Vesugen: what the studies show, status and safety
Summary
Vesugen is a synthetic chain of three amino acids from a St Petersburg institute, sold as a peptide for blood vessels. Unusually for this series, that label rests on papers that really do measure something in vessel cells. The striking vascular figures that circulate with its name, however, were measured on a different preparation made from cattle vessels. No trial in people has ever been registered, and the one human report that measured safety found pro-oxidant activity and fewer blood-forming cells.
Key findings at a glance
- No registered trial was found anywhere. Six queries of the ClinicalTrials.gov registry on 17 September 2026 returned nothing; all three apparent hits are unrelated [1].
- The vessel label holds up, which is rare in this series. The group's own table cites two papers that genuinely measure vessel endpoints, and both check out [2], [3], [4].
- The best vascular numbers belong to another substance. Microvessel networks 2.5 times denser in old rats, and the arterial share up 2.8 times, were measured with Slavinorm, a preparation made from cattle vessels [5], [6].
- Six Russian reports describe people taking it, 32 to 150 per report. None was registered, none had a proper control group, and four of the six gave a second peptide alongside [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12].
- The one human report with laboratory values found a safety signal. In 32 people the authors measured pro-oxidant activity and fewer CD34-positive cells, a "significant inhibition of hemopoiesis" [7].
- The only animal figure concerns nerve cells, not vessels. At 400 µg per kilogram, mushroom spines rose from 39.15 ± 1.08 to 41.25 ± 1.09 per cent (p = 0.003); spine density did not move (p = 0.103) [13].
- Approved as a medicine nowhere. The single official status worldwide is a Russian food supplement registration from 12 August 2022, and how much peptide a capsule holds is not published [14].
What it is
Vesugen is a laboratory-made peptide of three amino acids — lysine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid, written Lys-Glu-Asp or KED — from the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, the group around Vladimir Khavinson [15], [16].
Its identity is unusually well documented for this corner of the market: five independent records give the same sequence, including the American library's index entry, which also lists the laboratory code T-38 [17], [15], [18], [19], [20]. Much of the primary literature appears under T-38 alone, so searching for the brand badly undercounts the papers [21], [22].
The account of where the peptide came from is the group's own: KED was picked out of a polypeptide mixture extracted from blood vessels, and that story is the real basis of the vessel label [23]. Its single supporting paper could not be traced or read [24].
Quick facts
| Field | Value | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| Chain | Lys-Glu-Asp, three amino acids | [17], [15] |
| Formula and mass | C15H26N4O8, 390.39 g/mol | [15] |
| Structure key | InChIKey LLSUNJYOSCOOEB-GUBZILKMSA-N | [15] |
| Code in the literature | T-38, also written KED | [17], [21] |
| Chemical record | PubChem CID 87571363, ChEBI 159909 | [15], [18] |
| Registry number | 204271-66-9, from aggregators and not checked against the register itself | [15] |
| Code with the American regulator | None | [25] |
| Water-loving character | Calculated XLogP −7.4, polar surface 222 Ų | [15] |
| How long it lasts in the body | No published value, for any route | [23], [26] |
| Registered studies in people | None found | [1] |
| Approval status | Approved nowhere; food supplement in Russia | [14], [25] |
| Sold as | Capsules, tablets and a sublingual solution in Russia, 20 mg vials of powder in the West | [14], [27] |
| Patent | US 7,851,449 B2, granted 14 December 2010 | [19] |
| Originating group | St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology | [16] |

How it works
Nobody knows. No receptor has been identified, no dose-response curve published, no measurement in a living person made: every step of the proposed mechanism rests on cells in a dish, on a computer model or on one mouse experiment [23]. The group's account is that the peptide would enter the cell, reach the nucleus, settle on short stretches of DNA and change which genes are read.
- Settling on a growth gene. Computer docking placed the peptide on the control region of the Ki-67 gene, at a stretch of 27 letters near the start point, after the same group had measured a rise in Ki-67 in vessel lining cells from old animals [3].
- Lowering markers of cell ageing. In human oral stem cells at passage 25 it cut the ageing markers p16 and p21 by factors of 1.82 to 3.23 [28]; in skin cells it lowered MMP-9 and raised Ki-67 and CD98hc [29].
- Riding on transport proteins. Computer modelling only: among 26 peptides scored, KED came 21st at the carrier LAT1 with −24.79 and 19th at LAT2 with −20.09, and the authors do not count it among the effective ones [26].
- A proposed vessel link with no experiment behind it. A review suggests the peptide might act on the gene for the adhesion molecule JAM-A, but labels its own proposal a hypothesis; no experiment, not even docking, is reported [30].
Two facts sit awkwardly under this. With a calculated XLogP of −7.4 the molecule is extremely water-loving, which does not suggest easy passage through cell membranes [15]. And three amino acids carry very little sequence with which to single out one gene in a whole genome — the group's own transport table even disagrees with its primary paper, giving −18.91 where the source says −24.79 [2], [26].
What the studies found
Cell experiments, one mouse experiment, six uncontrolled reports in people. After the mistaken hits are removed, roughly 30 papers concern the substance, practically all with an author from the originating institute [22].
The vessel work the label rests on
Cell data In vessel lining cultures from young and old animals, the peptide raised the growth marker Ki-67, which normally falls with age. That paper is the source cited behind the word "vasoprotector" in the group's own summary table [3], [2]. In lining cells taken from healthy, thickened and re-narrowed vessel tissue, it lowered the raised signal endothelin-1, restored connexin-mediated cell junctions and raised sirtuin-1 [4].
Cell data A third paper, under the code T-38, reports higher Ki-67, lower p53 and lower E-selectin — an adhesion molecule involved in plaque formation — in ageing vessel cell cultures [31].
All three share the same limits: none is open access, so not one concentration used is accessible; all are cell culture; all come from the institute whose table they support; and none has been repeated elsewhere [22].
