SANA

guinea pig

Also seen as: MVD1

The Dose Guy’s verdict

Sep 1, 2026
1 source

SANA is a defined compound with a novel mechanism and a phase 1 trial published in Nature Metabolism, which puts it ahead of most things at the early end of this shelf. The human signals on weight and glucose are encouraging but soft, the way phase 1 data always is when the question was safety, not effect size. Too early to run, genuinely interesting to watch. If you want energy expenditure gains you can act on today, the incretins have the human evidence.

Would I take it?Caution, interesting early, too early to run.

What it is

A nitroalkene derivative of salicylate that boosts energy expenditure through a pathway most of this shelf has never touched: creatine-dependent thermogenesis in adipose tissue. Unlike classic mitochondrial uncouplers like DNP that bleed energy by disrupting the proton gradient, and unlike beta-3 agonists like mirabegron that activate brown fat through UCP1, SANA burns calories through the creatine energy cycle. It works independently of both UCP1 and AMPK, which makes it mechanistically distinct from nearly everything else here.

The preclinical story is clean. In diet-induced obesity models, SANA increased energy expenditure, reduced liver steatosis, and improved insulin resistance, and it worked under thermoneutral conditions, the test that catches compounds that only perform when the mouse is cold-stressed. The question is whether any of that translates to meaningful weight loss in humans, and that answer is still years away.

What the research shows

One published paper, one phase 1. More than most early-stage compounds, still very early:

The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested single ascending doses of 200 to 800 mg in lean adults and repeated doses of 200 to 400 mg daily for 15 days in adults with overweight or obesity. SANA was safe and well tolerated, with beneficial effects on body weight and glucose management within two weeks.Nat Metab 2025 · phase 1A/B RCT

In diet-induced obesity models, SANA increased creatine-dependent energy expenditure in adipose tissue independently of both UCP1 and AMPK, and it functioned under thermoneutral conditions.Nat Metab 2025 · preclinical models

No phase 2 or efficacy-focused trial has been published.as of Aug 2026

Realistic protocols

Phase 1 means safety and tolerability, not a dosing protocol you can build on. The trial ran 200 to 400 mg daily for 15 days, but those doses were chosen to find the safety envelope, not to optimize for weight loss. Until phase 2 data arrives with actual efficacy endpoints and dose-response curves, there is no honest protocol to write here.

Side effects

The phase 1 reported good safety and tolerability across doses up to 800 mg single and 400 mg daily for 15 days, but the database is tiny:

unknownPhase 1 trials are sized to find common, acute problems, not rare or long-term ones. The safety database is tiny and the compound is new.

unknownNo community use to draw from. SANA is not circulating in the gray market.

Where to buy

No live listings from tracked vendors right now.