Pentagastrin (Peptavlon)_Dosage, benefits & legal status
Also known as Peptavlon, ICI 50123, Boc-beta-Ala-Trp-Met-Asp-Phe-NH2
A diagnostic rather than a treatment: the point was to provoke the stomach, measure it, and go home.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is Pentagastrin (Peptavlon)?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
Gastrin is the hormone that tells the stomach to make acid, and almost all of that message sits in its last four amino acids. Pentagastrin is those four residues plus a chemical cap, and that made a cheap synthetic stand-in for the hormone. Doctors injected it, collected stomach contents and measured how much acid the stomach could produce at full tilt. Wyeth stopped making the approved product in March 2002, and a compounding pharmacy later sold an unapproved version for a while.
Pentagastrin is a synthetic analog of gastrin built around the hormone's active C-terminal tetrapeptide, Trp-Met-Asp-Phe, ending in an amide and carrying a tert-butoxycarbonyl group on a beta-alanine at the front. Injected, it binds the receptor gastrin itself uses on stomach parietal cells and drives maximal acid secretion so that output can be measured. That receptor is now usually called CCK2, from the gene CCKBR. The historical label carried two routes: a single weight-based injection under the skin for gastric function studies, and a slow infusion into a vein.
What it's used for
Nothing currently in the United States. It was a diagnostic injection for measuring maximal stomach acid output, and it was also used to provoke calcitonin release in thyroid cancer testing.
How does Pentagastrin (Peptavlon) work?
What it does in the body, and where.Many peptide hormones keep their message in a short stretch at one end. Gastrin is a clean example: its last four residues carry nearly all the activity, and the rest of the chain is scaffolding.
- 01Four residues do the workTrp-Met-Asp-Phe ending in an amide is gastrin's active core. Pentagastrin is that core with a tert-butoxycarbonyl group on a beta-alanine stuck to the front, and that made it cheap to make and stable enough to inject.
- 02It provokes rather than treatsBinding the gastrin receptor on parietal cells drives acid secretion to its ceiling. The test measured how much acid a stomach could make at maximum, telling clinicians about parietal cell mass and about conditions that drive acid too high or too low.
- 03Why it is a pentapeptide only by courtesyFour of the five units are ordinary amino acids. The fifth, beta-alanine, is not one that appears in proteins, and the cap on it is pure chemistry. So the name counts five pieces where a protein chemist would count four residues plus a handle.
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.
What it was for
FDA-approved- RegulatoryInjected to push stomach acid secretion to its maximum so that output could be collected and measured. The approved product went under the skin; the later unapproved label offered an infusion into a vein as well.
- ReviewIt was also used to provoke calcitonin release, a test for medullary thyroid cancer, a use outside the approved indication.
- No dataIt joins two other hospital diagnostics on this site, secretin and sincalide. Those both go into a vein; the approved pentagastrin product went under the skin, and that made it the odd one out.
Why it disappeared
none- RegulatoryManufacture stopped in March 2002 and the holder asked the FDA to withdraw the approval. A decade later a compounding pharmacy listed its own unapproved pentagastrin injection, from June 19, 2012, and that listing was eventually inactivated under an FDA compliance action.
- RegulatoryThe FDA examined whether the withdrawal was for safety or effectiveness reasons and determined that it was not. That is the finding that lets generic versions reference the old application.
- No dataGastric acid testing itself largely went out of use, replaced by endoscopy and by acid-suppressing drugs that made measuring maximal output much less useful.
Pentagastrin went off the market for commercial reasons, not safety ones, and the FDA said so explicitly in 2006 after reviewing exactly that question. It is not gastrin: it is gastrin's last four residues with a chemical cap, and that is why it is a cheap synthetic rather than a hormone preparation. The pentapeptide name counts five units, and one of them is beta-alanine carrying a protecting group rather than a protein amino acid.
The published record
Papers and trials about Pentagastrin (Peptavlon)
272 papers tagged human · 249 not reviews or lab · 68 clinical trial publications
7 registered trials · none with posted results
Furthest stage reached: Approved in the US, no longer sold
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. 500 papers and 7 trials indexed in detail.
At a glance
Four things to know about Pentagastrin (Peptavlon)
Evidence
FDA-approved
Category
Healing and recovery
Common vial
Varies
Half-life
Short, as a single provocation dose
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.Supplied at 0.25 mg per mL, dosed by body weight, once per test. Not applicable Clinical use
A single dose given once during a diagnostic test. There was never a course or a repeat schedule.
Short, as a single provocation doseNo figure
Given once to provoke a measurable response over the following period, so the question was how long the acid response lasted rather than how long the molecule circulated. No figure is quoted here because none was read from a primary source.
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
How is it given?
Dosing context and source notes.Given in hospital from a prepared product, so there is nothing to mix.
