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Vesugen

Also known as KED peptide, Lys-Glu-Asp, lysyl-glutamyl-aspartic acid

Khavinson tripeptide presented as a vascular bioregulator, studied almost entirely by its originators.

preclinical Neuro & cognition research chemical

At a glance

Category
Neuro & cognition
Status
research chemical
Route
in vitro in most of the published work; intramuscular and subcutaneous in the Russian clinical reports; capsules in the supplement line
Half-life
No published pharmacokinetics in any species. An unmodified tripeptide with free termini; survival in plasma is presumably a matter of minutes. All circulating half-life figures are unsourced.
Onset
No validated onset time; there are no controlled human data on the time course of any effect
Molecular weight
Approximately 390 g/mol for the free tripeptide (Lys-Glu-Asp), computed from standard average residue masses. No independently determined value from a published characterisation was found.
Sequence
Lys-Glu-Asp

As far as can be established, synthetic Vesugen is not a registered medicine anywhere. The corresponding capsule product in the Russian Cytogen bioregulator line is registered as a food supplement (BAD), a notification regime without any efficacy assessment - which is not approval as a medicine. PeptideX has not been able to open the Russian register from outside Russia to confirm this, so the registration should be read as an unverified claim rather than an established fact. No EMA or FDA approval; outside Russia traded exclusively as a research chemical. The indexed literature runs to 27 PubMed records 8, of which a large part concerns the tripeptide alongside other short peptides rather than on its own.

Doping status: Not listed by name; as a non-approved substance it falls under the S0 residual category and is prohibited at all times

Checked against the WADA 2026 Prohibited List. For a specific product and country, Global DRO is the lookup athletes are expected to use — the List names substances, not brand names.

This is a short entry. There is little or no published research on this compound, so there is correspondingly little to report. Empty dosing or reconstitution sections mean no credible figures exist — not that they were left out.

Mechanism of action

Vesugen is the vascular member of the Khavinson short-peptide series, presented as the synthetic equivalent of the active fraction of a bovine aorta extract. Of the three bioregulators covered together here it has the largest indexed literature - a PubMed search for KED returns around 27 records 8 - although a sizeable share of those concern the tripeptide in other contexts (stem cell differentiation, fibroblast ageing, Alzheimer-related neurogenesis) rather than vascular biology, and most still originate from the same programme.

The reported in vitro effects are the most concrete of the group: in endothelial cell culture, normalisation of endothelin-1 and E-selectin expression, increased sirtuin-1, and increased Ki-67 as a proliferation marker; in other systems, modulation of gene expression during ageing of mesenchymal stem cells 4 and skin fibroblasts 2, and effects on neuronal differentiation 3. A 2021 paper extends the claim to neurogenesis regulation in Alzheimer's disease 5, which is the basis for classifying it here rather than purely as a vascular compound.

The proposed mechanism remains the bioregulator doctrine - nuclear entry and complementary binding to promoter DNA, with docking simulations offered as support. The objections stated in the Epitalon and Pinealon entries apply with more force to a tripeptide than to a tetrapeptide: three residues cannot form a folded recognition surface, and Western laboratory replication of the KED-DNA interaction is essentially absent. Molecular docking is a computational exercise, not experimental confirmation of binding.

What the research shows

Vesugen has more indexed papers than Cortagen or Livagen, but the same structural problem: the work traces overwhelmingly to Khavinson-affiliated investigators, the human reports are small and do not meet contemporary trial standards, and no independent group has replicated the core mechanistic claim. A larger number of papers from one programme is not the same as stronger evidence.

Research in humans

The human literature consists of small Russian clinical reports published in Advances in Gerontology and similar journals - for example a study of peptide bioregulators of vessels in chronic lower limb arterial insufficiency in elderly patients, and small reports in vasculogenic erectile dysfunction and polymorbid elderly patients 1. Sample sizes are in the tens, blinding and placebo control are absent or not described 1, outcomes are clinician-assessed, and no protocol registration exists. There is no randomised controlled trial that would satisfy contemporary reporting standards, and no human pharmacokinetic or formal safety study.