The figures that belong to a different substance
Every number in this section was measured with Slavinorm, not with Vesugen. Slavinorm is a prescription injection in Russia whose ingredient is an undefined polypeptide mixture from cattle vessels, 5.0 mg per vial with 20.0 mg of glycine [6].
Animal data, Slavinorm Four rat studies report the strongest vascular effects in this whole literature. Under Slavinorm the microvessel network was 2.5 times denser in old animals, the arterial share 2.8 times higher, and 1.7 times higher in animals with high blood pressure; after two courses the network was 1.6 times denser, with 15 per cent more blood flow [5].
The two share a marketing niche and nothing else: one is a synthetic molecule of known sequence sold as a food supplement, the other an animal extract of unknown composition sold on prescription. None of those figures says anything about the tripeptide [6], [16].
The one animal study with a number
Animal data Ten mice per group, five male and five female, received 400 µg per kilogram of body weight into the abdomen daily from their second to their fourth month. The share of mushroom-shaped spines rose from 39.15 ± 1.08 to 41.25 ± 1.09 per cent (p = 0.003) and thin spines fell by 13 per cent (p = 0.008). The same paper reports what did not work: spine density was unchanged (p = 0.103), and the improvement in signalling was described only as a trend. A formal correction appeared in 2025, and its content could not be established here [13], [32].
A p-value below 0.05 is conventionally called significant. The two measurements that moved concern the shape of nerve cell contacts, not vessels. 5xFAD mice, ten per group, 400 µg/kg daily for two months. Source [13].
Nerve and stem cells in a dish
Cell data In mouse hippocampal cultures poisoned with amyloid, the peptide at 200 ng/ml raised mushroom spines by 20 per cent, against 71 per cent for the comparison peptide EDR, which is the one the authors recommend for further study [33]. In nerve cells grown from the skin cells of older donors it encouraged dendrite branching, with explicit blanks: no effect on mitochondria, on lysosomes or on the ageing protein p16 [34].
Cell data In human bone marrow stem cells it suppressed FOXO1 by factors of 1.6 to 2.3, IGF1 rose by factors of 3.5 to 5.6 (reported jointly for three peptides), and TNKS2 moved in opposite directions in two ageing models of the same cell line [35].
What has been reported in people
Observational Two reports describe blood flow in patients with narrowed arteries, 41 people in each, the first in the leg arteries and the second in a different vascular bed. Both report improvement in clinical and ultrasound measures without a single measured value, effect size or p-value, and both ran without a control group or blinding [8], [9]. In the first, the patients had just had vascular surgery, so an improvement cannot be separated from ordinary recovery; and as the two papers share group size, authors and journal, they may describe one set of patients twice [9].
Observational In 32 people aged 41 to 83 with several chronic illnesses, the authors report an anabolic effect and slower biological ageing, without figures; the peptide was given together with Pinealon [7]. A comparison of geroprotective methods in 110 people, without randomisation, put the two peptides together ahead of carbon dioxide baths, hyperbaric oxygen and massage — again a combination, again no figures [10].
Observational A survey of 150 male lorry drivers, average age 43.3 ± 0.9 years, reports better psychological scores at p-values of 0.001 to 0.05; the 150 metalworkers they were compared with differed in their occupation, not in what they took, and the p-values belong to peptides in combination rather than to this one alone [11]. A further report on work ability gives neither group size nor effect sizes [12].
Observational One widely repeated sentence claims that swallowing the peptide improved memory and attention in older people. Its source was traced and read: the cited paper never mentions the peptide, the trade name or the code, and speaks only of "peptide bioregulators" [23], [36].
None of these six reports was registered. Four of the six gave a second peptide at the same time, and not one had a comparison group that differed only in the peptide, so nothing in them can be credited to this substance on its own.
Results that point the other way
Cell data In pineal tissue culture the peptide had no effect on the ability of immune cells to mature, while Vilon and Epitalon did; it only raised their capacity to divide [37]. In ageing skin cells, suppression of programmed cell death was achieved by two other peptides of the series and explicitly not by this one [29].
Cell data In the group's own tests with human lipoproteins and red blood cells, the short peptides showed no direct antioxidant activity at all and raised the steady level of reactive oxygen species inside cells [38]. And in the paper meant to demonstrate that each peptide of the series has its own target tissue, the target tissue for this one is the fibroblast, not the vessel [20].
What is still unknown
- Whether the substance reaches a vessel wall at all, by any route.
- What concentrations produced the vessel findings, since none of those three papers is accessible.
- What a living mammal shows on a vessel measurement, and what the two published corrections changed.
Side effects and safety
No safety profile exists. That is not a clean bill of health: it means almost nobody has looked, and there is no toxicology work in any species [25].
What has actually been observed
- Pro-oxidant activity and fewer blood-forming cells in people. In the 32-person report the authors measured pro-oxidant rather than antioxidant activity by chemiluminescence, and fewer CD34-positive cells in the blood, which they called a "significant inhibition of hemopoiesis". Their own reading is that those cells were simply not called upon; an actual effect on blood formation is neither discussed nor ruled out [7].
- More reactive oxygen species in cells. The group's own laboratory work raised the steady level of reactive oxygen species while reporting no direct antioxidant activity [38].
- An inflammation switch turned up. In both ageing models of a human stem cell line, the peptides raised expression of NFκB, a central driver of inflammation, which the paper does not discuss [35].
- Growth of embryonic stem cells suppressed. At 0.1 to 10 ng/ml the peptide slowed the division of primary embryonic stem cells, which sits oddly beside the claim that it promotes growth [39].
- The manufacturer excludes pregnancy and breastfeeding. Its contraindications are individual intolerance, pregnancy and breastfeeding, with a tendency to bowel upset added for the tablets. No reason is given, and no reproductive toxicology exists [14].
- No reports in the pharmacovigilance system. The American adverse event database holds nothing [25] — but a substance that is neither approved nor prescribed generates no spontaneous reports. That is a missing reporting route, not evidence of safety.
