Ovagen (Glu-Asp-Leu) — what it does, evidence, and safety

What it is

Ovagen is marketed as a Russian 'Khavinson' bioregulator peptide for the liver and intestines. That organ label doesn't hold up under scrutiny: searching the medical literature for the name 'Ovagen' turns up only an unrelated veterinary fertility drug, and searching by the sequence vendors assign to it, Glu-Asp-Leu, turns up a handful of Russian rat and cell studies about kidney protection, not the liver. What research does exist is preclinical, hasn't been independently replicated in the West, there are no human trials, and Ovagen isn't FDA-approved.

What the research found

Ovagen is marketed for the liver, but the small compound-specific research points elsewhere. The literature that exists is indexed under its sequence (Glu-Asp-Leu, EDL), not the name "Ovagen" — and in those rat and cell studies, EDL was reported to protect kidney function in injury models and shift senescence-related gene activity in kidney cells. No published study links this sequence to liver or digestive tissue, so the marketed liver association is not just unproven — the only evidence that exists points somewhere else. All of it traces to one research group, none is a human trial, and the name-to-sequence link itself comes from vendor marketing.

Status and regulatory position

Not a drug in the US and not FDA-approved for any indication. A "Khavinson"-family short-peptide bioregulator ("cytogen") associated (in marketing) with the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology (Russia). The marketed liver/intestinal organ label has no compound-specific support: searching PubMed by the trade name returns only an unrelated veterinary follicle-stimulating-hormone preparation, and searching by the sequence vendors assign to Ovagen — Glu-Asp-Leu (EDL) — returns a small preclinical rat/cell-culture literature that is nephroprotective and gene-regulation work, with zero liver or GI studies. Not validated in any human trial. WADA: not specifically named; best treated as S0 (non-approved), prohibited at all times — verify with your anti-doping organization. Not DEA-scheduled.

Safety

Ovagen has no human safety data of any kind and is not FDA-approved. The few studies on its sequence are in rats and cell cultures, so nothing is known about its effects in people from published research. It is not a treatment for any condition. As a non-approved research peptide it is best treated as prohibited in regulated sport (WADA S0). VialWise is a research and educational reference, not medical advice.

Disclosures

⚠️ For research and educational purposes only. Ovagen is not FDA-approved and is not a treatment for any condition. Information here is informational, not medical advice.

⚠️ The marketed "liver/intestinal" label is not supported by the literature — and the little evidence that exists points elsewhere. Searching PubMed for the *trade name* "Ovagen" returns only an unrelated veterinary ovine-FSH preparation used for superovulation in sheep and cattle. Searching by the *sequence* vendors assign to Ovagen — Glu-Asp-Leu (EDL) — returns a small set of preclinical Russian studies, and every one of them is kidney (nephroprotective) or gene-regulation work in rats and cell cultures.[²][³][⁴][⁵][⁶][⁷] Zero indexed EDL studies address liver or digestive tissue. There are no human trials. Everything below beyond those preclinical findings should be read as marketing/tradition, not evidence.

⚠️ Part of the Khavinson "bioregulator" family — read the shared caveat. Ovagen is marketed as part of the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology's bioregulator tradition, which as a whole has a thin, mostly-preclinical evidence base and no large controlled human trials.[¹]

Quick reference

Compound class	A "Khavinson"-family short-peptide bioregulator, marketed as associated with liver/intestinal function. Vendors assign it the tripeptide sequence Glu-Asp-Leu (EDL). Both the sequence assignment and the organ label come from marketing, not verified literature — and the indexed EDL research is kidney/gene-regulation work with no liver or GI study.
Common vial sizes	Research/supplement-supply lyophilized vials, commonly ~; also an oral capsule supplement. No FDA-approved product.
Frequency	Short courses generically; not validated.
Half-life	Not established.
Route	Intramuscular/subcutaneous (injectable) or oral capsule. No approved route.
Onset of action	No validated clinical effect or timeline.

In depth

Ovagen is marketed as one of the "Khavinson" short-peptide bioregulators, typically described as associated with liver and intestinal function. That organ label is not supported by any published study, and the only compound-specific evidence that exists points at the kidney instead.

Two different searches give two different answers, and this matters. Searching PubMed for the trade name "Ovagen" surfaces only a commercial ovine follicle-stimulating-hormone (FSH) preparation used for superovulation in sheep, cattle, and goats — an entirely unrelated veterinary drug that happens to share the name. Searching instead by the sequence vendors assign to Ovagen — the tripeptide Glu-Asp-Leu (EDL), also coded T-35 in the Khavinson group's internal numbering — surfaces a small but genuine compound-specific literature.