Animal and lab research

Rodent and cell-culture work from the originating programme reports endothelial effects, modulation of ageing-associated gene expression in mesenchymal stem cells 4 and fibroblasts 2, effects on neuronal differentiation of stem cells 3, and protection of fibroblast-derived induced neurons from age-related changes 6. These are mostly in vitro rather than whole-animal studies.

Caveats. Concentration in a single research programme with a commercial interest; small samples; absent or undescribed blinding; unregistered protocols and unspecified primary endpoints; frequent testing of several bioregulator peptides in the same experiment, which prevents attribution to KED specifically; publication in journals with limited external scrutiny; and no independent Western replication of the DNA-binding mechanism. No toxicology programme, no carcinogenicity study, no reproductive toxicity study.

What it is used for

  • Presented as a vascular bioregulator for endothelial function, atherosclerosis and age-related cardiovascular decline - claims the evidence does not support 8
  • Studied in small Russian reports in chronic lower limb arterial insufficiency and vasculogenic erectile dysfunction 1
  • Studied in vitro for effects on stem cell differentiation 34 and age-related changes in neurons 56, which is why it is sometimes marketed for cognition
  • Self-administered in grey-market courses without a validated indication or dose

Dosing

Route
subcutaneous or intramuscular in user protocols; capsules in the Russian supplement line
  • The in vitro work used nanogram-to-microgram per millilitre culture concentrations 234, which cannot be converted into a human dose.
  • The small Russian clinical reports use the Russian product's own regimen 1; the reporting is not detailed enough to reconstruct a defensible protocol from it.
  • User protocols proposing a few milligrams per day for 10-20 days are an artefact of the vial size sold, not a research finding.
  • There is no dose-finding study, no maximum tolerated dose, no human pharmacokinetics and no dose-response curve. Left null rather than manufacturing a protocol.

These figures describe what the literature and published protocols report. They are not advice and not a dosing instruction.

Protocols

Bioregulator course (grey market)

user protocol — not validated

Source: user protocols and vendor material

This is not a validated schedule. It is a pattern that circulates among users and sellers, reproduced because it is what people actually follow — not because it has been tested. No trial established these doses, this interval or this duration, and nobody is checking what is in the vial. Treat every number below as an assertion, not a finding.

Days 1-10, some protocols to 20a few milligrams per day by subcutaneous or intramuscular injection
Repeatonce or twice a year

Most of the published Vesugen work is in vitro. The small Russian clinical reports used the Russian product's own regimen, but are not reported in enough detail to reconstruct it, so this schedule is not a version of theirs. The milligram figure follows the vial size.

Schedules are reproduced as their source states them. Units, IU and milligrams explains why the figures are not interchangeable between products.

Reconstitution

Vial sizes
10 mg, 20 mg (lyophilised powder, research chemical); also capsules in the Russian bioregulator line, a different product
Solvent
bacteriostatic water (0.9% benzyl alcohol); sterile water only if used within the same session
Storage
Supplier guidance: powder at 2-8 °C short term or -20 °C long term, protected from light; reconstituted at 2-8 °C for roughly 2-4 weeks. These are handling conventions, not pharmacopoeia specifications.

Let the diluent run down the vial wall, swirl and do not shake; discard if cloudy. Grey-market short peptides are regularly mislabelled or underdosed, and self-issued certificates of analysis cannot be independently verified.

Work it out for Vesugen

Safety

Side effects

  • Not systematically documented, because no systematic safety research exists - none of the 27 indexed records is a safety or tolerability study 8. An empty side effect profile reflects absence of investigation, not demonstrated safety
  • Reported at user level only, uncontrolled and unverifiable: injection site reactions

Do not use if

  • Pregnancy and breastfeeding - no data
  • Children and adolescents - no data
  • Hypersensitivity to the peptide or to benzyl alcohol in the diluent
  • Caution on principle in active or past malignancy: the reported in vitro effects include increased Ki-67, a proliferation marker, and modulation of endothelial function - neither has been characterised for safety in a living organism, and angiogenic effects are not desirable in the presence of a tumour
  • No toxicology, carcinogenicity or reproductive toxicity study appears in the indexed literature 8

Interactions

Not studied. No interaction data of any kind exist. Any theoretical interplay with antiplatelet, anticoagulant or antihypertensive therapy, given the claimed vascular effects, is speculation.

Sources