 20.0 ng/ml over three days [5]. A separate paper reports a strong growth effect in tissue from both young and old rats at 10⁻¹² M, alongside the drop in p53 [21].
That paper carries an awkward comparison. Seven of 20 single amino acids also increased growth in young tissue, and two of 20 in old tissue [21]. The peptide's effect is therefore not clearly set apart from what free amino acids do.
Where the results point away from the heart
Animal data In old rats carrying a transplanted sarcoma, injections slowed tumour growth in a dose-dependent way. The authors state that this worked through bleeding and cell death in the tumour's blood vessels rather than by acting on the tumour cells [23]. A substance that can do that is not an inert chain of amino acids.
Cell data In human prostate cells ageing in culture, three peptides raised the same three signalling factors. The authors name a different one, T-38, as the most active [24]. Cardiogen was not the strongest, and the tissue was not the heart.
Nothing in people
No trial has been registered and none has been published [1], [8]. The reviews written by the originating group make no claim of use in people for this peptide either; they describe animal and cell work only [7].
That leaves the whole field of heart outcomes empty: no measurement of heart attacks, heart failure, chest pain, exercise capacity, blood pressure or survival in a human being.
What is still unknown
- Whether anything at all happens in a human heart.
- How much reaches the blood by mouth or by injection, and how fast it breaks down.
- Whether the DNA and histone idea holds outside a test tube of wheat protein.
- What the tumour blood vessel finding means for healthy tissue.
- What months of use would do, at any amount.
Side effects and safety
No side effect profile exists. That is not the same as being well tolerated: it means nobody has ever collected one. There is no study in people and no case report. The 127 adverse event reports filed in the American database under this name all belong to the radioactive imaging product [2].
The only safety figures come from the inventors themselves, in the toxicity section of their patent. A single dose of 1 to 5 mg/kg into the muscle of 66 mice caused no reaction, which the applicants describe as 5,000 times the amount they proposed for use in people. Sixty rats given 1 µg/kg, 0.1 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg into the muscle daily for 90 days showed no effects [5].
One line in the same section is not reassuring. Of 96 guinea pigs given those doses for six months, the treated animals showed a rise in white blood cells at three and at six months, with other values largely unchanged [5]. No explanation was offered and nobody followed it up.
A claim from the group's own review should not be mistaken for evidence. It states that peptides this small "provoke no allergic reactions and have no side effects" [7]. No safety study is cited for that sentence anywhere in the paper.
What is missing
- No independent toxicology of any kind, and no safe upper limit set by anyone outside the patent.
- No measurement of uptake, distribution, breakdown or clearance, for any route or species.
- No data on immune reactions, cancer risk or effects on reproduction.
- No data on pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, or reduced liver or kidney function.
- No interaction data, which matters because the people this is marketed to usually take several heart medicines daily.
- No official reference standard, so identity and purity of traded material cannot be checked against anything [12], [16].
The injectable form carries risks separate from the substance. Vials sold as research material are made under no pharmaceutical quality system, so sterility, endotoxin content and actual peptide content are unknown [10]. Mixing and injecting non-sterile material brings the usual risks of abscess, vein inflammation and blood-borne infection.
The largest risk is a different one. This is marketed to people with heart disease, and in Russia explicitly for long-term reduced blood flow to the heart [9]. Relying on it instead of treatment that has been tested means a real illness goes untreated.
Doses used in studies
These are the doses used in the cited studies, listed for reference. They are not a recommendation.