Because the peptide was given together with Pinealon, none of these human findings can be assigned to it alone [7] — which weakens the reported benefits and the reported signal alike. Neither signal has ever been followed up.
What is missing
- No measurement of uptake, distribution, breakdown or clearance in any species, by any route, so no half-life exists [23], and no toxicology to any regulatory standard: nothing on repeated dosing, genetic damage or reproduction.
- No safety data at all for injection of the pure tripeptide; every documented human exposure was swallowed or taken under the tongue [14].
- No data on interactions with the medicines older vascular patients usually take: blood thinners, statins, blood pressure drugs.
- No independent analysis of traded material: sellers state "≥ 99 % (HPLC verified)" with no certificate and no named laboratory, and no sterility or endotoxin data exist for the Western vials, which are labelled not for human or veterinary use [27].
Doses used in studies
The doses below are simply what the cited sources gave, listed so that the results can be understood. They are not advice on how to use anything, and the figures ever attached to people come from patent examples and from the label of a Russian food supplement, not from reviewed studies.
Three of the nine lines carry no figure at all, and those gaps are the point: the human reports and the vessel experiments never published the amount they used.
| Study | Model | Amount | Route | Duration | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khavinson 2021, Alzheimer model | 5xFAD mice, ten per group | 400 µg/kg | Into the abdomen | Once daily, 2 months | [13] |
| Kraskovskaya 2017, amyloid damage | Mouse hippocampal cells | 200 ng/ml | Added to the culture fluid | Not stated | [33] |
| Khavinson 2011, stem and cultured cells | Embryonic stem cells and cultured cell lines | 0.1, 1 and 10 ng/ml | Added to the culture fluid | Not stated | [39] |
| Patent examples, tissue work | Rat vessel fragments, 32 pieces | 1 to 200 ng/ml | Added to the culture fluid | Not stated | [19] |
| Patent examples, animals and two patient series | 45 rats with gum inflammation; 25 and 23 patients | 0.01 to 100 µg per kg | Into muscle, also onto the tissue | Not stated | [19] |
| Russian food supplement, maker's recommendation | People | 1 to 2 capsules or tablets; peptide content per capsule not published | Swallowed with food; a sublingual solution also exists | Course of 10 to 30 days, repeated after 3 to 6 months | [14] |
| Kitachov 2013 and Kitachev 2014, the vascular reports | People, 41 in each | Not published | Not published | Not published | [8], [9] |
| Meshchaninov 2015 and three further reports | People, 32 to 300 | Not published | Swallowed, inferred from the product form | Not published | [7], [10], [11], [12] |
| Khavinson 2014, Kozlov 2016 and Khavinson 2014, the vessel experiments | Vessel cell cultures | Not published | Added to the culture fluid | Not stated | [3], [4], [31] |
A concentration in a dish cannot be converted into an amount for a body, and an amount per kilogram in a mouse cannot be scaled to a person. For the only documented human product, the capsule weight of 0.215 g is known and the peptide content is not, so no conversion is possible [14].
Two incompatible schedules circulate on user-facing sites: one gives 500 to 2,000 µg daily under the skin with an eight-week build-up, the other 10 mg daily into muscle for ten days [40]. They differ by up to a factor of 20, take different routes, and neither is backed by any study listed above.
Development and approval status
A patent, a supplement registration, no development programme
- 2006Patent filed on the tripeptideUS 7,851,449 B2, claiming the molecule and its use in microcirculation disorders, ref [19]
- 2008No direct antioxidant activity foundLaboratory work by the originating group; reactive oxygen species rose, ref [38]
- 2013First report in vascular patients41 people, uncontrolled, published in Russian without figures, ref [8]
- 2014The vessel cell paper behind the labelKi-67 in vessel lining cultures plus computer docking, ref [3]
- 2015The only human report with laboratory valuesPro-oxidant activity and fewer blood-forming cells, ref [7]
- 2021The single mouse experimentNerve cell endpoint reached, spine density missed, ref [13]
- 12 August 2022Current Russian food supplement registrationCapsules, tablets and a sublingual solution, ref [14]
- 17 September 2026Registers checkedNo approval found anywhere, no registered trial, refs [1], [25]
There is no development programme behind Vesugen: no sponsor has filed anything and no phase of testing has begun [1]. What exists is a patent, laboratory papers from one institute and a Russian food supplement.
| Market | Status | Note | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Not approved | No substance code, no label, no adverse event file; never put forward for pharmacy compounding | [25], [41] |
| European Union | Not approved | No authorisation and no procedure found; the agency's own register could not be read on the day of checking | [42] |
| Germany | Not approved | Neither a licensed medicine nor a lawful food; the imported preparation falls under novel food rules | [42], [43] |
| United Kingdom | Not approved | The register returned only a page shell, so the finding rests on every other register | [42] |
| Australia | No approval found | The goods register could not be reached on the day of checking; not named in the Poisons Standard, which is not permission | [42] |
| Canada | Not approved | The medicines database returns nothing; a control query works | [44] |
| Switzerland | Not approved | No authorisation identified, and no register extract could be produced | [42] |
| Russia | Not approved as a medicine | Capsules, tablets and drops are sold as a food supplement, registered on 12 August 2022 | [14] |
Five rows need care: the registers of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia and Switzerland, and the Russian consumer register, could not be read directly, so those entries are findings of non-retrievability rather than confirmed absences. They rest on the readable registers, on the American and Canadian null findings with working control queries, and on the lack of an international name [42].
The Russian row is the one most often misread. A food supplement registration involves no test of whether the product works, and no injectable version of this peptide is sold there [14]; the injectable that does exist there contains a different substance [6]. All registers were checked on 17 September 2026.
Anti-doping
Vesugen 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" [45].
The name is not printed on the list, and that is not a gap: a Russian food supplement registration is not an approval for therapeutic use in people, exactly what the category is written to catch [14], [45].
