Dazdotuftide
A worm-inspired anti-inflammatory made by joining the peptide tuftsin to phosphorylcholine, tested as eye drops against a steroid in uveitis
Dazdotuftide joins tuftsin, a four-amino-acid immune peptide, to phosphorylcholine, a molecule that parasitic worms use to calm their host's immune system. It eased lupus, arthritis, colitis and a multiple sclerosis model in mice. As TRS01 eye drops it was compared with the steroid prednisolone in a phase 3 trial in uveitis, published in 2026: it cleared inflammation less often than the steroid but raised eye pressure less. It is not approved.
Used in human trials: 1% eye drop, 4 times daily, Topical (eye) (Study: active anterior non-infectious uveitis (phase 3)) Details ↓
Recommended Dosing
Used in human trials
No manufacturer dose exists for this use: these are amounts given in published trials, not recommendations.
What is it?
Autoimmune diseases are less common where parasitic worm infections are common. One explanation is that worms, to survive inside a host for years, release molecules that damp the host's immune responses. Phosphorylcholine is one of them: worms attach it to proteins they secrete, and it has a long record of calming immune cells in laboratory studies. Tuftsin is a four-amino-acid peptide of the body's own, derived from the spleen, that acts on macrophages. Researchers joined the two into one small molecule, tuftsin-phosphorylcholine, or TPC, hoping to get a worm's immune-calming effect without the worm. The drug name for TPC is dazdotuftide.
The group tested it in four mouse models. In mice genetically prone to lupus, injections three times a week reduced protein in the urine and immune deposits in the kidneys, and in mice that already had kidney disease it worked about as well as the steroid methylprednisolone and prolonged survival. In collagen-induced arthritis, given by injection or by mouth, it kept the joints almost normal while untreated mice developed severely inflamed joints, and it did so when started after the disease had set in. It eased chronic colitis when given by mouth and reduced the signs of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model of multiple sclerosis. Across these studies it lowered inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α, raised the calming cytokine IL-10, and expanded regulatory T and B cells, the immune cells that hold other responses in check.
The authors propose that each half does a different job. In cell experiments the tuftsin part shifted macrophages towards their anti-inflammatory form through the receptor neuropilin-1, while the phosphorylcholine part reduced the expression of toll-like receptor 4, an alarm receptor for bacterial products. Tuftsin or phosphorylcholine alone did not protect the arthritic mice. Blood cells and artery biopsies from people with giant cell arteritis, an inflammation of large arteries, made less of many inflammatory cytokines when exposed to TPC in the dish, comparable to the steroid dexamethasone.
The company Tarsier Pharma took it into the eye, as TRS01 drops. Uveitis is inflammation inside the eye; its front form is usually treated with steroid drops, which work well but raise pressure inside the eye in some patients. Two small phase 1/2 studies, in uveitis and in inflammation after eye surgery, reported no serious adverse events on the trial registry. The phase 3 trial, TRS4Vision, randomised 136 adults and children with active anterior uveitis, some with uveitic glaucoma, two to one to TRS01 1% or prednisolone acetate 1%, four times a day for 28 days.
The result was mixed, and the published title stresses the favourable half. On the main measure, inflammatory cells in the front chamber of the eye, TRS01 was worse than the steroid: 48% against 68% of patients cleared completely, and 64% against 89% reached a clinically meaningful improvement. It was not worse on haze in the chamber or eye pain, and eye pressure stayed lower than on the steroid, also among patients whose inflammation cleared. The registry's posted results list serious adverse events in 2 of 90 patients on TRS01 and none of 49 on the steroid, without saying whether they were related to treatment.
So dazdotuftide is a real drug candidate with one completed phase 3 trial, a weaker anti-inflammatory than a standard steroid drop and a possible choice for patients whose eye pressure rises on steroids. A 2023 review proposed it for diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration, where it has not been tested. It has no approval anywhere, and no human study has tested it outside the eye.
Mechanism of Action
The developers describe a two-part action, one for each half of the molecule. These mechanisms come from mouse studies and cell experiments by the same group.
Macrophages via neuropilin-1
The tuftsin half shifted macrophages from the inflammatory M1 to the IL-10-secreting M2 form through neuropilin-1 (2018 arthritis study).
Toll-like receptor 4
The phosphorylcholine half reduced toll-like receptor 4 expression through the NF-κB pathway in reporter cells (2018 arthritis study).