There is no line for people in the table below, because no study in people exists. Every line is an amount given to an animal, added to an isolated organ or added to fluid in a dish. Most of them come from a patent rather than from a reviewed paper.
| Study | Model | Amount | Route | Duration | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patent example 2, induced heart attack | Rat, 180–200 g | 0.05 µg per animal | Into the belly | Three doses, at 1, 3 and 5 hours | [5] |
| Patent example 3, isolated heart | Guinea pig heart, perfused | 0.002–0.05 µg/ml; the result quoted above is from 0.005 µg/ml | Added to the perfusion fluid | 30 minutes of stopped flow, then restart | [5] |
| Patent example 4, adrenaline damage | Rat | 0.05 µg per animal | Into the body, route unstated | Two doses, at 1 and 5 hours | [5] |
| Patent example 5, chemical heart damage | Rat | 0.05 µg per animal | Into the muscle | Daily, the last 10 days of a 20-day course | [5] |
| Patent example 6, irregular heartbeat | Rat, anaesthetised | 0.05–1.0 µg/kg; called best at 0.2 µg/kg | Into the belly | Once | [5] |
| Patent example 7, heart tissue | Rat heart explants | 0.01–20.0 ng/ml | Added to the culture fluid | 3 days at 37 °C | [5] |
| Patent example 8, oxygen use | Isolated rat heart cells | 10 ng/ml | Added to the measuring fluid | Single measurement at 30 °C | [5] |
| Zakutskiĭ 2006, tissue specificity | Rat heart, lung, prostate, pancreas explants | 0.05 ng/ml | Added to the culture fluid | Not given in the abstract | [22] |
| Chalisova 2009, heart tissue | Rat heart explants, young and old | 10⁻¹² M, that is 1 pM | Added to the culture fluid | Not given in the abstract | [21] |
| Khavinson 2012, scaffolding proteins | Mouse embryo cells | Not given in the abstract | Added to the culture fluid | Not given in the abstract | [20] |
| Levdik 2009, sarcoma | Old rats with a transplanted tumour | Not given in the abstract | Injected, route unstated | Not given in the abstract | [23] |
| Russian food supplement, not a study | People, taken by mouth | 100 µg of peptide complex per capsule; the manufacturer states an intake of 1–2 capsules, once or twice daily | By mouth | 1 month | [9] |
The last row is a manufacturer's statement about a food supplement, not a finding from any study, and nothing in the literature supports it. An amount in a dish or in a rat cannot be converted into an amount for a person, and no measurement of uptake exists for any route [5], [8].
The gap in scale is worth stating plainly. Every animal dose in the table lies between 0.05 and 1.0 µg/kg, or 0.05 µg for a whole rat, while a vial sold in the West holds 20 mg [5], [10].
Development and approval status
A patent, five papers, no development programme
- 2004Patent filed for a heart peptidePriority 22 June, four inventors from the St Petersburg institute, ref [5]
- 2006First appearance in a journalHeart, lung, prostate and pancreas tissue in dishes at 0.05 ng/ml, ref [22]
- 2009-2010Three papers, two of them away from the heartHeart tissue and p53, a tumour experiment, and prostate cells, refs [21], [23], [24]
- 2010Patent granted in the United StatesUS 7,662,789 B2, granted 16 February; the European parallel had been granted in 2008, refs [5], [17]
- 2012The last substance-specific paperMouse embryo cells, scaffolding proteins, still not heart muscle, ref [20]
- 20 September 2026Registers checkedNo approval anywhere, no registered trial, no substance code, refs [1], [12]
There is no development programme behind Cardiogen. No sponsor has filed anything, no phase of testing has begun and nothing is pending. What exists is a patent from 2004, now expired, and five laboratory papers from one institute [5], [8].
| Market | Status | Note | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Not approved | No substance record and no label; never put forward for pharmacy compounding | [12], [25] |
| European Union | Not approved | No authorisation and no trial; the agency's own search refused the request on the day of checking | [26] |
| Germany | Not approved | An unlicensed injectable preparation may not be placed on the market | [26] |
| United Kingdom | Not approved | The register returned only a page shell, so the check rests on every other register | [26] |
| Australia | Not approved | Absent from the Poisons Standard, which is not permission | [27] |
| Canada | Not approved | The medicines database returns nothing; a control query works | [28] |
| Switzerland | Not approved | The only match in the official list is the radioactive imaging product, number 62332 | [4] |
| Russia | Not approved | Sold as a capsule and tablet food supplement, which is not a medicine licence | [9], [29] |
Two rows need care. The Australian entry means the substance was never scheduled, not that it may be used.
