Carl read the papersWhat it actually is
Prostamax is a synthetic tetrapeptide, Lys-Glu-Asp-Pro (KEDP), described in a 2001 patent filing by the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology as a tetrapeptide 'regulating prostate functions'. It is sold online as a prostate peptide for men worried about prostatitis or prostate ageing.
Unlike Testagen or Cardiogen, we found no Russian supplement record and no registered medicine, so research powder is the main form around. A Russian drug company patented KEDP suppositories in 2017; we found no such product. Not to be confused with Prostatilen, an older prostate-extract medicine that the patent itself names as its prototype.
How it’s thought to work
- Prostate inflammation (rats) — In the developer's patent, rats with bacterial prostatitis given KEDP under the skin for 10 days had lower inflammation scores than untreated or saline-treated rats.
- Chromatin opening — In white blood cells from people aged 75 to 88 it loosened tightly packed chromatin and activated ribosomal genes, which the authors read as waking up age-silenced genes.
- Sister chromatid exchange — In cells from people aged 75 to 86 it roughly doubled sister chromatid exchanges (5.9 to 12.0 per cell). Toxicology uses that same measure as a marker of genetic damage.
- Prostate tissue — One 2006 rat study found it stimulated growth of prostate tissue explants in a dish. That and the patent are all the prostate-specific evidence we found.
What the research says
Two piles, neither convincing. The prostate pile is the developer's 2001 patent: rats with bacterial prostatitis, plus 35 men with chronic prostatitis and 19 with early prostate enlargement, injected daily for 10 to 40 days. It reports less pain and better urine flow, but gives no results for its comparison groups and says nothing about blinding. The journal pile is a few Georgian and Russian papers on chromatin in elderly people's white blood cells. In the most detailed, Prostamax roughly doubled sister chromatid exchanges (5.9 to 12.0 per cell). The authors call that healthy chromatin opening; toxicologists use the same rise as a marker of genetic damage. Not proof of harm, but not reassuring either.
- Khavinson-family tetrapeptide (KEDP), filed as a prostate-function patent in 2001 and sold online for prostate health.
- Developer's patent: rats with prostatitis, plus 35 men with chronic prostatitis and 19 with early prostate enlargement; no results given for the comparison groups.
- Journal papers: chromatin loosening in white blood cells from people aged 75 to 88; sister chromatid exchanges roughly doubled (5.9 to 12.0 per cell), a change toxicology usually reads as DNA stress.
- No published prostate trial, no registered trial, no independent replication found.
Reported protocols
These are the doses the peptide community actually reports running (Reddit & forums), alongside published research — logged for education, not as a recommendation to use.
| Parameter | Commonly reported range |
|---|---|
| Community dose | Not established. We found no vendor-independent user reports. |
| Developer's patent | Says its patient groups got 0.01 to 100 mcg per kg by injection into muscle, once a day for 10 to 40 days. A 10,000-fold range is not a dose anyone has pinned down. |
| Russian product | No supplement or medicine record found, so there is not even a capsule label to point to. |
| Prostate cancer | No dose, no use. Nothing suggests it treats or prevents prostate cancer. See a urologist or oncologist. |
| Carl's note | Prostate symptoms need a doctor's look first, because infection, benign enlargement and cancer can look alike early on. |
Common use cases
| Goal | Community protocol notes |
|---|---|
| Prostatitis and prostate enlargement | the marketed use; backed by the developer's patent, not a published trial |
| Prostate cancer | not a use case. No evidence at all; see a urologist or oncologist |
| Interest in the bioregulator family | it sits in the same sets as Epithalon and Testagen |
Mixing it (reconstitution)
Freeze-dried peptides must be reconstituted with bacteriostatic water before they can be measured. Carl’s calculator turns “mg in the vial + ml of water + target dose” into “units on the syringe” — and tells you how long the vial lasts.
→ Open the Reconstitution Calculator
Injection & handling
No injectable dose has been established in a published study. The developer's patent injected it into muscle in its patient groups and claims a per-kilogram range rather than a fixed amount; the rats got it under the skin. Research powder is sold for injection without any study behind a specific amount. Prostamax is not a treatment or prevention for prostate cancer, and nobody should use it that way. Prostate symptoms belong with a urologist.
Stacks it appears in
- With Testagen — Sold together as the 'male' bioregulator pair. Neither has a published trial on its target organ.
- With Vesugen — Sometimes sold alongside it. Oddly, the family peptides tested on ageing human prostate cells were Vesugen (in two cell studies) and Cardiogen, not Prostamax. No study tests any pairing.
Sources
- NCBI MeSH: Prostamax [Supplementary Concept]
- Patent EP1353939B1: Tetrapeptide regulating prostate functions (Lys-Glu-Asp-Pro), St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology
- Patent RU2640931C1: rectal suppositories containing lysyl-glutamyl-aspartyl-proline (ZAO Farm-Holding, 2017)
- Khavinson, Lezhava and Malinin 2004, Short peptides and lymphocyte chromatin in senile subjects
- Meskhi et al. 2004, Prostamax and heterochromatin of human lymphocytes in situ (Russian)
- Dzhokhadze et al. 2012, Deheterochromatinisation in old age induced by Lys-Glu-Asp-Pro (Russian)
- Zakutskii et al. 2006, Tissue-specific effect of synthetic peptide bioregulators in organotypic culture (Russian)
- Khavinson et al. 2012, Peptides tissue-specifically stimulate cell differentiation during ageing
- Kheifets et al. 2010, Peptide regulation of differentiation factors in ageing human prostate fibroblasts (Russian)
- Huang et al. 2023, Meta-analysis of cytogenetic biomarkers in healthcare workers exposed to antineoplastic drugs
- Vozianov et al. 1991, Prostatilen in patients with prostatic diseases (Russian)
- SAHPRA, Peptide Products: Public Information (May 2026)
- WADA Prohibited List 2026 (S0 and S2.2.1)
- ClinicalTrials.gov search: prostamax
