Lucicebtide (ST101)_Dosage, benefits & legal status
Also known as ST101, ST-101
A 38-residue all-D peptide that gets into cells and brain tumours. Phase 1/2, with encouraging but uncontrolled glioblastoma data.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is Lucicebtide (ST101)?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
C/EBP-beta helps glioblastoma and other tumours survive and keeps nearby immune cells in a tumour-protecting state. In recurrent glioblastoma, weekly infusions alone held the disease steady or shrank it in 30% of 30 patients, with 40% alive at one year. In 9 newly diagnosed patients given it with standard radiotherapy and temozolomide, the company projects a median 28.4 months without progression, but that is a projection from a small group compared with past trials, not proven survival.
Lucicebtide is a linear 38-residue peptide made almost entirely of D-amino acids, assembled in reverse order (retro-inverso) so enzymes struggle to break it down. Residues 1 to 22 are a leucine-zipper segment derived from the transcription factor ATF5 and modified to bind C/EBP-beta; residues 23 to 38 are a cell-penetrating segment derived from penetratin. Bound C/EBP-beta cannot pair up to bind DNA and is destroyed by the proteasome. Sapience Therapeutics (Tarrytown, New York) develops it.
What it's used for
An experimental intravenous drug in a phase 1/2 trial, mainly for glioblastoma. Not available outside the trial; sold only as a lab reagent.
How does Lucicebtide (ST101) work?
What it does in the body, and where.Lucicebtide gets into tumour cells and dismantles C/EBP-beta, a protein that helps them survive.
- 01Getting inIts penetratin-derived tail carries it across cell membranes, and its mirror-image backbone resists the enzymes that destroy normal peptides. One patient's tumour still stained for it 21 days after the last dose, evidence that it reaches brain tumours.
- 02Breaking the pairIts ATF5-derived leucine zipper binds the zipper of C/EBP-beta, stopping it pairing up to bind DNA. The stranded protein is tagged and destroyed.
- 03What changesGenes for survival and division switch off, and tumour cells stop growing or die; normal immune and gut-lining cells were unaffected in lab tests. In tumour macrophages, losing C/EBP-beta shifts them from a tumour-protecting to a tumour-attacking state.
A schematic of the compound's mechanism, not a diagnostic image.
What else is it used for?
Each group carries its own evidence level.Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
Recurrent glioblastoma
Investigational- Human trial30 evaluable patients on weekly lucicebtide alone: disease control 30% and median survival 9.8 months.
- Human trialInfusion reactions fell from 79% of first infusions to 21% by the eighth.
Newly diagnosed glioblastoma
Investigational- Human trial9 patients given it around surgery with radiotherapy and temozolomide: median overall survival not reached, 6 alive beyond 22.3 months.
- No data28.4 months is a projected progression-free survival in 9 patients, and one outlet reported it as median survival; the benchmarks come from other trials with different starting points.
Phase 1, other cancers
Investigational- Human trial25 patients: one confirmed response in melanoma lasting more than 51 weeks and 8 with stable disease.
'28.4-month median survival' is wrong: 28.4 months is a projected median progression-free survival in 9 newly diagnosed patients, and median overall survival has not been reached. One-year survival in recurrent glioblastoma is 37% in the ASCO 2024 abstract and 40% in the later presentation; both are right for their data cut. The registry still lists the original escalation plan (up to 8 mg/kg weekly or 16 mg/kg every other week); the doses actually given went to 9 mg/kg, then a flat 500 mg. GSRS gives the formula as C208H344N69O55S, but the sequence works out to C208H345N69O55S. The orphan designation covers glioma generally, not glioblastoma specifically. It is a different drug from ST316, Sapience's beta-catenin peptide.
The published record
Papers and trials about Lucicebtide (ST101)
9 papers tagged human · 2 not reviews or lab · 0 clinical trial publications
5 registered trials · none with posted results
Furthest stage reached: Phase 2, completed, no results posted
Counted from Europe PMC indexing, not read by a person; a human tag can land on reviews, commentary or lab papers; clinical trial publications is the narrower count.