The Russian entry is the one most often misread. Its source is a drug reference work rather than an official register, because both Russian registers failed to answer on the day of checking [29]. A food supplement passes no test of effectiveness in any case, and the injectable form has no licence there either.
These checks were run on 20 September 2026.
Anti-doping
Cardiogen is banned at all times, in and out of competition. Category S0 of the 2026 Prohibited List covers "any pharmacological substance which is not addressed by any of the subsequent sections of the List and with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use" [11].
The name does not appear anywhere on the list, and this page says so plainly. The classification is a conclusion drawn from that general clause, not an entry printed under a heading.
The conclusion is nevertheless firm. No health authority anywhere has approved the peptide, and no other section of the list covers it. The list adds that everything in this category counts as a specified substance, which affects the penalty rather than the ban [11].
German anti-doping law reads differently. Its annex names banned substances one by one and has no general clause, so possession of this peptide is not an offence there [30].
The Russian capsules are caught by S0 like everything else. No published test exists for detecting the substance in a sample. Further detail is in the overview of peptides banned in sport.
Compared with related peptides
Counts as of 20 September 2026. The five papers include three in a Russian-language journal, and in three of them the peptide is one of several substances tested. Sources [1], [8], [20].
| Peptide | Relation to Cardiogen | What the checks behind this page found |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiogen | — | Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg, 489.48 g/mol; five papers, no trial in people, no substance code [1], [5], [8] |
| Epitalon | Same first three amino acids, glycine instead of arginine; assigned to the pineal gland | About 160 PubMed records, against five here [8] |
| Chonluten | Same first three, leucine at the end; assigned to the lungs | Patented by the same inventors in a parallel filing, US 7,625,870 B2 [31] |
| Cortagen | Same first three, proline at the end; assigned to the brain cortex | Same series, same institute, same pattern of a patent carrying the main claim |
| Cartalax | The same chain without the fourth amino acid; assigned to cartilage | Three amino acids, 333.29 g/mol; also no trial in people |
The comparison is not about strength. It shows where Cardiogen sits: a settled chemical identity, one organ assigned to it by its inventors, and almost nothing else. Each member of this series differs from the next by a single amino acid, which is why listings swap them so freely.
Searching by name makes it worse rather than better. The term "Cardiogen" mostly returns the radioactive imaging product, or words like "cardiogenic" [2], [15]. The code AEDR is the only search term that reliably finds the peptide.
Common misconceptions
- "Cardiogen is approved, because CardioGen-82 is." They are different products. CardioGen-82 is a rubidium-82 generator for heart scans from Bracco Diagnostics. It is approved in the United States under NDA 019414 and in Switzerland under number 62332, and carries its own boxed warning [2], [3], [4].
- "There is a clinical trial, NCT01424774." That study measured radiation exposure from strontium in 155 patients who had previously had a CardioGen-82 scan. The record states outright that the product was not given to anyone during the study. It has nothing to do with the peptide [32].
- "The heart results are study results." They are patent examples. The reviews of the originating group cite that patent as their source for the cardioprotector label, as reference 164 in one paper and 123 in another [5], [6], [7].
- "It is sold in Russia, so it has been approved there." It is sold there as a food supplement in capsules and tablets, holding 100 micrograms each. Supplements pass no test of whether they work, and the injectable form has no licence in Russia either [9].
- "Cardiogen is the heart peptide complex A-14." A-14 is a mixture extracted from animal heart tissue. Cardiogen is a single synthetic peptide. They are sold in Russia as separate products [33].
- "Bioregulator means a recognised class of drug." It is a house term of the originating group, like "cytogen". No pharmacopoeia, no classification system and no regulator uses it [12], [13].