A stricter reading is arguable: category S2.3 ends with an open clause covering growth factor modulators affecting "vascularisation … regenerative capacity", precisely what this peptide is marketed for. Substances in S0 are all specified substances, those in S2 are not, so the difference affects the penalty [45].
German anti-doping law works differently: its annex lists growth factors one by one, with no open clause of that kind, and this peptide is not among them [43]. No published test for detecting it exists. More in the overview of peptides banned in sport.
Compared with related peptides
Counts as of 17 September 2026, after mistaken hits were removed by hand. The reports in people are uncontrolled and unregistered, and most gave a second peptide alongside. Sources [22], [1].
| Peptide | Relation to Vesugen | What the checks behind this page found |
|---|---|---|
| Vesugen | — | Lys-Glu-Asp, 390.39 g/mol; no registered trial, approved nowhere [15], [1] |
| Slavinorm | Sold into the same niche, a different substance entirely | An undefined polypeptide mixture from cattle vessels; a prescription medicine in Russia, and the source of the 2.5-fold and 2.8-fold rat figures [6], [5] |
| Pinealon | Another three-part peptide of the same series, assigned to the brain | Glu-Asp-Arg; raised spines by 71 per cent where this peptide managed 20, and was the stronger of the two in low-oxygen models [33], [46] |
| Epitalon | One amino acid longer, assigned to the pineal gland | Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly; stirred pineal immune cells where this peptide did nothing [37] |
| Livagen | The same three amino acids plus alanine | Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala; a different molecule, and findings on it are regularly misattributed to this one [18], [22] |
| Vilon | The two-amino-acid version, Lys-Glu | Steered immune cell maturation in pineal culture where this peptide did not [37] |
Two rows matter especially: Slavinorm is the preparation whose rat figures travel under this peptide's name, and Pinealon is the one it was usually given with, which is why the human reports are evidence for neither.
Common misconceptions
- "The rat studies showed microvessel networks 2.8 times denser." They did, with Slavinorm — a cattle-vessel extract sold on prescription in Russia. Applying those figures to a synthetic tripeptide swaps one substance for another [5], [6].
- "It is the same thing as Ventfort." Ventfort is an extract from the vessels of young animals, of unknown composition; this is a single synthetic molecule with a defined sequence. The originating institute keeps the two classes apart even where the market does not [16].
- "The vessel label is made up, like the labels on its sister peptides." Not here: the group's table cites two papers that really do measure vessel endpoints. What the label does not carry is a living mammal, a concentration or an independent repeat [2], [3], [4].
- "A registered trial exists, I found it in the registry." Three entries surface on a text search: one is the abbreviation of a treatment regimen in an unrelated trial, two are nutrition studies that match on the single amino acid names [1].
- "It is registered in Russia, so it has been tested." A food supplement registration tests neither efficacy nor safety, and how much peptide the product contains is not published [14]. Nor does that status help an athlete: category S0 catches every substance no health authority has approved for people, whatever a shop calls it [45].
Frequently asked questions
Has Vesugen ever been tested in a clinical trial?
No registered trial was found. Six queries of the ClinicalTrials.gov registry on 17 September 2026 returned nothing for the peptide. The three apparent hits were a treatment-regimen abbreviation from an unrelated trial and two nutrition studies. Six Russian reports describe people taking it, none of them registered.
Is the vessel label on Vesugen actually backed by evidence?
Better than for most peptides of this series, yes. The group's own table cites two papers that really do measure vessel endpoints: growth marker Ki-67 in vessel lining cells, and endothelin-1, connexins and sirtuin-1 in diseased lining tissue. Both are cell-culture work from the institute that makes the claim, and neither has been repeated elsewhere.
Is Vesugen the same as Slavinorm?
No, and this is the most consequential mix-up around the substance. Vesugen is the synthetic tripeptide Lys-Glu-Asp; Slavinorm is a prescription injection in Russia whose ingredient is an undefined polypeptide mixture from cattle vessels. The rat studies showing microvessel networks up to 2.8 times denser were done with Slavinorm.
What is Vesugen made of?
Three amino acids: lysine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid, written Lys-Glu-Asp or KED. The chemical record gives the formula C15H26N4O8 and a mass of 390.39 g/mol; in much of the primary literature it appears only under the laboratory code T-38.
What did the mouse study of Vesugen show?
In an Alzheimer mouse model, ten animals per group received 400 µg per kilogram into the abdomen daily for two months. The share of mushroom-shaped spines went from 39.15 ± 1.08 to 41.25 ± 1.09 per cent (p = 0.003), while spine density itself did not change (p = 0.103). The endpoint is a nerve cell, not a vessel.
Is Vesugen approved as a medicine anywhere?
No authorisation was found in any market checked: the United States, the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Switzerland or Russia. The only official status anywhere is a Russian food supplement registration from 12 August 2022, for capsules, tablets and a sublingual solution.
What are the side effects of Vesugen?
Almost nobody has looked. The one human report that measured laboratory values found pro-oxidant activity and a fall in CD34-positive blood-forming cells, which its authors called a significant inhibition of blood formation. Nothing has followed that up, and no toxicology work exists in any species.
How much Vesugen is in a Russian capsule?
Not published. Four reference and trade sources were checked and none states the peptide content. All that is known is the weight of the whole capsule, 0.215 g, most of which is filler, so any conversion into micrograms of tripeptide is impossible.
Is Vesugen an antioxidant?
The primary literature says the opposite: in the originating group's own laboratory tests the peptide showed no direct antioxidant activity and raised the steady level of reactive oxygen species inside cells. The one human report with laboratory values likewise measured pro-oxidant activity.
Is Vesugen banned in sport?
Yes, at all times, in and out of competition. Category S0 of the 2026 Prohibited List covers every drug-like substance no health authority has approved for people. Being sold as a food supplement in Russia is no protection, and a stricter reading under category S2.3 is arguable.