What the EDL literature actually reports — all preclinical, all kidney. In rat models, EDL was described as nephroprotective in gentamicin-induced nephropathy and ischemia/reperfusion kidney injury,[²] and in cisplatin-induced acute renal failure.[³] In aging rat kidney cell cultures, EDL (as T-35) was studied against MMP-14 expression,[⁴] and in renal cell culture EDL and AED were reported to raise proliferation and shift senescence markers (p16, p21, p53, SIRT-6).[⁵] Aged-rat kidney work reported effects on diuresis, sodium handling, and antioxidant enzymes.[⁶] Separate molecular-docking work modeled EDL binding to a `ctcc` DNA motif.[⁷] These are rat and cell-culture findings, not human outcomes. Zero indexed EDL studies address liver or intestinal tissue.

Two caveats that keep this honest. First, the name-to-sequence link (Ovagen = Glu-Asp-Leu) rests on the same vendor marketing this entry otherwise distrusts, and that marketing is inconsistent — at least one vendor conflates Ovagen with Ala-Glu-Asp-Leu (AEDL), which is a different, 4-residue peptide marketed as *Bronchogen*. Second, all of the EDL work traces to the Khavinson group and its collaborators; it is not independent replication. So the accurate reading is narrow: *the tripeptide vendors call Ovagen has a small preclinical kidney literature, none of it liver or GI, none of it human.* That makes both the old "no evidence at all" framing and the marketed "liver bioregulator" label misleading — but it is not grounds to describe Ovagen as a kidney compound either.

The class-level framing still applies: the Khavinson group's "peptide theory of ageing" proposes that short, organ-derived peptides can influence gene activity in their matching tissue.[¹]

Evidence quality. Very thin: six preclinical papers from a single research tradition, on a sequence assignment that is itself unconfirmed, with no human trials.

### About the Khavinson bioregulators (shared framing)

Developed from the 1970s by Vladimir Khavinson at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, these cytomedin/cytogen peptides went from organ-extract complexes to synthetic short peptides proposed to have tissue-specific effects under a "peptide theory of ageing."[¹] Honest caveats for the family: evidence is overwhelmingly preclinical plus small, often non-blinded Russian studies; no large independent randomized trials; none FDA-approved; sold in Russia as injectables and supplements. Ovagen sits near the bottom of even this thin evidence base — six preclinical papers on a sequence assignment that is itself vendor-sourced.

Regulatory status (US). Not FDA-approved; not a drug. Not DEA-scheduled. Khavinson-family peptides are not on FDA's 503A positive list of bulk substances permitted for pharmacy compounding, so this is not legally compoundable in the US.

Regulatory status (sport — WADA). Not specifically named; best treated as S0 (non-approved), prohibited at all times. Verify with your anti-doping organization.

Common research interests. Liver/intestinal support — a marketing association with no published study behind it. The indexed literature on the assigned sequence is renal and gene-regulation work in rats and cell cultures.

Reported side effects

Commonly reported

Injection-site reactions
Reactions to research-supply material of variable purity
Near-total absence of data. Nothing is known about effects in humans from published research, and the handful of animal/cell papers on the assigned sequence were not designed to characterize safety — the uncertainty is close to total.

Contraindications and warnings

Not a treatment for any liver, digestive, or other condition — see a clinician

Pregnancy and lactation — no data; default to contraindicated

Pediatric use — no data; not for researchers under 18

Known hypersensitivity — contraindicated

Regulatory note (US): Not FDA-approved; not DEA-scheduled.

Regulatory note (sport): Best treated as WADA S0. Verify with your anti-doping organization.

Key terms

Bioregulator (Khavinson peptide): A very short synthetic peptide from the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology tradition, each marketed for one organ.
Name vs. sequence: Trade names are unreliable for searching the literature. "Ovagen" pulls up an unrelated veterinary drug; the sequence Glu-Asp-Leu (EDL) is the key that finds the actual research.
Marketing claim vs. evidence: Ovagen's liver/intestinal organ association and its claimed uses come from supplement marketing. The published research on its sequence is about the kidney.

Sources

Related entries

Bronchogen — same mechanism class
Cardiogen — same mechanism class
Cartalax — same mechanism class
Chonluten — same mechanism class
Cortagen — same mechanism class
Crystagen — same mechanism class