- "Two recent papers show it works on nerve cells." Two papers from 2024 and 2025 name AEDR in their methods, while their titles, abstracts and results describe AEDG, which is Epitalon. This is almost certainly a typing error, and neither can be treated as evidence here [34].
- "It is not on the doping list, so it is allowed." It is not named, but category S0 catches every substance no authority has approved. That is precisely its situation [11].
Frequently asked questions
Has Cardiogen ever been tested in people?
No. The ClinicalTrials.gov registry held no trial of the peptide on 20 September 2026, and PubMed and Europe PMC hold no clinical report. Even the reviews written by the group that invented it describe only animal and cell work. There is no published measurement of what the substance does in a person.
Is Cardiogen the same thing as CardioGen-82?
No, and this is the most common mix-up around the name. CardioGen-82 is a rubidium-82 generator made by Bracco Diagnostics for heart scans, approved in the United States under NDA 019414 and in Switzerland under number 62332. It is a radioactive imaging product. The peptide has no approval anywhere, and the two share nothing but a name.
What is the sequence of Cardiogen?
Four amino acids: alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid and arginine, written Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg or AEDR. The patent gives the formula C18H31N7O9 and a mass of 489.48 g/mol. All four are ordinary amino acids that already circulate freely in the blood.
Where does the claim that Cardiogen protects the heart come from?
From a patent application, not from a study. The figures most often quoted appear in the examples of US patent 7,662,789 B2. One of them is a fall in rat death rates after an induced heart attack, from 45 to 15 per cent. The review articles written by the inventors cite that same patent as their evidence. It was never reviewed by other scientists and never published in a journal.
Is Cardiogen approved as a medicine anywhere?
No, in no country. There is no marketing authorisation in the United States, the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Switzerland or Russia. It has no entry in the American substance database, no pharmacopoeia monograph and no classification code for medicines.
What is sold as Cardiogen in Russia?
A food supplement in capsules and tablets, each containing 100 micrograms of a peptide complex, taken by mouth. A food supplement passes no test of whether it works. The Russian product listing names a heart condition as its field of use, but that is a statement by the seller, not a decision by a regulator.
Is Cardiogen banned in sport?
Yes, at all times, in and out of competition. Category S0 of the 2026 Prohibited List covers any drug-like substance that no health authority has approved for use in people, which describes this peptide exactly. It is not printed on the list by name, and that absence is not a loophole. The Russian capsules are caught by the same rule.
What are the side effects of Cardiogen?
Nobody knows, because nobody has collected them. There is no study in people, no case report and no independent toxicology. The only safety figures come from the inventors' own patent. It reports no harm in mice, rats and guinea pigs, but also a rise in white blood cells in guinea pigs after three and six months.
How much Cardiogen is in a vial compared with the amounts used in animals?
Far more. The animal experiments used 0.05 micrograms per rat, or 0.2 micrograms per kilogram as the amount the inventors called best. Vials sold in the West hold 20 milligrams, which is around four hundred thousand times a single animal dose per vial. No schedule that circulates can be traced back to anything that was ever tested.
Is Cardiogen related to Epitalon and the other Khavinson peptides?
Yes, closely, which is why they are so often confused. Epitalon, Chonluten and Cortagen share the same first three amino acids and differ only in the fourth, and Cartalax is the same chain without it. Each was patented separately for a different organ. Searching for the code AEDR finds this one; searching for the trade name mostly finds the radioactive imaging product.
