ITPP

guinea pig

Also seen as: Myo-inositol trispyrophosphate

The Dose Guy’s verdict
Sep 1, 2026
3 sources

ITPP makes red blood cells release more oxygen, and the mouse exercise data is genuinely impressive, up to 57% more exercise capacity in normal mice. The cancer animal data is mixed, with some tumor models showing no benefit and one where ITPP appeared to reduce the benefit of radiation. The one human study was an uncontrolled phase Ib in cancer patients, not endurance athletes. No randomized human trial exists. If endurance is the goal, the honest answer is that nobody has tested ITPP for that in a person, and if you compete in sanctioned sport, ITPP enhances oxygen delivery by the textbook definition of blood doping, so assume it is prohibited until you confirm otherwise.

Would I take it?Not yet. No human playbook exists.

What it is

ITPP is a synthetic small molecule that enters red blood cells through the band 3 anion transporter and lowers hemoglobin’s oxygen affinity. In plain terms, it makes your red cells let go of oxygen more readily when tissues need it, especially under low-oxygen conditions. The mechanism is well established in vitro: ITPP-loaded red cells shift the oxygen dissociation curve right, and the downstream effects in animal models include improved exercise capacity, raised tumor oxygenation, and benefits in pulmonary hypertension. ITPP sits in an unusual spot, studied mostly in oncology for its ability to oxygenate tumors and boost radiation therapy, but eyed by athletes and the biohacker community for the endurance angle.

What the research shows

The mechanism is clean, the mouse exercise data is strong, and the human evidence is a single uncontrolled oncology trial:

Intraperitoneal ITPP at 0.5 to 3 g/kg increased maximal exercise capacity in normal mice by as much as 57% and in mice with severe heart failure by as much as 63%. Oral ITPP in drinking water increased capacity by 34%.PNAS 2009 · mice
In 28 patients with advanced hepatopancreatobiliary cancers, uncontrolled ITPP given as nine 8-hour infusions over three weeks reached a maximum tolerated dose of 12,390 mg/m2. Toxicities were mostly hypercalcemia requiring little or no intervention, and 52% had morphological disease stabilization.Nat Commun 2021 · phase Ib · n=28
In melanoma and breast carcinoma mouse models, ITPP raised tumor oxygen partial pressure by 10 to 20 mmHg compared with control.PLOS One 2023 · mouse models
No randomized human trial of ITPP exists in the published literature.as of Aug 2026

Realistic protocols

There is no defensible endurance protocol for ITPP. The mouse doses are in the grams-per-kilogram range and the human oncology maximum tolerated dose was over 12,000 mg/m2 by 8-hour IV infusion, so anything a person swallows orally is an unmeasured fraction of both. The community that experiments with ITPP tends to run it orally before training, but the doses are extrapolated from rodent pharmacology and the frequency is guesswork. If you run it, start low, keep a training log, and pay attention to calcium levels, because hypercalcemia was the main signal in the human oncology study. If you compete in any sanctioned sport, do not touch this, ITPP enhances oxygen delivery by the same mechanism as blood doping and is the kind of compound anti-doping authorities flag. If the endurance angle is what brought you here and you want something with more human road under it, methylene blue at low doses has at least been given to people, though the nootropic evidence is thinner than the endurance community wants to hear.

Side effects

Limited human data, from the phase Ib oncology study only:

monitorHypercalcemia was the most common treatment-related toxicity in the phase Ib trial, mostly mild and requiring little intervention.
monitorAll human safety data comes from cancer patients on high-dose IV infusions. Side effects at lower oral doses in healthy people are completely unmeasured.
unknownNo human safety data exists outside of the 28-patient oncology trial. Long-term effects, oral safety, and interactions are all unknown.
anecdotalFlushing and warmth after dosing, reported in community logs, plausible given the oxygen-delivery mechanism.

Where to buy

$119.99 / unit
⚠ ⚠ Unreachable since Sep 11
✓ verified Sep 8

Prices move. Links are affiliate links; they never change a ranking, and scores are set before the deal exists.