TB-500
Thymosin Beta-4 (synthetic fragment)
The systemic half of the “Wolverine stack” — a synthetic fragment of thymosin β-4 that travels through the whole body and homes to damaged tissue. Almost nobody runs it alone; it’s the long-acting partner to BPC-157.
What it is
Drives healing and recovery system-wide rather than at one spot — tendon, ligament, muscle, and the inflammation that tags along with an injury. People run it for the same nagging injuries as BPC-157, but reach for it when the problem is diffuse or hard to pin a needle near.
It’s long-acting and systemic, which is the whole reason it’s dosed weekly instead of daily and why you don’t inject it at the injury — it redistributes through the blood and finds the damage on its own. In community use it’s discussed as half of a pair far more than as a standalone: BPC-157 daily for the local signal, TB-500 once or twice a week for the whole-body one.
Mechanism
Up-regulates actin, a protein central to cell movement, which lets repair cells migrate into damaged tissue. Alongside that it promotes angiogenesis (new blood vessels toward the damage) and dampens inflammation. As with BPC-157, the effect reads as injury-directed rather than systemic stimulation — but the human evidence is animal-model and theoretical, not clinical.
Step 1 · the problem
Some damage you can’t put a needle near.
A deep or diffuse injury — strained muscle, an aggravated joint, inflammation spread across an area rather than one clean spot. There’s nowhere obvious to inject, and the soreness lingers.
Step 2 · the dose
You inject TB-500 — anywhere.
Unlike a local shot, the site doesn’t matter. It’s long-acting, so this is a once- or twice-a-week pin, not a daily one. From here it has one job: get into circulation.
Step 3 · it goes everywhere
It travels through the whole body.
This is the systemic half of the “Wolverine stack.” Where BPC-157 works locally, TB-500 redistributes through the bloodstream and reaches everywhere at once — which is exactly why it’s dosed weekly, not daily.
Step 4 · it finds the damage
It homes to the injury on its own.
Out of everywhere it’s circulating, the effect concentrates where tissue is damaged. You didn’t have to aim it — it finds the site that’s calling for repair.
Step 5 · the rope for repair cells
It hands repair cells a rope to climb.
TB-500’s core move is upregulating actin — the protein that cells use to crawl. With more actin, repair cells can migrate into the damaged tissue instead of being stuck outside it.
Step 6 · new supply lines
Fresh blood vessels grow in.
Like BPC, it promotes angiogenesis — new capillaries reaching into the injury, carrying the oxygen and nutrients repair runs on.
Step 7 · turn down the fire
And it calms the inflammation.
Alongside the rebuild, it dampens the inflammation that tags along with an injury — less of the swelling and heat that keep a nagging problem nagging.
The result
Diffuse damage, healed from the inside.
Repair cells in, new supply lines built, inflammation down — across a whole area rather than one spot. This is why it’s run as BPC-157’s long-acting, systemic partner. The mechanism is animal-model and theoretical, not proven in people.
Mechanism shown is animal-model and theoretical — no human trials confirm it in people.
Standard dose
| Standard dose | ~2–2.5 mg / injection (proposed — pending dosing review)community |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Once or twice a week — long-acting, so not a daily pincommunity |
| Route | SubQ or IM — redistributes through the blood and homes to damage, so it needn’t go at the injurycommunity |
| Cycle | A loading phase up front (twice weekly ~4–6 weeks), then a lighter maintenance dosecommunity |
Reconstitution calculator
U-100 · 100u = 1 mL= 200 units
Set the vial size and water to match your product — amounts vary by supplier. This is unit-conversion math, not medical advice or a dosing recommendation.
Pushing higher— going beyond the standard doseanimal-only
Side effects & cautions
Generally well-tolerated in community use — where effects show up they’re mild: temporary lethargy or fatigue is the most-reported, with occasional head rush or injection-site reaction. The loudest caution is the same theoretical one that follows BPC-157: it works through cell-proliferation and angiogenesis pathways, so people avoid it with any history of — or undiagnosed — cancer. It’s animal-only and theoretical, but it’s why dose × duration matters. As with everything in this space, sourcing is unregulated — insist on a certificate of analysis before running anything.
Stacking
TB-500 essentially is a stack ingredient — the “Wolverine stack” is BPC-157 daily plus TB-500 once or twice a week. BPC handles the local injury signal, TB-500 the systemic one. Same-day injection is fine; because TB-500 is long-acting you don’t match them pin-for-pin.
Evidence & sources
No human trial has ever used the injectable “TB-500” fragment. The human studies below are all full-length thymosin β-4 — a different, larger molecule, given as eye drops or gel, not the injury injection people run.
- Sosne G et al. (2015)Human studyThymosin β-4 eye drops for dry-eye diseaseCornea (human, full-length Tβ4)PMID 25826322 ↗
- Treadwell T et al. (2012)Human studyThymosin β-4 (RGN-137) gel for wound healinghuman trial, full-length Tβ4PMID 23050815 ↗
- Bock-Marquette I et al. (2004)Animal / in-vitroThymosin β-4 promotes cardiac cell survival and repairNature (animal)PMID 15565145 ↗
- Malinda KM et al. (1999)Animal / in-vitroThymosin β-4 accelerates wound healinganimal wound modelPMID 10469335 ↗
- ClinicalTrials.gov (2006)Trial registryRegistered thymosin β-4 wound-healing trialClinicalTrials.govNCT00382174 ↗