Pinealon, Vesugen and Prostamax: The "Khavinson Bioregulators," Checked

Pinealon, Vesugen and Prostamax are three- and four-amino-acid peptides that come almost entirely from one research program in St. Petersburg, and none has been tested in an independent, registered, placebo-controlled trial. Pinealon is Glu-Asp-Arg (EDR), Vesugen is Lys-Glu-Asp (KED), and Prostamax is Lys-Glu-Asp-Pro (KEDP)⁸¹¹. Each is sold as a "bioregulator" for one organ: brain, blood vessels and prostate. The evidence is mostly cell cultures and rodents, plus a handful of small, uncontrolled studies in older Russian patients.

The finding that went the wrong way is the prostate one. A PubMed search for Prostamax returns six papers. Only one involved the prostate at all, and it used slices of rat prostate tissue in a dish¹². The rest measured chromatin in blood cells¹¹¹³. No published study has given Prostamax to a living animal or person and looked at the prostate.

The single-laboratory pattern

All three peptides trace to Vladimir Khavinson and the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, the same group behind Epitalon¹¹³. A PubMed search for the three names, run in October 2026, returns 48 records¹⁴. Khavinson is an author on 22 of them. Most of the rest come from other Russian or Georgian groups, and 32 of the 48 appear in two journals, Advances in Gerontology and the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine.

That is not proof the work is wrong. It is a reason to hold it at arm's length. The normal way a finding earns trust is that a lab with no stake in the molecule repeats it. For these three, that has not happened in the published record. ClinicalTrials.gov lists zero registered studies for Pinealon, Vesugen, Prostamax or Khavinson as a search term¹⁵.

The proposed mechanism is also unusual. The group's reviews argue that these short peptides enter the cell, bind DNA, RNA or histone proteins, and switch specific genes on or off¹². Much of that support comes from computer docking models and cell cultures⁶. It is a hypothesis, not an established pathway.

What a "bioregulator" is supposed to be

The idea behind the family is that every organ has its own short signaling peptide, and that supplying it restores an aging organ's function. The naming follows the organ. A 2006 study from the program tested Cardiogen on heart tissue, Bronchogen on lung, Pancragen on pancreas and Prostamax on prostate, each in slices of rat organ kept alive in a dish¹². Russian researchers call some of these products "cytogens" and describe using them in preventive nutrition for workers exposed to occupational hazards¹⁹.

There is a practical problem with the oral versions many sellers offer. Short peptides are normally broken down in the gut. The group's answer, published in 2023, is that 26 of its short peptides could ride into cells on amino acid and peptide transporters. That conclusion came from computer docking models, not from measuring the peptides in human blood after a dose¹⁸. Whether a swallowed Pinealon capsule delivers intact Glu-Asp-Arg anywhere useful has not been shown.

Pinealon (EDR): the brain peptide

Pinealon is the most studied of the three. In cell cultures it reduced oxidative damage and cell death⁴ and raised serotonin expression in aging brain-cell cultures². In rats, giving it to pregnant mothers with high homocysteine improved their offspring's learning and made their neurons more resistant to stress⁵. In a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, EDR and KED prevented the loss of dendritic spines, the small connections between neurons⁶.

The human side is thin. A 2013 Russian-language review describes clinical use of Pinealon in older people³, and a 2020 review states it "improves memory issues in elderly patients"¹. Neither points to a randomized, placebo-controlled trial registered in advance. For how Pinealon compares with the other peptides sold for memory and focus, see our look at nootropic peptides.

Vesugen (KED) and Prostamax (KEDP)

Vesugen is sold for blood vessels. In vitro, KED normalized endothelin-1, a vessel-tightening signal, in cultured vessel-lining cells¹⁰. One study gave "Vezugen" to 41 patients with erectile dysfunction from narrowed arteries and reported better penile blood flow after treatment⁹. The abstract describes a before-and-after comparison, not a placebo group.

