Carl read the papersWhat it actually is
Thymalin is a polypeptide extract from the thymus glands of calves (and young cattle under a year old), freeze-dried at 10 mg per vial and injected into the muscle. It is a registered prescription drug in Russia (current registration 2024, holder Samson-Med) for immune deficiency linked to severe infections and sepsis, radiation injury, lasting loss of thymus function, poor healing, or immune and blood-count suppression after chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Most of the research on it comes from Vladimir Khavinson and Vladimir Morozov's group in St Petersburg, the same people behind the short bioregulators. Their later work names two dipeptides as its active components: Lys-Glu (sold on its own as Vilon) and Glu-Trp, which became a Russian drug in its own right, Thymogen.
How it’s thought to work
- Immune restoration — The label describes it as restoring impaired immune reactivity: regulating T and B lymphocyte numbers and stimulating cell-mediated immunity and phagocytosis.
- Stem cell differentiation — In lab work it pushed human blood-forming stem cells towards mature CD28+ T cells.
- Active dipeptides — Lys-Glu is proposed to activate immune cells and Glu-Trp to act on blood vessels. Part of that comes from computer modelling, part from cell experiments.
- Clotting and inflammation — In a Russian study of severe COVID-19 patients, the Thymalin group was reported to double its lymphocyte counts and lower D-dimer and fibrinogen. The study does not describe randomisation.
What the research says
Two kinds of evidence. The licensing history: decades of Russian clinical use and papers, mostly in Russian. And the headline everyone quotes: Khavinson and Morozov followed 266 older people for 6-8 years and reported death rates 2.0-2.1 times lower with Thymalin, and 4.1 times lower in a group given Thymalin plus Epithalamin every year for six years. Results that large would be extraordinary. They come from the developers, the abstracts do not describe randomisation, and a PubMed search turns up no independent repeat. A 2022 Russian COVID study reported lower hospital deaths with Thymalin, though its English and Russian abstracts give different figures for the same group (20.6% and 16.2%, against 40.9% on standard care).
- Registered prescription drug in Russia for immune deficiency states.
- Developer study: 266 older people, 6-8 years, 2.0-2.1x lower mortality reported; no independent replication found.
- Proposed active components: the dipeptides Lys-Glu (Vilon) and Glu-Trp.
- No studies on ClinicalTrials.gov; most of the literature is Russian-language.
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 |
|---|---|
| Label dose | Adults: 5-20 mg into the muscle once a day for 3-10 days depending on how severe the immune problem is, 30-100 mg per course (Russian label). Prescription medicine. |
| Repeat course | If needed, 1-6 months later |
| Prevention course (label) | Adults: 5-10 mg into the muscle daily for 3-5 days |
| Form | Freeze-dried powder, 10 mg of thymus extract per vial |
| Gaps in the label | No dosing data for older people or for kidney or liver impairment, per the label itself |
| Community tip | Longevity use online copies the developers' pattern of short courses repeated over years. The label was written for immune deficiency, not ageing. |
Common use cases
| Goal | Community protocol notes |
|---|---|
| Immune deficiency (prescribed, Russia) | after severe infections, sepsis or radiation injury, per the label |
| Anti-ageing courses | the use online, based on the developers' mortality study; not what it is licensed for |
| Paired with Epithalamin/Epithalon | the combination in the developers' six-year study |
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
Thymalin is an intramuscular drug: the freeze-dried powder is dissolved and injected into the muscle once a day for a short course. The label lists allergic reactions as the possible side effect, rules it out in pregnancy, breastfeeding and known hypersensitivity, and asks for caution in anyone with a history of allergies. It also lists the days around a period and some hormone conditions (pituitary adenoma, acromegaly) as relative reasons not to use it, warns that side effects are more likely with severe hormone disorders, and advises against alcohol during treatment. The label's storage range is 2 to 25 °C.
Stacks it appears in
- With Epithalon — The developers' long-term study paired Thymalin with Epithalamin, the group's pineal extract. Epithalon is the synthetic pineal peptide sold today.
- With Thymosin Alpha-1 — Both are thymus-derived immune peptides. Thymosin Alpha-1 is one defined peptide; Thymalin is a mixed extract.
- Vs Vilon — Vilon is Lys-Glu, one of the dipeptides proposed as Thymalin's active parts, made synthetically and with far less behind it.
Sources
- Vidal.ru: Thymalin (Тималин), Russian label
- Khavinson VKh, Morozov VG. Peptides of pineal gland and thymus prolong human life. Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2003
- Khavinson VKh, Morozov VG. Geroprotective effect of thymalin and epithalamin. Adv Gerontol 2002 (Russian)
- Kuznik BI et al. Blood clotting system in severe COVID-19 patients treated with Tocilizumab and Thymalin. Adv Gerontol 2022 (Russian)
- Linkova N et al. KE and EW dipeptides in the composition of the Thymalin drug. Int J Mol Sci 2023
- Khavinson VK et al. Thymalin: activation of differentiation of human hematopoietic stem cells. Bull Exp Biol Med 2020
- Anisimov VN, Khavinson VK, Morozov VG. Immunomodulatory synthetic dipeptide L-Glu-L-Trp slows down aging and inhibits spontaneous carcinogenesis in rats. Biogerontology 2000
- Medsafe (NZ): Classification of Unscheduled Peptides, submission to the MCC, June 2025
- ClinicalTrials.gov search: thymalin
- SAHPRA: Peptide Products - Public Information (May 2026)
- WADA 2026 Prohibited List