Sources
- ClinicalTrials.gov, API v2. Six queries on 17 September 2026: free text "Vesugen" total count 0, intervention "Vesugen" 0, intervention "Vezugen" 0. The three apparent hits were checked one by one and are unrelated: NCT03155100 is a trial of an unrelated treatment regimen whose abbreviation matches the peptide code, NCT05400733 and NCT05214872 are nutrition and amino acid studies. Control query "semaglutide" returns 755 studies. https://clinicaltrials.gov/api/v2/studies
- Khavinson VK, Popovich IG, Linkova NS, et al. (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. Full text read. Table 2 lists the peptide with a transport score of −18.91 and the labels vasoprotector, neuroprotector and geroprotector. The two references behind the vasoprotector label were resolved in the full text and both examine vessel endpoints. The table value −18.91 disagrees with the −24.79 given in the group's own primary docking paper.
- Khavinson VKh, Tarnovskaia SI, Lin'kova NS, Guton EO, Elashkina EV (2014). Epigenetic aspects of peptidergic regulation of vascular endothelial cell proliferation during aging. Advances in Gerontology 27(1):108-114. PMID 25051766. In Russian, not open access. Vessel endothelial cultures from young and old animals; Ki-67 raised, with docking at the MKI67 promoter sequence 5'-agcctcaaccatcaggaaaacaagagt-3', positions −14 to +12, contact sequence CATC. No concentrations, effect sizes or p-values in the abstract. This is reference 13 behind the "vasoprotector" entry.
- Kozlov KL, Bolotov II, Linkova NS, Drobintseva AO, Khavinson VK, Dyakonov MM, Kozina LS (2016). Molecular aspects of vasoprotective peptide KED activity during atherosclerosis and restenosis. Advances in Gerontology 29(4):646-650. PMID 28539025. In Russian, not open access. Endothelium from healthy, atherosclerotic and restenotic tissue; endothelin-1 normalised, connexin-mediated junctions restored, sirtuin-1 raised. No concentrations and no p-values reported. This is reference 175 behind the "vasoprotector" entry.
- Sokolova IB, Ryzhak GA, Mel'nikova NN, Sergeev IV, Khavinson VKh (2016). Effects of vascular peptide bioregulator on the density of microvascular network in the brain cortex of aged rats. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 161(2):300-303. PMID 27383168. DOI 10.1007/s10517-016-3400-8; with Sokolova et al. (2016) PMID 28514548, (2017) PMID 28968027 and (2017) PMID 29322732. Microvessel network density 2.5-fold in old rats, arterial share 2.8-fold, 1.7-fold in 12-month hypertensive rats, and after two courses 1.6-fold density with 15 per cent higher perfusion. All four used the preparation Slavinorm, named explicitly in the fourth paper, and not the tripeptide.
- Russian medicines register and package leaflet for Славинорм, retrieved 17 September 2026. Registration ЛП-008221 of 22 June 2022, prescription-only, freeze-dried powder for injection into muscle. Ingredient: "полипептиды сосудов крупного рогатого скота", an undefined polypeptide complex from cattle vessels, 5.0 mg per vial with 20.0 mg of glycine. Cited as the basis for separating this preparation from the tripeptide.
- Meshchaninov VN, Tkachenko EL, Zharkov SV, Gavrilov IV, Katyreva IuE (2015). Effect of synthetic peptides on aging of patients with chronic polymorbidity and organic brain syndrome of the central nervous system in remission. Advances in Gerontology 28(1):62-67. PMID 26390612. In Russian. 32 people aged 41 to 83, given this peptide together with Pinealon; the abstract's own breakdown of 18 men and 12 women adds up to 30. Reports "the prooxidant activity through chemiluminescence" and a fall in CD34-positive cells described as "significant inhibition of hemopoiesis", with chromatin condensation unchanged. No figures, no p-values.
- Kitachov KV, Sazonov AD, Kozlov KL, Petrov KY, Slusarev AS, Sedova EV (2013). The role of vasoactive peptide in lower limbs chronic arterial insufficiency treatment. Advances in Gerontology 26(2):292-296. PMID 28976154. In Russian. 41 patients who had undergone vascular surgery on the leg arteries; a before-and-after comparison with no control arm, no blinding and no placebo. Reports improvement in clinical and duplex ultrasound measures without any measured value, effect size or p-value.
- Kitachev KV, Sazonov AB, Kozlov KL, Petrov KIu, Sliusarev AS, Khavinson VKh (2014). The efficacy of peptide bioregulators of vessels in lower limbs chronic arterial insufficiency treatment in old and elderly people. Advances in Gerontology 27(1):156-159. PMID 25051774. In Russian. 41 patients with vascular erectile dysfunction; again uncontrolled and unblinded, again without figures. Group size, authors, journal and method overlap with the 2013 report, so a second analysis of one set of patients cannot be excluded and the numbers must not be added.
- Myakotnykh VS, Torgashov MN, Egorin KV, Meshchaninov VN, Gavrilov VI, Borovkova TA, Zvezdina EM, Verzhbitskaya TY, Tkachenko EL (2016). Comparative analysis of different methods of geroprotection. Advances in Gerontology 29(4):594-601. PMID 28539017. In Russian. 110 people; carbon dioxide baths, hyperbaric oxygen, massage and the two oligopeptide products compared without randomisation, with the strongest effect reported for the two peptides used together. The abstract names the contents as "лизил-глутамил-аспарагин", asparagine rather than aspartic acid, which is a different amino acid.
- Bashkireva AS, Artamonova VG (2012). The peptide correction of neurotic disorders among professional truck drivers. Advances in Gerontology 25(4):718-728. PMID 23734521. In Russian. 150 male lorry drivers, average age 43.3 ± 0.9 years, against 150 metalworkers as an occupational comparison rather than a comparison of the peptide. The reported p-values of 0.001 to 0.05 are attributed to bioregulating peptides in general and to the combination of Pinealon and this peptide, not to it alone.
