TB-500: two different routes
Research-labelled material
Promise Peptides prescribes TB-500 at mypromise.com. This product needs a prescription.
TB-500 labelled for research is still sold.
A licensed U.S. clinician checks each case; some requests are declined.
The label does not grant a prescription.
U.S. patients only; state rules and the chosen treatment narrow the options.
Research labelling gives no FDA drug approval.
This TB-500 product, made by compounding, lacks FDA drug approval.
THYMOSIN BETA-4: HEALING, SCARS, AND HUMAN STUDIES
Your sore tendon comes first; TB-500 and thymosin beta-4 claims come second
See which substance each test used and who received it. Results from people, live animals, and loose cells are kept apart for you.
What TB-500 may change and what no one knows
A sore knee or tendon can make any repair claim tempting. You may want relief, yet TB-500 is only one lab-made piece of thymosin beta-4.
Your cells make the whole protein and use it near injured tissue. TB-500 copies seven blocks marked 17 through 23 [1]; those numbers only show where the blocks sit in the long chain.
The protein actin helps a cell hold its shape and move. The small piece can hold loose actin, but it lacks the full protein's other parts.
Sellers and sport labs use the name TB-500 for the small piece. It weighs 889 daltons; the lab calls each tiny weight unit a dalton; this number identifies which protein part is present but can't predict your result.
The full thymosin beta-4 protein weighs about 4963 daltons [5]. A result from the 4963 dalton protein doesn't automatically fit the 889 dalton piece.
The small piece has zero finished, controlled tests in people [6]. FDA hasn't approved it as a drug, and sport rules ban it.
The full research summary names the subject of each test for you. You can also read scar and swelling findings, amounts from each study, and TB-500 legal status.
For organ scars, start with TB-500 fibrosis research. For possible harm, the FAQ covers TB-500 side effects and safety signs.
How TB-500 may help repair cells move
To close a cut, skin cells change shape and crawl across the gap. Actin, a protein inside them, helps make that possible.
Researchers held thymosin beta-4 still and took an X-ray picture. That setup had 1 purpose: show how the full protein grips actin.
The X-ray showed detail as small as 2 ten-billionths of a meter [1]. That fine detail let the scientists see the grip.
One protein held one loose actin part. Scientists write that one-to-one hold as 1:1.
Holding actin back keeps a cell from building support strands too early. In injured animals, thymosin beta-4 let repair cells travel while small blood vessels formed [5].
TB-500 keeps only thymosin beta-4's actin-gripping section. The how TB-500 works page explains why no fair human TB-500 test has shown that this section can match all the work done by the full protein.
What can go wrong with TB-500 powder
Research powder often comes freeze-dried. A lab adds sterile water, sometimes made to slow germ growth, and keeps the mixture cold [16].
The small piece may last better than the whole protein. Even so, heat, repeated thawing, and proteins in the body can break TB-500 apart.
With an untested seller, you can't know whether the vial holds the right piece or is as clean as claimed [17]. That doubt makes any good or bad change harder to judge.
Drug-testing labs can find TB-500 and what remains after it breaks down [13]. Those tests look for the small piece, not the whole protein.
A wound or heart study labeled "thymosin beta-4" will usually mean the full protein. A sport test labeled "TB-500" will usually mean the small piece.
Keeping those names apart helps you avoid a false claim. The tests also explain the sport-ban status, since sport rules bar the small piece itself.
What TB-500 research found in wounds, hearts, and hair
Researchers have looked at wounds, hearts, brains, hair, swelling, and scars [5]. They usually gave full thymosin beta-4 to animals or tested it in a lab dish.
In one rat wound test, new skin cover grew 42% more by 4 days. By 7 days, the gain reached 61% over salt water [3].
Researchers blocked a vessel feeding mouse hearts, then gave full thymosin beta-4. More heart cells stayed alive [2], but mice can't show how your body would respond to the small piece.
No controlled study in people has found that TB-500 heals an illness or injury [6]. Your body releases full thymosin beta-4 during exercise, which may help explain the interest in recovery.
That exercise finding belongs to thymosin beta-4. It isn't proof that TB-500 will mend your tendon, ease your knee, or grow your hair.
What is the small TB-500 piece meant to do?
TB-500 is made from seven building blocks, the stretch numbered 17–23 in thymosin beta-4 [1]. The small piece weighs about 889 daltons versus 4963 daltons for the full protein; a dalton is the lab's tiny unit of weight, not a sign of what either one does.
Where did the name TB-500 come from?
TB means thymosin beta, and TB-500 names a section of thymosin beta-4 made in a lab [5]. The number is a seller's label, not a drug name; the seven-part section uses protein blocks numbered 17–23.
Which changes have TB-500 researchers watched?
Researchers watched wound repair, heart and brain recovery, hair, swelling, scars, and blood-vessel growth [5]. Nearly every test gave full thymosin beta-4 to an animal or used a dish of cells, so the results can't predict your response to TB-500.
How might TB-500 change a repair cell's movement?
TB-500 can hold one loose piece of actin; the lab writes one holding one as 1:1 [1]. Actin helps your cells change shape and move, but no controlled human test proves this small piece copies full thymosin beta-4.
What people felt and what studies proved
The TB-500 effects and safety page starts with aches, movement, and other changes posted online. Those people used the substance on their own; a controlled study didn't enroll them or check what caused each change.