Two routes appeared on the unapproved AnazaoHealth label, both by body weight: a single 6 micrograms per kilogram injection under the skin for gastric function studies, or an infusion into a vein at 0.1 to 12 micrograms per kilogram per hour in sodium chloride. The approved Wyeth product was a solution at 0.25 mg per mL for injection under the skin. No current product exists, so these are historical doses rather than prescribing ones, and the Federal Register withdrawal notice gives no dose at all.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Given in a hospital or trial clinic, so the pharmacy stores it.
Pentagastrin (Peptavlon) is prepared and given by hospital, clinic or trial staff, following the product label or the trial protocol. Some products like this arrive ready to use and others are mixed just before the dose, 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.Who should avoid it
- Any use outside a clinical test: this is a provocation agent, not a treatment
- Anything sold as a research powder under this name: the medicine was a sterile injection prepared for a supervised test
Stop and get help
- Not applicable. It is a single supervised dose during a test
Common effects
- Nausea and abdominal discomfort during the test, alongside the acid output being measured
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is Pentagastrin (Peptavlon) approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.Approved, but no longer sold in the United States. Pentagastrin (Peptavlon) was approved by the FDA, and the US product has since been discontinued.
- Approval statusFDA-approved
- RouteUnder the skin or into a vein, in the hospital
- Checked24 October 2026
- DoseFrom the drug label. The manufacturer tested this range and a regulator reviewed it.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- Sources
What has happened recently
Approved and then discontinued, for business reasons rather than safety. NDA 17-048 for PEPTAVLON, 0.25 mg per mL for subcutaneous injection, held by Wyeth Ayerst Laboratories, was approved on July 26, 1974. Wyeth Ayerst ceased manufacture in March 2002 and asked the FDA to withdraw the approval. In a Federal Register notice published February 10, 2006, the FDA determined the product was not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness, and moved it to the Orange Book's Discontinued Drug Product List for products discontinued for reasons other than safety or effectiveness. Identity: FDA substance record UNII EF0NX91490, CAS 5534-95-2. The nonproprietary name is simply pentagastrin; the number 2387 that circulates with it is its registry code in the INN system, not a name. Approval is not the whole story of supply: AnazaoHealth Corporation listed a pentagastrin solution under NDC 51808-207-01 with a marketing start date of June 19, 2012, in the marketing category unapproved drug other, and its own label said the drug had not been found by the FDA to be safe and effective. That listing is now shown as inactivated under an FDA-initiated compliance action.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
What else is like Pentagastrin (Peptavlon)?
Others in Healing and recovery, side by side.If you're weighing Pentagastrin (Peptavlon), it's worth reading BPC-157, TB-500 / Thymosin Beta-4, and PDA (Pentadeca Arginate) in the same class.
A diagnostic rather than a treatment: the point was to provoke the stomach, measure it, and go home.
- Dose
- Supplied at 0.25 mg per mL, dosed by body weight
- How often
- Once per test
A popular healing peptide for injuries, gut, and joint or tendon pain.
- Dose
- 0.25 up to 0.5 mg per dose (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 1-2x daily
A recovery peptide for healing muscle and tendon, often paired with BPC-157.
- Dose
- 2 up to 2.5 mg per injection (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- Twice a week
A newer, more stable cousin of BPC-157 for faster healing.
- Dose
- 0.25 up to 0.5 mg per day (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 1-2x daily
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.
Sources
- FDA GSRS substance record, pentagastrin (UNII EF0NX91490)(2026)Chemical record, CAS 5534-95-2, formula C37H49N7O9S, molecular weight 767.894, four defined stereocenters. The structure resolves to a tert-butoxycarbonyl group on a beta-alanine, then Trp-Met-Asp-Phe, ending in a primary amide. INN registry number 2387.
- DailyMed label, PENTAGASTRIN solution, AnazaoHealth Corporation(2012)NDC 51808-207-01, marketing category unapproved drug other, marketing start date June 19, 2012, the listing now shown as inactivated under an FDA-initiated compliance action. Route intravenous, with subcutaneous use described in the dosage section: infusion into a vein at 0.1 to 12 micrograms per kilogram per hour in 0.9 percent sodium chloride, or 6 micrograms per kilogram under the skin for gastric function studies. Indicated as a diagnostic aid for gastric acid secretory function, including anacidity in suspected pernicious anemia, atrophic gastritis or gastric carcinoma, reduced output after vagotomy or gastric resection, hypersecretion in suspected ulcer, and Zollinger-Ellison tumor. The label states the drug has not been found by the FDA to be safe and effective.
- Federal Register, determination on PEPTAVLON, February 10, 2006(2006)NDA 17-048, PEPTAVLON 0.25 mg per mL for subcutaneous injection, Wyeth Ayerst Laboratories, approved July 26, 1974. Wyeth Ayerst ceased manufacture in March 2002 and requested withdrawal of the approval. The FDA determined the product was not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness.
Beyond these, 507 records are indexed. Browse the records