The largest human data set pairs Vesugen with Pinealon. In a study of 32 adults aged 41 to 83 with chronic illness and an organic brain syndrome, the two peptides improved "biological age" scores⁷. The same study also found pro-oxidant activity and a drop in CD34-positive blood stem cells, which the authors called "significant inhibition of hemopoiesis"⁷, meaning slower blood-cell production. That is a safety signal, reported by the researchers themselves, that sellers never mention. A 2016 comparison of anti-aging methods in 110 people again favored the two peptides combined, measured by biological-age indices rather than disease outcomes⁸.

Prostamax has the least evidence. Its published work is the rat prostate slices above¹², plus Georgian studies showing it loosened tightly packed chromatin in white blood cells from people aged 75 and older¹¹¹³. Chromatin changes in a blood sample are not a prostate outcome.

How these relate to Epitalon

Epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) comes from the same institute and appears in the same chromatin studies as Prostamax¹³. It is the only member of the family that FDA has looked at. A July 2026 advisory committee narrowly backed it for the 503A compounding list, for insomnia, despite a reported lack of published efficacy data. We cover that vote, and what it did not change, in Epitalon's FDA status.

Pinealon, Vesugen and Prostamax have not had even that much attention. FDA's page of compounding substances that may present significant safety risks lists Epitalon and none of the other three¹⁶.

Legal status

None of the three is an FDA-approved drug. None is an ingredient of an approved drug, and none is on the 503A bulks list in 21 CFR 216.23, which currently holds six substances and no peptides¹⁷. Those are the usual routes by which a US pharmacy may compound a substance for a patient. What is sold online is either a "research use only" vial or a capsule marketed outside the drug system, and neither has been reviewed by FDA for content or purity. Our guide to whether peptides are legal explains the categories, and the 503A bulks list, explained covers what listing would require.

For tested athletes: no anti-doping body has named these three, but WADA's S0 class covers substances with no human therapeutic approval from any government health authority. Ask your anti-doping agency before taking any of them, rather than reading silence as permission.

What licensed clinicians sell instead

No provider we review offers Pinealon, Vesugen or Prostamax. A few list epithalon on their menus. It is not an approved drug and not on the 503A list either, so read why no pharmacy is cleared to compound it yet before paying for it.

• •Magnolia Regenerative Medicine lists epithalon at $135 on its open catalog.
• •ElitePhysiqMD prices epithalon at $233.10 a month on subscription.
• •NEUVÉ Health shows epithalon at $240 a month, in a table its own financial policy says leaves out medication, labs and the consultation.

The licensed longevity option with the widest provider base is NAD+, which has its own evidence questions, covered in NAD+ injections: what the evidence shows. Inner Balance sells sublingual NAD+ at $149 a month with the consult and shipping included, while Vyora Wellness charges $189 per NAD+ shipment but ships every three weeks. Our NAD+ provider rankings compare the rest. For the wider picture, see peptides for anti-aging.

Reading a seller's bioregulator claims

Most product pages for these peptides borrow the program's language without its caveats. Four checks cut through it:

• •"Clinically studied." Ask for a registered trial number. For all three, there is none.
• •"Restores gene expression." That comes from cell cultures and docking models, not from measuring genes in people who took the product.
• •"Reduces biological age." The human studies measured composite age scores, not disease, function or survival, and one of them also reported slowed blood-cell production⁷.
• •"Developed by Professor Khavinson." That tells you whose hypothesis it is, not whether anyone else has confirmed it.

The same discipline applies to any vendor; our guide to peptide vendor red flags covers the rest.

The bottom line

Pinealon, Vesugen and Prostamax are real molecules with a long publication record, nearly all of it from one institute and its collaborators. The cell and animal work is consistent. The human work is small, uncontrolled and published mainly in two journals. One of the larger human studies reported slowed blood-cell production. And the "prostate peptide" has never been studied in a living prostate. Until an independent lab runs a registered, placebo-controlled trial, these are hypotheses sold as supplements.