Regulatory T and B cells
In arthritic, lupus-prone and colitic mice it expanded regulatory T cells and IL-10-making regulatory B cells (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 studies).
Inflammatory cytokines
It lowered IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, TNF-α and interferon-γ and raised IL-10 in mice, and reduced 15 cytokines from activated human blood cells in the dish (2019 giant cell arteritis study).
Published Research
These are the studies of dazdotuftide read from their PubMed abstracts on October 29, 2026: one phase 3 trial in patients, one study of patients' cells and tissue in the dish, seven mouse studies and three reviews. Nearly all come from the group that created it and the company developing it.
Phase 3: TRS01 against prednisolone in uveitis
In a double-masked trial, 136 patients with active anterior non-infectious uveitis used TRS01 1% or prednisolone acetate 1% four times a day for 28 days. Inflammatory cells cleared in 48% on TRS01 and 68% on the steroid, so TRS01 was inferior on that measure; it was non-inferior for haze and pain and kept eye pressure lower, including in patients whose inflammation cleared.
Giant cell arteritis: patients' cells and arteries
Activated blood cells from patients made less of 15 cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and interferon-γ, with TPC, and Th1 and Th17 differentiation fell; in inflamed temporal artery biopsies it lowered several cytokines. The effect resembled dexamethasone and exceeded it for some markers.
Lupus-prone mice, from 14 weeks
NZBxW/F1 mice injected with 5 µg under the skin three times a week from 14 weeks of age had less protein in the urine, fewer kidney immune deposits, more regulatory T cells, more TGF-β and IL-10, and less interferon-γ and IL-17.
Lupus nephritis: TPC against methylprednisolone
In lupus-prone mice treated after kidney disease had appeared, TPC (5 µg per mouse three times a week) and methylprednisolone both reduced proteinuria and antibodies against DNA, kept kidney structure normal and prolonged survival, to a similar degree.
Collagen-induced arthritis, prevention
Started before arthritis was induced, 5 µg under the skin or 250 µg by mouth gave a mean arthritis score of 1.5 against 11.8 in controls at day 31, normal joint histology, fewer collagen antibodies and more regulatory T and B cells.
Established arthritis
Started when mice already had arthritis, TPC lowered scores and preserved joints, while tuftsin or phosphorylcholine alone did not. Cell work linked the tuftsin half to M2 macrophages via neuropilin-1 and the phosphorylcholine half to lower toll-like receptor 4.
Arthritis and gut bacteria
Preventive TPC kept arthritis scores near normal and the gut bacterial community similar to healthy mice; a classifier built on a few bacterial species grouped every TPC-treated mouse with the healthy ones.
Multiple sclerosis model
In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, acute TPC treatment improved clinical scores and reduced inflammation and loss of myelin in the central nervous system compared with vehicle.
Chronic colitis, by mouth
After three cycles of dextran sulfate, oral TPC lowered the disease activity score, expanded regulatory T cells in gut lymph nodes, cut IL-1β, IL-17, IL-6 and TNF-α and raised IL-10.
The developers' review
Summarises TPC in mouse lupus, colitis and arthritis and in samples from giant cell arteritis: lower inflammatory cytokines, altered T-cell phenotypes and better disease scores, with no significant side effects noted in mice.
Worm products and autoimmunity
Reviews how helminth secretions modulate host immunity through pattern-recognition receptors, and describes TPC as combining a worm-derived phosphorylcholine with the spleen peptide tuftsin.
A candidate for diabetic eye disease and AMD
Argues that inflammation drives diabetic macular oedema and age-related macular degeneration beyond what anti-VEGF injections address, and proposes dazdotuftide as a multi-target anti-inflammatory candidate. No trial in these diseases is reported.
Dosing Data
Dazdotuftide is not approved and has no label. The row below is the regimen of the published phase 3 trial, an eye drop used under an ophthalmologist's care. No study has given it to people by any other route.
Educational information, not medical advice. Each dose above is tagged with its source: an approved label, a published human study, animal data, or amounts reported by users. None is a recommendation for you. An unapproved compound has no established safe or effective human dose, and products sold for “research use only” are not made or tested for people. Talk to a doctor before acting on anything on this site, including before you start, stop or change any medicine or dose. Full medical disclaimer.