Sources
- ClinicalTrials.gov, API v2. Queries of 20 September 2026: "cardiogen" as intervention returns one record, NCT01424774, which concerns a radiopharmaceutical; "AEDR", "Kardiogen" and "peptide bioregulator" return nothing; "Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg" returns 25 unrelated nutrition studies. https://clinicaltrials.gov/api/v2/studies
- US Food and Drug Administration, openFDA drug label, adverse event and Drugs@FDA interfaces, queried 20 September 2026. A search for "cardiogen" returns a single label, CardioGen-82, active substance rubidium chloride Rb-82, Bracco Diagnostics Inc., NDA 019414, substance code F0Z746KRKQ. The adverse event database holds 127 reports, all for that product. A search for the substance name "CARDIOGEN" returns nothing. https://api.fda.gov
- DailyMed, National Library of Medicine, product label ee95aa18-9f2f-40eb-9b4c-583bea6f36bf, retrieved 20 September 2026. "CARDIOGEN-82 (rubidium chloride Rb-82) injection, solution Bracco Diagnostics Inc", for heart perfusion imaging, with a boxed warning about strontium leaking from the generator. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov
- Swissmedic, list of authorised human medicines with indication, state of 31 August 2026, downloaded and searched in full on 20 September 2026. One match: authorisation 62332, "Cardiogen-82, generatore di radionuclidi", Bracco Suisse SA, category radiopharmaceuticals. Searches for "alanyl" and "kardiogen" return nothing. Controls: Ozempic 5 entries, Wegovy 10.
- Khavinson VK, Ryzhak GA, Grigoriev EI, Ryadnova IY. Peptide substance restoring myocardium function. US patent 7,662,789 B2, priority 22 June 2004, granted 16 February 2010, later held by Peptid Products LLC, now expired. Full text read 20 September 2026. Contains the sequence, formula and mass, the seven experiments of examples 2 to 8, and the toxicity study of example 9, with animal numbers and group sizes given for each. https://patents.google.com/patent/US7662789B2/en
- Khavinson V, Linkova N, Kozhevnikova E, Dyatlova A, Petukhov M (2022). Transport of biologically active ultrashort peptides using POT and LAT carriers. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(14):7733. PMID 35887081. PMCID PMC9323678. DOI 10.3390/ijms23147733. Lists "Cardiogen (AEDR) −29.81 Cardioprotector" with reference 164, which resolves to the patent above.
- Khavinson V, Linkova N, Dyatlova A, Kantemirova R, Kozlov K (2022). Senescence-associated secretory phenotype of cardiovascular system cells and inflammaging. Cells 12(1):106. PMID 36611900. PMCID PMC9818427. DOI 10.3390/cells12010106. Reports the detection of AEDR in the heart peptide complex, cites the patent as reference 123, and contains the unsupported statement about allergic reactions and side effects.
- PubMed, NCBI E-utilities, and Europe PMC, REST search, both queried 20 September 2026. Five substance-specific records exist: PMID 17152728, 20210190, 20396706, 20586252 and 22977870. Of those five, the peptide is the sole substance tested in two (PMID 20396706 and 22977870). Europe PMC returns six records for the name in combination with the group's authors, and 24 for the sequence, five of which are patent family entries. The comparison figure for Epitalon comes from the same interface: a survey of seven search strategies returned 160 records specific to that peptide.
- РЛС, Russian drug reference, monograph "Кардиоген", retrieved 20 September 2026. Listed under food supplements, proteins and amino acids. Composition: peptide complex AKS-K (alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, arginine), 100 µg. Capsules of 0.2 g and 0.275 g, tablets of 0.16 g and 0.3 g. Field of use given as chronic ischaemic heart disease; intake by mouth with food, 1 to 2 capsules once or twice daily for one month. A reference work, not an official register extract. https://www.rlsnet.ru/baa/kardiogen-32633
- Western research-chemical listing for Cardiogen, retrieved 20 September 2026. Freeze-dried powder in 20 mg vials, sequence given as Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg, mass 489.49 g/mol, purity stated by the seller as 99 per cent or better, marked "For Research Use Only … not intended for human or animal consumption". No schedule of use given. Trade record, cited as evidence of what is sold. Not linked.