At a glance
Four things to know about Lucicebtide (ST101)
Evidence
Investigational
Category
Longevity and energy
Common vial
Varies
Half-life
About 18 to 41 hours (patent data, small groups)
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.500 mg once weekly (recommended phase 2 dose), once weekly. Weekly until the tumour progresses Trial dose
Given every week, with standard radiotherapy and temozolomide in newly diagnosed patients, for as long as the tumour is controlled.
About 18 to 41 hours (patent data, small groups)Trial protocol
First-cycle values at 0.5 to 4 mg/kg, longer at the higher doses. Clearance about 1.2 to 2.5 litres an hour; peak levels and exposure rose in proportion to dose. No peer-reviewed human pharmacokinetics.
Source: Sapience patent application US 2023/0218717, table 6
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
How do I dose and price it?
Enter your vial and your dose. Pick a mix. We show the draw and the cost.The vial holds a fixed amount of drug. Adding more water does not make more drug, it just spreads it thinner, so you draw a bigger number on the syringe for the same dose.
Choose your mix
Measuring the water1 mL = one full 100-unit syringe.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Given in hospital or a trial clinic, so the pharmacy stores it.
Lucicebtide (ST101) goes into a vein and is prepared by hospital, clinic or trial pharmacy staff, following the product label or the trial protocol. Some products like this are ready-made solutions and others are powders mixed just before use, often with hours rather than weeks of shelf life once prepared. It is not a medicine people store at home.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.Solubility, computed: 50% charged residues, 39% hydrophobic. Water usually sufficient.
A first-pass rule from peptide manufacturers' guidance. It does not account for disulfide bridges, salt form or how the powder was dried, and it predicts what should be easy rather than what will happen in your vial.
Who should avoid it
- Use outside a clinical trial: it is not approved anywhere
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding: no data
- Previous severe infusion reactions: reactions are common with the first doses and are managed with premedication and slower infusion
Stop and get help
- Swelling of the face or throat, wheezing or a widespread rash during an infusion
Common effects
- Infusion-related reactions, mostly grade 1 to 2 itching and hives, in 93% of phase 1 patients given a first dose of 4 mg/kg or more
- In recurrent glioblastoma, reactions at 79% of first infusions fell to 21% by the eighth
- No dose-limiting toxicities, no related serious side effects and no stopping for side effects in the reports so far
- No full side-effect table has been published
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is Lucicebtide (ST101) approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.No. Lucicebtide (ST101) is not approved anywhere and is currently in company-run clinical trials. There is no legal route to obtain it outside a trial.
- Approval statusInvestigational
- RouteInto a vein (infusion over 90 minutes or more)
- Checked15 October 2026
- DoseFrom published clinical trials. Not approved by a regulator for this dose.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- SourcesFDA GSRS substance record, lucicebtide (UNII CT77XS2YLT)FDA orphan designation, stage IIB to IV melanoma (25 Apr 2022)FDA orphan designation, glioma (5 Feb 2020)ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04478279Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2026 update (21 May 2026)Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2025 update (2 Jun 2025)Iwamoto FM et al., ASCO 2024 abstract 2011Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2024 presentation (1 Jun 2024)Iwamoto F et al., Mol Cancer Ther 2023;22(12 Suppl):B038Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2022 phase 1 dataFast Track designation for recurrent glioblastoma (6 Dec 2021)Sapience patent application US 2023/0218717Darvishi E et al., Mol Cancer Ther 2022;21:1632-1644Scuoppo C et al., Front Immunol 2025;16:1522699
What has happened recently
Not approved anywhere. It is tested in one phase 1/2 trial (NCT04478279, 125 enrolled, active but not recruiting), including a window-of-opportunity study given before and after brain surgery. The FDA granted orphan drug designations for acute myeloid leukaemia (30 April 2018, described as a cell-penetrating ATF5 mimetic), glioma (5 February 2020) and stage IIB to IV melanoma (25 April 2022), and Fast Track for recurrent glioblastoma and for melanoma after anti-PD-1 therapy (December 2021); the EU granted orphan designation for glioma. The INN lucicebtide (WHO proposed list 129 in 2023, per its FDA GSRS record) replaced the code ST101. No phase 3 has been announced. MedChemExpress sells it for research use only.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
What else is like Lucicebtide (ST101)?