What a Buyer Needs to Know
What is sold, how it is mixed, stored and taken, and what is known about its safety, quality and legal status. Each part names its source. Where we have none, it says unknown.
What is sold
Unknown: we hold no label and no published test that says what forms or vial sizes Dazdotuftide is sold in. A vial's own label is a seller's claim, not a source.
Mixing a vial: a worked example
No worked example: none of the doses on this page is a fixed amount in mg or mcg injected under the skin or into a muscle (the routes given are: topical (eye)). There is no home-mixing step to show. The reconstitution calculator does the arithmetic for any vial.
Source: the route and amount of each dose row in Dosing Data below.
Storage before and after mixing
Unknown: no label or published stability study on file says how to store Dazdotuftide, before or after mixing. The mixing guide sets out the general rules, with their sources: keep a mixed vial in the fridge, and use it promptly, as the bacteriostatic water label says of any drug dissolved in it. The 28 days often quoted is the limit for an opened multiple-dose vial from a manufacturer, an outer limit set for sterility, not a time a mixed solution has been shown to keep. Nobody has published how long Dazdotuftide stays intact once mixed.
How it is taken
As it was given in human studies: Topical (eye) (4 times daily; Study: active anterior non-infectious uveitis (phase 3)).
For injection technique, sites and needle disposal, see the mixing guide.
Source: Used in human trials: the route and frequency of each row in Dosing Data below.
What to expect, and when
How long it stays in the body: not established by a measurement cited on this entry.
How long the doses were given: Study: active anterior non-infectious uveitis (phase 3): 28 days.
When effects appear: unknown; no source on this page gives a time to effect for Dazdotuftide. Results reported in the studies are under Published Research.
Source: Used in human trials, the duration of each row in Dosing Data below.
Side effects, and when to stop or get help
From the Side Effects section: Less rise in eye pressure than prednisolone acetate, the trial's main safety finding (PMID 41485727); Serious adverse events in 2 of 90 patients on TRS01 and 0 of 49 on prednisolone, per the registry's posted results (NCT05042609); In the phase 1/2 uveitis study, adverse events in 2 of 8 on the low dose and 5 of 8 on the high dose, none serious (NCT04222712); No significant side effects were noted in the mouse studies (PMID 30554380). Full list and cautions ↓
When to stop or get help: unknown; no label or trial on file sets rules for stopping Dazdotuftide. Treat a severe or unexpected reaction as a reason to stop and see a doctor.
Source: the Side Effects section below (“From the phase 3 trial and the registry's posted results”).
Interactions
Unknown: a PubMed search for human interaction studies of Dazdotuftide (reviewed 2026-10-28) found none. Unknown is not the same as safe to combine.
Every peptide's record, with its source: the interaction matrix.
Checking what you bought
Unknown: no published independent test of Dazdotuftide products is in our lab-results database yet, so how products sold under this name measure up is not known.
To read a certificate of analysis, paste it into the COA decoder; it checks the measured mass against Dazdotuftide's expected mass, 1,006.1 Da, from this entry's molecular data. Trust & Verification explains what independent testing can and cannot show.
Legal status
US: In Clinical Trials (Not approved: Drugs@FDA and the EMA medicines list hold no record (searched October 28, 2026)). Sport: Prohibited (S0 catch-all).
Country by country ↓ · Regulatory tracker
Source: this entry's approval status and the WADA Prohibited List, as in Legal Status below.
Side Effects & Contraindications
Reported Side Effects
From the phase 3 trial and the registry's posted results.
Contraindications & Cautions
No label exists. These cautions follow from the evidence.
Legal Status
An investigational eye drop with one completed phase 3 trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
?What is dazdotuftide?
A small molecule made by joining the immune peptide tuftsin to phosphorylcholine, a molecule parasitic worms use to calm their host's immune system. Its research name is tuftsin-phosphorylcholine (TPC) and its eye-drop product is TRS01.
?Did it work in uveitis?
Partly. In the phase 3 trial it cleared inflammation in 48% of patients against 68% on prednisolone drops, so it was less effective on the main measure, but it raised eye pressure less than the steroid.
?Has it been tested for lupus, arthritis or MS in people?
No. Those results come from mouse models and from patients' cells in the dish. The only human trials are of the eye drop.
?Is it the same as tuftsin?
No. Tuftsin is one half of the molecule. Tuftsin and phosphorylcholine given separately did not protect arthritic mice, while the joined molecule did. Tuftsin has its own entry.