- World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List, in force from 1 January 2026, section S0. Full-text checks for "cardiogen", "kardiogen", "Ala-Glu", "AEDR" and "bioregulator" returned no match, and the section S2 catalogue was checked and does not cover this substance. Retrieved 20 September 2026. https://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibited-list
- US Food and Drug Administration, Global Substance Registration System, queried 20 September 2026. A search for "cardiogen" returns one record, rubidium chloride Rb-82, code F0Z746KRKQ. An exact name search for "alanyl-glutamyl-aspartyl-arginine" returns nothing, so the peptide has no substance code. https://gsrs.ncats.nih.gov
- ChEMBL, molecule name search for "cardiogen", queried 20 September 2026. Two matches, CHEMBL2110557 and CHEMBL1200727, both rubidium chloride. No peptide entry exists.
- US National Library of Medicine, MeSH, E-utilities search of 20 September 2026. "cardiogen" and "alanyl-glutamyl-aspartyl-arginine" both return nothing. Unlike its sister peptide Cartalax, this substance has no supplementary concept record.
- Wikidata, entity search in English, 20 September 2026. "Cardiogen" returns only cardiogenic shock, Cardiogenetics, cardiogenic plate morphogenesis, scillarenin and the CARDIOGENICS Consortium. "alanyl-glutamyl-aspartyl-arginine" returns an empty result.
- PubChem, PUG-REST and SDQ interfaces, attempted repeatedly on 20 September 2026 by several routes. All returned server-busy errors or HTTP 503, so no compound record, registry number, structure key or chemical name could be retrieved. Recorded as a failed retrieval, not as an absence of data.
- Khavinson VK and others. Peptide substance restoring myocardium function. European patent application EP 1758923 A1, published 7 March 2007, granted 13 February 2008, now expired. Read 20 September 2026 to confirm sequence, priority and legal state. https://patents.google.com/patent/EP1758923A1/en
- Fedoreyeva LI, Smirnova TA, Kolomijtseva GY, Khavinson VKh, Vanyushin BF (2013). Interaction of short peptides with FITC-labeled wheat histones and their complexes with deoxyribooligonucleotides. Biochemistry (Moscow) 78(2):166-175. PMID 23581987. DOI 10.1134/S0006297913020053.
- Khavinson VK, Linkova NS, Rudskoy AI, Petukhov MG (2023). Feasibility of transport of 26 biologically active ultrashort peptides via LAT and PEPT family transporters. Biomolecules 13(3):552. PMID 36979488. PMCID PMC10046148. DOI 10.3390/biom13030552. Gives AEDR docking scores of −35.35 at LAT1, −27.54 at LAT2 and −27.50 at PEPT1.
- Khavinson VKh, Lin'kova NS, Polyakova VO, Kvetnoy IM, Benberin VV, D'yakonov MM, Titkov YS (2012). Tetrapeptide H-Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg-OH stimulates expression of cytoskeletal and nuclear matrix proteins. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 153(4):559-562. PMID 22977870. DOI 10.1007/s10517-012-1766-9.
- Chalisova NI, Lesniak VV, Balykina NA, Urt'eva SA, Urt'eva TA, Sukhonos IuA, Zhekalov AN (2009). The effect of amino acids and cardiogen on the development of myocardial tissue culture from young and old rats. Advances in Gerontology 22(3):409-413. PMID 20210190. In Russian.
- Zakutskiĭ AN, Chalisova NI, Ryzhak GA, Aniskina AI, Filippov SV, Zeziulin PN (2006). The tissue-specific effect of synthetic peptide bioregulators in organotypic tissue culture in young and old rats. Advances in Gerontology 19:93-96. PMID 17152728. In Russian.
- Levdik NV, Knyazkin IV (2009). Tumor-modifying effect of cardiogen peptide on M-1 sarcoma in senescent rats. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 148(3):433-436. PMID 20396706. DOI 10.1007/s10517-010-0730-9.
