Somatropin (rhGH) vs Tesamorelin
It is lab-made growth hormone, approved for children and adults who lack it. It works for that, but anti-ageing clinics also sell it to healthy adults, and the labels do not back that. It is a shot that cuts belly fat in people with HIV. It cut deep belly fat about 15% in six months, but the fat returned after stopping, and outside HIV there is one trial of 60 people.
Somatropin (rhGH) has the stronger evidence, grade A (strong human evidence) against grade B for Tesamorelin. Both are FDA approved.
Evidence
AStrong human evidence
BSome human evidence
Human studies cited
Animal or cell studies cited
Why the grade
The approved indications rest on four decades of randomized and controlled trials summarized in each product's label, including placebo-controlled trials in adult deficiency and growth velocity trials in children; the Norditropin label alone covers pediatric and adult deficiency, Turner syndrome, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, small-for-gestational-age short stature and idiopathic short stature. Evidence for the uses it is sold for off-label, anti-aging and body composition in healthy adults, is a separate and much weaker question not covered by these citations.
Two phase 3 randomized trials in HIV-associated abdominal fat, pooled at 806 patients, support the approved indication, which would be A for that use. The use tesamorelin is best known for outside clinics, trimming visceral fat in people without HIV, rests on one 60-person randomized trial in obese adults with reduced growth hormone and one 61-person trial in HIV-related fatty liver, so the popular use grades B.
FDA
FDA approved
Somatropin, recombinant human growth hormone, has been FDA-approved since Humatrope in 1987 and is sold under several brands including Norditropin, Genotropin, Omnitrope and Zomacton, for growth hormone deficiency in children and adults and for a set of specific growth disorders. Two long-standing brands have left the market: Genentech discontinued Nutropin in 2024 and Lilly is ending Humatrope distribution at the end of 2026. Use for anti-aging or athletic performance is not an approved indication.
FDA approved
Tesamorelin is approved by the FDA as Egrifta (2010), Egrifta SV, and Egrifta WR (2025) to reduce excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV and lipodystrophy. It is not approved for weight loss, fat loss in people without HIV, or anti-aging.
Sold for
Growth hormone is sold by anti-aging clinics and on the black market as the master hormone for youth, muscle and fat loss, well beyond the deficiency states it is approved to treat.
Tesamorelin is marketed by longevity and body-composition clinics as a growth-hormone-releasing injection that melts belly fat without the risks of growth hormone itself.
Studies say
Somatropin reliably restores growth in children who lack growth hormone and improves body composition in deficient adults, which is what it is approved for; the labels do not support use in healthy adults, and the market is shifting toward weekly long-acting versions as older daily brands exit.
In people with HIV it reliably cuts visceral fat by about 15 percent over six months, but the fat returns when the drug stops and the evidence in people without HIV is a single small trial, which is the logic of the B grade.
Class
Growth hormone
GHRH analog
Route
Injection
Injection