?Is it approved?
No, not in the US, the EU or elsewhere, as of October 2026.
References
- [other] PubChem CID 163203622, Dazdotuftide: formula C43H68N13O13P, molecular weight 1006.1. Read October 28, 2026. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/163203622
- [registry] ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, read October 28, 2026: NCT05042609 (phase 3, TRS4Vision, completed); NCT04222712 and NCT04222725 (phase 1/2, completed).
- [other] ChEMBL CHEMBL5095261, dazdotuftide (synonyms include TRS01): maximum clinical phase 3 in the ChEMBL molecule record, read October 2, 2026 (the Registry's ChEMBL harvest). https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembl/compound_report_card/CHEMBL5095261/
- [clinical-trial] Chu DS, et al. "Dazdotuftide: Novel Treatment for Noninfectious Uveitis with Superior Intraocular Pressure Safety Profile: A Randomized Clinical Trial." Am J Ophthalmol, 2026;284:78-87. PMID: 41485727.
- [pubmed] Croci S, et al. "The therapeutic potential of tuftsin-phosphorylcholine in giant cell arteritis." J Autoimmun, 2019;98:113-121. PMID: 30638709.
- [pubmed] Bashi T, et al. "Successful modulation of murine lupus nephritis with tuftsin-phosphorylcholine." J Autoimmun, 2015;59:1-7. PMID: 25864802.
- [pubmed] Shemer A, et al. "Tuftsin-phosphorylcholine (TPC) equally effective to methylprednisolone in ameliorating lupus nephritis in a mice model." Clin Exp Immunol, 2018;193(2):160-166. PMID: 29698559.
- [pubmed] Bashi T, et al. "Novel therapeutic compound tuftsin-phosphorylcholine attenuates collagen-induced arthritis." Clin Exp Immunol, 2016;184(1):19-28. PMID: 26618631.
- [pubmed] Blank M, et al. "Helminths-based bi-functional molecule, tuftsin-phosphorylcholine (TPC), ameliorates an established murine arthritis." PLoS One, 2018;13(8):e0200615. PMID: 30089122.
- [pubmed] Ben-Amram H, et al. "Tuftsin-Phosphorylcholine Maintains Normal Gut Microbiota in Collagen Induced Arthritic Mice." Front Microbiol, 2017;8:1222. PMID: 28740485.
- [pubmed] Novikova NS, et al. "Tuftsin-phosphorylcholine attenuate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis." J Neuroimmunol, 2019;337:577070. PMID: 31683117.
- [pubmed] Ben-Ami Shor D, et al. "Immunomodulation of Murine Chronic DSS-Induced Colitis by Tuftsin-Phosphorylcholine." J Clin Med, 2019;9(1). PMID: 31888063.
- [review] Segal Y, et al. "Tuftsin phosphorylcholine-a novel compound harnessing helminths to fight autoimmunity." Immunol Res, 2018;66(6):637-641. PMID: 30554380.
- [review] Blank M, et al. "Helminth-Related Tuftsin-Phosphorylcholine Compound and its Interplay with Autoimmune Diseases." Isr Med Assoc J, 2019;21(3):158-162. PMID: 30905098.
- [review] Vofo BN, et al. "Suppressing Inflammation for the Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy and Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Dazdotuftide as a Potential New Multitarget Therapeutic Candidate." Biomedicines, 2023;11(6). PMID: 37371657.
- [registry] ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, read October 29, 2026, posted results: NCT05042609 (TRS4Vision, phase 3, 142 enrolled; serious adverse events in 2 of 90 on TRS01 and 0 of 49 on prednisolone acetate); NCT04222712 (phase 1/2, active non-infectious anterior uveitis, 16 enrolled, low and high dose, no serious adverse events; adverse events in 2 of 8 and 5 of 8); NCT04222725 (phase 1/2, post-surgical inflammation, 37 enrolled, three doses and vehicle, no serious adverse events). Sponsor Tarsier Pharma. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05042609
Sources & Citations
Every study on this page was read from its PubMed record on October 29, 2026. Trial details and posted safety results come from ClinicalTrials.gov, read October 29, 2026; the formula is PubChem's; regulatory status comes from Drugs@FDA and the EMA medicines list, searched October 28, 2026. Grey Peptides sells nothing and links to no vendor.
Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and nothing here is an instruction to obtain or use any compound. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.