- Kheĭfets OV, Poliakova VO, Kvetnoĭ IM (2010). Peptidergic regulation of the expression of signal factors of fibroblast differentiation in the human prostate gland in cell aging. Advances in Gerontology 23(1):68-70. PMID 20586252. In Russian.
- US Food and Drug Administration, bulk drug substances nominated for use in compounding under section 503A, state of 14 May 2026, checked in full text 20 September 2026. Neither the peptide nor its sequence appears in any of the three categories, while the neighbouring dipeptide alanyl-L-glutamine does appear in category 1. https://www.fda.gov/media/94155/download
- European, German and British register checks, 20 September 2026. The European Medicines Agency full-text search refused the request with an authorisation error, and the British products database returned only a page shell, so neither could be read directly; the finding rests on the absence of any entry in every other register checked and on the absence of any registered trial.
- Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard—June 2026) Instrument 2026, Australia, made 27 May 2026, full text checked 20 September 2026. No match for "cardiogen", "kardiogen", "ala-glu", "alanyl-glutamyl" or "aedr", and the standard has no general heading for peptides. Controls: alanylglutamine 2 matches, GHRP 9, pralmorelin 3.
- Health Canada, Drug Product Database API, brand-name queries for "cardiogen" and "cardiogen-82" on 20 September 2026: both empty. Control query for "ozempic" returns DIN 02471469. https://health-products.canada.ca/api/drug/drugproduct/
- Russian register attempts, 20 September 2026. The state medicines register returned only a page shell, including for the control query "Семаглутид". The consumer protection register of state-registered products answered the product search with a database error and states its own data as of 24 March 2019. Neither could confirm or deny a registration.
- German Anti-Doping Act, annex to section 2 paragraph 3, full text checked 20 September 2026. "Cardiogen", "kardiogen", "Ala-Glu" and "AEDR" do not appear, and the peptide hormone section lists its substances by name with no catch-all heading. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/antidopg/anlage.html
- Khavinson VK, Ryzhak GA, Grigoriev EI, Ryadnova IY. Peptide substance restoring respiratory organs function. US patent 7,625,870 B2, granted 1 December 2009. Read 20 September 2026 as a control: same inventors, same structure of filing, sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Leu. https://patents.google.com/patent/US7625870B2/en
- ClinicalTrials.gov, record NCT01424774, "A prospective study to estimate inadvertent radiation exposure from strontium isotopes in patients who have undergone CardioGen-82 PET MPI scanning", sponsor Bracco Diagnostics Inc., 155 participants, observational, completed April 2012. The record states that the product is not administered to patients during the study. Retrieved 20 September 2026. https://clinicaltrials.gov/api/v2/studies/NCT01424774
- Russian trade and reference pages for "Кардиоген" and for the animal heart peptide complex A-14, retrieved 20 September 2026. Separate product listings, the first synthetic and the second extracted from animal tissue. Trade records, cited as evidence of what is sold and to separate the two. Not linked.
- Kraskovskaya N, Linkova N, Sakhenberg E and others (2024). International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25(21):11363. PMID 39518916; and Sakhenberg E, Linkova N, Kraskovskaya N and others (2025). Current Issues in Molecular Biology 47(9):739. PMID 41020860. In both, the methods name AEDR while the title, abstract and results describe AEDG. Compared side by side on 20 September 2026 and not counted as evidence for this substance.
Cite this page
The register checks and literature searches behind this page were run on 20 September 2026. For a substance whose entire heart evidence sits in a twenty-year-old patent, the date on which those searches came back empty is part of the finding.
myPeptides Research & Editing. (2026). Cardiogen: what the studies show, status and safety. Version 1.0, 20 September 2026. myPeptides Peptide Register. Retrieved from https://mypep.app/peptides/cardiogen
How pages in this register are compiled and graded is described under methodology; the full register is at peptides.
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-09-20 | Initial publication |
Last verified: 20 September 2026. Next review: on the appearance of any study in people, any independent replication of the patent findings, or any change in the anti-doping classification.