Ovagen

Mechanism of action

Proposed by its developers to bind promoter regions in liver and reproductive-tissue cells and change gene expression. The only indexed studies of the Glu-Asp-Leu sequence are cell and tissue cultures (kidney cells), not liver or reproductive tissue; no animal or human study was found.

Primary uses

• Investigational hepatic support (Russian literature)
• Research into reproductive-tissue aging

Typical dosing

Educational information, not medical advice. The doses on this page come from approved labels, published studies and, where no study exists, 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.

Regulatory status

Not FDA-approved. Marketed in Russia as a bioregulator supplement.

Status as of this entry's last review, October 4, 2026. Approvals, compounding rules and sport rules change; the regulatory tracker is checked more often.

What we checked

No paper indexed on PubMed about this peptide uses the name Ovagen, so this section records what can be checked: the identity this entry's source gives, the regulatory status on the date below, the studies of that sequence, and every search we ran.

Identity, computed

Glu-Asp-Leu is the sequence given by this entry's original source (Khavinson and Malinin, 2005), and we could not confirm the name-to-sequence link anywhere else. NLM MeSH has a record for glutamyl-aspartyl-leucine (C000600952) that does not list the name Ovagen. The only PubMed record with Ovagen in its title is a 1989 study of an ovine follicle-stimulating hormone product, also sold as Ovagen, used to superovulate goats; it is a different product and has nothing to do with this peptide.

Regulatory status, read October 4, 2026

Drugs@FDA: 0 records for “ovagen”. EMA medicines list: 0 records for “ovagen”. Run for semaglutide, the same queries return 6 and 5 records (and the registry search 84 trials), so a zero here is an absence, not a broken search. Not named on the WADA 2026 and 2027 Prohibited Lists. As a substance with no current approval for human therapeutic use, it falls under section S0 (non-approved substances), which is prohibited at all times; the lists were read on September 27, 2026.

What the maker or sellers claim

Claim, from its developers and Russian sellers: Ovagen supports liver function and the aging of reproductive tissue. No study of Glu-Asp-Leu in liver or reproductive tissue was found.

About the family, not this compound

The Khavinson peptides are di-, tri- and tetrapeptides developed at the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, most first isolated from animal tissue extracts and later made synthetically. The group proposes that they reach the cell nucleus and change gene expression in the tissue they are named for. Nearly all of the indexed work comes from that group and its collaborators.

A 2023 modelling study from the same group docked 26 of these short peptides, including AED, EDL, EDG and KEDG, into the amino-acid and peptide transporters LAT1, LAT2 and PEPT1, and proposed those transporters as their route into cells (Khavinson et al., 2023). It is a computer model of binding, not a measurement in cells, and it says nothing about any one product's effects.

What the studies of Glu-Asp-Leu show

Two culture studies test the EDL tripeptide, and neither calls it Ovagen. In aging kidney cell cultures, EDL and AED increased cell division, lowered the aging markers p16, p21 and p53 and raised SIRT6, and modelling placed both peptides in the minor groove of AT-rich DNA (Khavinson et al., 2014). A second kidney study, which calls EDL "T-35", found it stimulated cell division and reduced apoptosis in tissue from young and old rats, less strongly than a calf-kidney polypeptide extract (Chalisova et al., 2015). Both are in the References.

What we looked for and did not find

No study in liver, ovary, testis or any reproductive tissue; no animal study; no human study; no pharmacokinetic data; no registry record; no dose from a controlled study. The search for "ovagen" returns 34 records because PubMed also matches unrelated words; restricted to titles it returns the single goat study.

References

1. [review] Khavinson VK, Malinin VV. "Gerontological aspects of genome peptide regulation." Karger AG, Basel, 2005.
2. [pubmed] Khavinson VK, Kuznik BI, Ryzhak GA. "Peptide bioregulators: a new class of geroprotectors. Message 1. Results of experimental studies." Adv Gerontol, 2012;25:696-708. PMID: 23734519.
3. [pubmed] Khavinson VKh, et al. "[Tripeptides slow down aging process in renal cell culture]." Adv Gerontol, 2014;27(4):651-6. PMID: 25946838.
4. [pubmed] Chalisova NI, et al. "Peptide Regulation of Cells Renewal Processes in Kidney Tissue Cultures from Young and Old Animals." Bull Exp Biol Med, 2015;159(1):124-7. PMID: 26033601.
5. [pubmed] Khavinson VK, et al. "Feasibility of Transport of 26 Biologically Active Ultrashort Peptides via LAT and PEPT Family Transporters." Biomolecules, 2023;13(3). PMID: 36979488.

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