Stabilization: the hexenoyl cap on the N-terminus

One chemical change that turns minutes into a usable daily drug

Native GHRH is degraded in plasma, primarily by dipeptidylpeptidase IV, which cuts at the 2-3 position and strips the first two residues. Tesamorelin carries a single addition at the other end of that problem: a hexenoyl moiety, which the label describes as a C6 chain with a double bond at position 3, on the first residue.

This unit walks the exact bond that enzyme attacks, what the cap is and is not known to do about it, how much half-life the molecule actually has, how it compares with other stabilizing strategies, and where compounded-product quality can slip.