- Bashkireva AS, Kachan EY (2015). Assessment of work ability index in evaluation of small peptides geroprotective effect. Advances in Gerontology 28(3):510-512. PMID 28509489. In Russian. An observational report with neither a group size nor any effect size; this peptide appears only through full-text indexing, not in the abstract.
- Khavinson V, Ilina A, Kraskovskaya N, Linkova N, Kolchina N, Mironova E, Erofeev A, Petukhov M (2021). Neuroprotective effects of tripeptides-epigenetic regulators in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Pharmaceuticals 14(6):515. PMID 34071923. PMCID PMC8227791. DOI 10.3390/ph14060515. Full text read. 400 µg/kg into the abdomen once daily from the second to the fourth month, ten animals per group, five male and five female. Mushroom spines 39.15 ± 1.08 against 41.25 ± 1.09 per cent (p = 0.003), thin spines −13 per cent (p = 0.008), spine density unchanged (p = 0.103).
- Russian pharmaceutical reference entry and trade pages for Везуген®, retrieved 17 September 2026. Food supplement registration RU.77.99.88.003.R.002691.08.22 of 12 August 2022, with an older registration 77.99.23.3.У.9172.8.06 of 29 August 2006. Makers ФАРМАКОР ПРОДАКШН and ХБО «Фирма ВИТА». Contents declared as "пептидный комплекс АС-2 (трипептид из лизина, глутаминовой кислоты, аспарагиновой кислоты)". Capsules and tablets of 0.215 g, tablets of 0.08 g and a 10 ml sublingual solution; 1 to 2 units once or twice daily with food, course 10 to 30 days, repeated after 3 to 6 months. Contraindications: individual intolerance, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and for the tablets a tendency to bowel upset. No peptide content per capsule is stated in any of the four sources checked. The registration numbers come from reference and trade sources, not from the primary register, which could not be reached (HTTP code 000).
- PubChem. Compound CID 87571363, "Lysyl-glutamyl-aspartic acid", synonym Lys-Glu-Asp, C15H26N4O8, 390.39 g/mol, exact mass 390.17506380, InChIKey LLSUNJYOSCOOEB-GUBZILKMSA-N, calculated XLogP −7.4, topological polar surface area 222 Ų, complexity 554, CAS 204271-66-9, ChEBI 159909. Retrieved 17 September 2026. A name search for the trade name itself returns nothing; the structure is findable only under the sequence. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/87571363
- St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, section on cytogens, retrieved 17 September 2026. Names the institute as originator and gives the declared purpose as a peptide complex whose amino acids contribute to normalising the functional state of vessels. The same site keeps the synthetic single molecules ("cytogens") separate from the animal-tissue extracts ("cytomaxes") such as Ventfort. Cited as evidence of what the originator claims, not as evidence of effect.
- US National Library of Medicine, MeSH supplementary concept record UID 67533570, "lysyl-glutamyl-aspartic acid", mapped to oligopeptides. Entry terms include "Lys-Glu-Asp", "vesugen", "tripeptide t-38" and "t-38 tripeptide". Retrieved 17 September 2026. This is the only official record found that ties the trade name, the laboratory code and the sequence together.
- EMBL-EBI UniChem, InChIKey LLSUNJYOSCOOEB-GUBZILKMSA-N, retrieved 17 September 2026. Exactly four sources hold the structure: ChEBI 159909, SureChEMBL 3767701, PubChem 87571363 and Wikipedia. Neither ChEMBL nor DrugBank nor DSSTox carries it. Cited also to separate Lys-Glu-Asp from the four-amino-acid Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala.
- Khavinson V, Grigoriev E, Malinin V, Ryzhak G. Peptide, pharmaceutical composition, and a method of treating microcirculation disorders. US patent 7,851,449 B2, priority 23 May 2006, granted 14 December 2010, applicant SIA Peptides OOO. Full text read. Claims H-Lys-Glu-Asp-OH as SEQ ID NO:1 with the formula C15H26N4O8 and mass 390.39. Examples: 32 rat vessel fragments at 1 to 200 ng/ml, 45 rats with experimental gum inflammation, and two patient series of 25 and 23 people, with a range of 0.01 to 100 µg per kg of body weight. Patent examples are not peer-reviewed studies. https://patents.google.com/patent/US7851449B2/en
- Khavinson VKh, Linkova NS, Polyakova VO, Kheifets OV, Tarnovskaya SI, Kvetnoy IM (2012). Peptides tissue-specifically stimulate cell differentiation during their aging. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 153(1):148-151. PMID 22808515. DOI 10.1007/s10517-012-1664-1. Writes out "vesugen (Lys-Glu-Asp)". In this paper, which is meant to show that each peptide of the series has its own target tissue, the target tissue for this one is the fibroblast and not the vessel.
- Voicekhovskaya MA, Chalisova NI, Kontsevaya EA, Ryzhak GA (2012). Effect of bioregulatory tripeptides on the culture of skin cells from young and old rats. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 152(3):357-359. PMID 22803085. DOI 10.1007/s10517-012-1527-9. Resolves T-38 as (Lys-Glu-Asp) in the abstract, and shows that the neighbouring codes T-32, T-33, T-34 and T-36 denote other peptides. In explants from old rats T-38 produced a marked effect on growth.
- PubMed, via NCBI E-utilities, and Europe PMC, REST search, retrieved 17 September 2026. "Vesugen" returns 27 PubMed records and 10 in Europe PMC, "Vezugen" 5 and 7, "Lys-Glu-Asp" 53 and 435. The Europe PMC total is dominated by mistaken hits where the search matches amino acid lists inside protein sequences; three samples were checked individually. After those are removed, roughly 30 papers concern the substance, several of which carry only the code T-38. Practically all of them include an author from the originating institute; the one partly external group publishes jointly with it, so no independent replication was found.
