SS-31 (Elamipretide)
Clinical evidenceThe first mitochondria-targeting peptide to win FDA approval, for one ultra-rare disease, while its broader longevity story stays a hope.
What it is
SS-31, also called elamipretide, is a four-amino-acid peptide that dives into your mitochondria and latches onto a special fat called cardiolipin found on the inner membrane where energy is made. It was developed over fifteen-plus years, and in September 2025 it became the first mitochondria-targeting drug the FDA approved, under the name Forzinity, for Barth syndrome, a rare heart condition.
How it works
Cardiolipin is like the mortar holding the energy machinery in place. When it is damaged or oxidized, the machinery falls apart and energy output drops. SS-31 only sticks to damaged or oxidized cardiolipin and leaves healthy mitochondria alone, helping them rebuild their structure and restore normal energy (ATP) production.
What people report
- ✦In its approved use (Barth syndrome) it improved walking distance on a six-minute walk test
- ✦May support heart and mitochondrial function in age-related decline, a theoretical fit many pursue
- ✦Side effects across trials have been consistently mild
- ✦Its clean profile is linked to how it preferentially targets stressed mitochondria
Typical use
The approved protocol is a daily subcutaneous injection of 40 mg for patients weighing at least 30 kg. For healthy longevity use, no validated cycle exists.
Dosing reference
Approved dose is 40 mg subcutaneously daily (for Barth syndrome). Outside that specific disease there is no established dose, and the approved drug is priced at roughly $800,000 a year, which should tell you what the real product is. Verify any gray-market use against that.
Reference only — not a recommendation. Verify via primary sources.
Watch for
The approval was accelerated and based on fewer than a thousand patients, and some earlier heart-failure and mitochondrial-myopathy trials missed their goals. For general anti-aging in healthy adults there are no controlled trials at all, just extrapolation.
Notes
That we finally have an FDA-approved mitochondria-targeting drug is a milestone. It just is not approval for the longevity use most people ask about.
Reconstitution math for SS-31 (Elamipretide)
Typical vial: 10mg dissolved in 1ml BAC water. Adjust to see the math.
Reconstitution Calculator
Understand the math — pick a peptide, see its info, and how reconstitution works.
BPC-157
Healing & recoveryThe repair peptide everyone in the gym talks about — powerful in rats, still unproven in humans.
BPC-157 is a short chain of 15 amino acids. It is not a natural hormone your body makes on its own. It was built in a lab as a fragment of a larger 'body protection compound' first found in human stomach juice in the 1990s. Vendors sell this engineered piece, not a natural sequence.
How it works (optional detail)
In animal studies, BPC-157 seems to nudge faster blood-vessel growth at injured spots, which is the body's first step in healing. It also appears to quiet inflammation. The idea is that by tickling repair pathways rather than ordering one single thing, it helps tendons, ligaments, and gut lining recover speedier than they would on their own.
Dosing reference: Common community dosing is a few hundred micrograms a day, usually injected near the site or into belly fat. There is no approved human dose.
Reconstitution math
Concentration: 10.000 mg/ml (10mg in 1ml)
To get 1mg, draw:
0.100 ml
≈ 10 units on a U-100 insulin syringe
This calculator shows how the arithmetic works using common vial sizes. It is an educational illustration — not a dosing recommendation. Always follow the specific product's instructions and verify with primary sources or a qualified professional.
Educational content — not medical advice.