Others in Longevity and energy, side by side.If you're weighing Lucicebtide (ST101), it's worth reading MOTS-c, Epitalon, and NAD+ in the same class.
A 38-residue all-D peptide that gets into cells and brain tumours. Phase 1/2, with encouraging but uncontrolled glioblastoma data.
- Dose
- 500 mg once weekly (recommended phase 2 dose)
- How often
- Once weekly
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- Dose
- 1 up to 5 mg per day (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- Daily
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- Dose
- 5 up to 10 mg per day (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 10-20 day courses
A cellular fuel taken for energy, focus, and anti-aging.
- Dose
- 50 up to 100 mg per dose (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 2-3x/week
Guides for this compound
- How to Reconstitute a Peptide
Mix peptide powder with bacteriostatic water, step by step.
- How to Read an Insulin Syringe
Read the units, convert to millilitres, and draw the exact dose.
- mcg vs mg: The Peptide Dosing Mistake to Avoid
Your vial says mg and your protocol says mcg. Here is the conversion and how to check it.
- How to Read a Peptide COA
What the purity number does and does not tell you, and how to spot an edited report.
- How to Vet a Peptide Vendor
Independent COAs, HPLC purity, and the red flags that mean walk away.
Sources
- FDA GSRS substance record, lucicebtide (UNII CT77XS2YLT)(2026)38-residue all-D sequence; CAS 2407100-74-5; INN proposed list 129; USAN; target C/EBP-beta.
- FDA orphan designation, stage IIB to IV melanoma (25 Apr 2022)(2022)Full D-amino-acid chemical name ending in a free D-arginine.
- FDA orphan designation, glioma (5 Feb 2020)(2020)Cell-penetrating C/EBP-beta antagonist designated for glioma.
- ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04478279(2026)Phase 1/2, active, not recruiting, 125 enrolled; glioblastoma, melanoma, breast and prostate cancer arms; no results posted.
- Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2026 update (21 May 2026)(2026)Newly diagnosed glioblastoma, 9 evaluable: projected median progression-free survival 28.4 months, median overall survival not reached, 6 alive beyond 22.3 months; no DLTs or related serious side effects.
- Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2025 update (2 Jun 2025)(2025)Window-of-opportunity groups of 9 recurrent and 9 newly diagnosed patients; immune-cell changes in tumours.
- Iwamoto FM et al., ASCO 2024 abstract 2011(2024)500 mg weekly; recurrent glioblastoma disease control 30%, 6-month progression-free 20%, 1-year survival 37%; no stopping for side effects.
- Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2024 presentation (1 Jun 2024)(2024)Recurrent glioblastoma survival 53% at 9 months and 40% at 12 months; one complete response in newly diagnosed disease.
- Iwamoto F et al., Mol Cancer Ther 2023;22(12 Suppl):B038(2023)Recurrent glioblastoma: median survival 9.8 months; infusion reactions 79% at the first and 21% at the eighth infusion; drug found in tumour 21 days after the last dose.
- Sapience Therapeutics, ASCO 2022 phase 1 data(2022)25 patients; one confirmed melanoma response and 8 with stable disease; 500 mg flat dose chosen; no DLTs.
- Fast Track designation for recurrent glioblastoma (6 Dec 2021)(2021)FDA Fast Track for recurrent glioblastoma; EU orphan designation for glioma.
- Sapience patent application US 2023/0218717(2023)All-D retro-inverso design from ATF5 and penetratin; human half-life 18 to 41 hours at 0.5 to 4 mg/kg; premedication regimen.
- Darvishi E et al., Mol Cancer Ther 2022;21:1632-1644(2022)Binds C/EBP-beta's leucine zipper, causes its proteasomal destruction and kills tumour cells but not normal cells in the lab.
- Scuoppo C et al., Front Immunol 2025;16:1522699(2025)Shifts tumour macrophages to a pro-inflammatory state and adds to anti-PD-1 therapy in mice.
Beyond these, 12 records are indexed. Browse the records