- Khavinson VKh, Lin'kova NS, Umnov RS (2021). Peptide KED: molecular-genetic aspects of neurogenesis regulation in Alzheimer's disease. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 171(2):190-193. PMID 34173097. DOI 10.1007/s10517-021-05192-6. Full text and complete reference list read. Source of the sentence "Peptide KED (Lys-Glu-Asp) was identified as a component of a polypeptide complex isolated from blood vessels", of the claim about memory and attention in older people, of the factors of 1.8 to 2.0 for the nerve differentiation markers, and of the assertion that short peptides are "practically not hydrolyzed in the blood and gastrointestinal tract", for which no measurements are given.
- Zhurkovich IK, Kovrov NG, Ryzhak GA, Mironova ES, Khavinson VKh (2020). Identification of short peptides as part of polypeptide complexes isolated from animal organs. Uspekhi Sovremennoi Biologii 140(2):140-148. DOI 10.31857/S004213242002012X. In Russian. The single supporting reference for the claim that the peptide was isolated from blood vessels. Not indexed in PubMed (search on 17 September 2026 returned nothing) and not obtainable in full text, so the analytical basis of the vessel assignment could not be checked.
- United States register checks, 17 September 2026. openFDA drug label API: not found, control query "semaglutide" returns 18 labels. openFDA drugs@FDA: not found. openFDA adverse event database: not found. DailyMed web services v2: zero entries, database state 16 September 2026, control query returns 9. FDA Global Substance Registration System: zero records for the name and zero for the structure key, so no substance code exists. https://gsrs.ncats.nih.gov
- 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. Full text read, all four score tables extracted. KED reaches −24.79 at LAT1 (rank 21 of 26), −20.09 at LAT2 (rank 19), −16.42 at PEPT1 (rank 21) and +11.14 at PEPT2 (rank 20, a positive score meaning no binding). The authors do not list it among the most effective ligands. Molecular modelling only, with no experimental transport measurement.
- Western research-chemical listing, retrieved 17 September 2026. Freeze-dried powder in 20 mg vials, sequence given as Lys-Glu-Asp, purity stated by the seller as "≥ 99 % (HPLC Verified)" with no certificate and no named laboratory, and marked "For Laboratory & Research Use Only — Not for Human or Veterinary Use". Trade record, cited as evidence of what is sold. Not linked.
- Sinjari B, Diomede F, Khavinson V, Mironova E, Linkova N, Trofimova S, Trubiani O, Caputi S (2020). Short peptides protect oral stem cells from ageing. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports 16(1):159-166. PMID 31677028. DOI 10.1007/s12015-019-09921-3. Human periodontal ligament and gingival stem cells at passage 25, three groups. The ageing markers p16 and p21 fell by factors of 1.82 to 3.23 against control, against 1.56 to 2.44 for the comparison peptide. No concentration and no p-values in the abstract; the stated purpose is improving culture media.
- Lin'kova NS, Drobintseva AO, Orlova OA, Kuznetsova EP, Polyakova VO, Kvetnoy IM, Khavinson VKh (2016). Peptide regulation of skin fibroblast functions during their aging in vitro. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 161(1):175-178. PMID 27259496. DOI 10.1007/s10517-016-3370-x. MMP-9 suppressed and Ki-67 and CD98hc raised by all four peptides tested. Explicitly negative for this one: suppression of caspase-dependent cell death was achieved only by two of the others. No concentrations and no p-values in the abstract.
- Kuznik BI, Khavinson VK, Tarnovskaya SI, Linkova NS, Kozina LS, Dyakonov MM (2015). Adhesion molecule JAM-A, its function and mechanism of epigenetic regulation. Advances in Gerontology 28(4):656-668. PMID 28509452. In Russian. A review with no experiment and no docking. The authors label their own proposal as a hypothesis, writing that short peptides "could influence on F11R gene expression".
- Khavinson VKh, Lin'kova NS, Evlashkina EV, Durnova AO, Kozlov KL, Gutop OE (2014). Molecular aspects of anti-atherosclerotic effects of short peptides. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 158(1):159-163. PMID 25408528. DOI 10.1007/s10517-014-2713-8. Organotypic and dissociated vessel cell cultures during ageing; Ki-67 raised, p53 lowered and E-selectin lowered. The paper names only the code T-38 and never the sequence or the trade name, so it is invisible to a search for either.
- Khavinson V, Ilina A, Kraskovskaya N, et al. (2025). Correction: Khavinson et al. Neuroprotective effects of tripeptides-epigenetic regulators in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Pharmaceuticals 18(1):111. Recorded as existing; the content of the correction could not be established in this research. A second correction exists for the 2017 cell paper, Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 163(5):699.
- Kraskovskaya NA, Kukanova EO, Lin'kova NS, Popugaeva EA, Khavinson VK (2017). Tripeptides restore the number of neuronal spines under conditions of in vitro modeled Alzheimer's disease. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 163(4):550-553. PMID 28853087. DOI 10.1007/s10517-017-3847-2. Mouse hippocampal cultures at 200 ng/ml: KED raised mushroom spines by 20 per cent, EDR by 71 per cent and back to the normal level. The authors recommend EDR, not KED, for further study as a candidate. A correction exists, Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 163(5):699.
- Kraskovskaya N, Linkova N, Sakhenberg E, Krieger D, Polyakova V, Medvedev D, Krasichkov A, Khotin M, Ryzhak G (2024). Short peptides protect fibroblast-derived induced neurons from age-related changes. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25(21):11363. PMID 39518916. PMCID PMC11546785. Nerve cells transdifferentiated from the skin cells of older donors. All three peptides encouraged dendrite branching; explicitly negative: "Tripeptides have no effect on the activity of mitochondria and lysosomes and the level of p16 protein in induced neurons." The reduction of oxidative DNA damage was achieved only by EDR.
- Ashapkin V, Khavinson V, Shilovsky G, Linkova N, Vanuyshin B (2020). Gene expression in human mesenchymal stem cell aging cultures: modulation by short peptides. Molecular Biology Reports 47(6):4323-4329. PMID 32399807. DOI 10.1007/s11033-020-05506-3. Human embryonic bone marrow stem cells at nanomolar concentrations. FOXO1 suppressed by factors of 1.6 to 2.3, IGF1 raised by factors of 3.5 to 5.6 (reported jointly for three peptides), TNKS2 suppressed in one ageing model and stimulated in the other, NFκB raised in both. No p-values reported.
- Balashova SN, Zhernakov GL, Dudkov AV (2008). Application of peptide bioregulators by old people suffering from psycho-emotional disorders. Advances in Gerontology 21(3):448-452. PMID 19432183. In Russian, not open access. Cited in a 2021 review as the source for the claim that swallowing this peptide improved memory and attention in older people. The abstract never mentions the peptide, the trade name, the sequence or the code, and speaks only of "peptide bioregulators", so the claim cannot be traced to a substance-specific study.
- Linkova NS, Khavinson VKh, Chalisova NI, Katanugina AS, Koncevaya EA (2011). Peptidergic stimulation of differentiation of pineal immune cells. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 152(1):124-127. PMID 22803057. DOI 10.1007/s10517-011-1470-1. Wording: "Tripeptide vesugen had no effect on differentiation capacity of immune cells of the pineal gland, but enhanced their proliferation potential." Vilon and Epithalon steered that differentiation; this peptide did not.
- Kozina LS, Arutiunian AV, Stvolinskii SL, Khavinson VKh (2008). Biological activity of regulatory peptides in model experiments in vitro. Advances in Gerontology 21(1):68-73. PMID 18546826. In Russian. Cell-free and cellular models with human lipoproteins, red blood cell membranes and nerve cells. The peptides showed no direct antioxidant activity, limited lipid peroxidation through a change in lipoprotein structure, and raised the steady-state level of intracellular reactive oxygen species while lowering the share of dead nerve cells.
- Khavinson VKh, Nikolsky IS, Nikolskaya VV, Zubov DA, Galickaya SN, Taranuha LI, Semenova YM, Lisica NA, Linkova NS, Butenko GM (2011). Effect of tripeptides on lymphoid and stem cells. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine 151(6):722-725. PMID 22485217. DOI 10.1007/s10517-011-1425-6. T-38 at 0.1, 1 and 10 ng/ml slowed the division of primary embryonic mesenchymal stem cells and of cultured cell lines. No effect on lymphocyte survival, adhesion or induced proliferation, and none on granulocyte function.
- Two user-facing pages listing schedules for this peptide, retrieved 17 September 2026. One gives a build-up from 500 µg in week one to 1,500 to 2,000 µg daily under the skin from week four, with courses of 10 to 20 days; the other gives 10 mg daily into muscle for ten days. The two differ by up to a factor of 20 and take different routes. Neither links its figures to a study. Trade records, cited only as evidence that such schedules circulate. Not linked.
- US Food and Drug Administration. Bulk drug substances nominated for use in compounding under section 503A. Downloaded and checked in full text on 17 September 2026 (816 lines): neither the name, nor the code, nor the sequence appears in any of the three categories, so the substance was never even put forward for review. The control search for "GHK-Cu" returns hits. https://www.fda.gov/media/94155/download
- European, British, Australian, Swiss and Russian register checks, 17 September 2026. The European Medicines Agency search returned only its JavaScript search interface with no results list. MHRA Products returned only "Loading results for …". The Australian goods register returned HTTP code 000 on the first attempt and timed out after 60 seconds on the second. The Swissmedic site was reachable but its product list could not be extracted. The Russian consumer protection register returned HTTP code 000, and the EU novel food catalogue returned only a page title. These are findings of non-retrievability, not confirmed absences; the conclusion that no authorisation exists rests on the readable registers and on the absence of an international non-proprietary name and of a medicines classification code. Australia treats peptides without a register entry as unapproved therapeutic goods regardless of naming.
- German Anti-Doping Act, annex to section 2 paragraph 3, published as BGBl. 2023 I No. 67. Full text checked 17 September 2026: the name, the code and the sequence do not appear, and the control search for "Wachstumsfaktor" returns hits. Section II.3 lists exactly four growth factor entries by name and has no open clause of the kind the international list uses, so a vessel-active tripeptide is not covered by it. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/antidopg/anlage.html
- Health Canada, Drug Product Database API, brand name query and active ingredient query, both returning empty arrays. Control query "ozempic" returns a full record with DIN 02471469. Retrieved 17 September 2026. https://health-products.canada.ca/api/drug/drugproduct/
- World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List, sections S0 and S2.3. Full text checked 17 September 2026: "vesugen", "vezugen", "KED", "Lys-Glu", "bioregulator" and "khavinson" return no match, while the control search for "BPC-157" returns hits, so the classification follows from the general clause. S0 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". S2.3 ends with "and other growth factors or growth factor modulators affecting muscle, tendon or ligament protein synthesis/degradation, vascularisation, energy utilization, regenerative capacity or fibre type switching". https://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibited-list
- Kozina LS (2008). Investigation of antihypoxic properties of short peptides. Advances in Gerontology 21(1):61-67. PMID 18546825. In Russian. Of the four short peptides tested in low-oxygen models, the strongest effect belonged to Pinealon, not to this one.
Cite this page
The register checks and literature searches behind this page were run on 17 September 2026. For a substance whose best-known figures belong to a different preparation, that date is part of the finding.
myPeptides Research & Editing. (2026). Vesugen: what the studies show, status and safety. Version 1.0, 17 September 2026. myPeptides Peptide Register. Retrieved from https://mypep.app/peptides/vesugen
How pages in this register are compiled and graded is described under methodology; the full register is at peptides.
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-09-17 | Initial publication |
Last verified: 17 September 2026. Next review: on the appearance of any registered study in people, any independent replication of the vessel findings, or any change in the anti-doping classification.
