SR-9009

A circadian-biology research tool (Rev-erb agonist) from Scripps that showed increased mitochondrial activity and exercise capacity in mice, marketed since as "exercise in a bottle."

SR9009 (Stenabolic) is a synthetic agonist at REV-ERB, a nuclear receptor that helps run the circadian clock and, through it, genes controlling mitochondrial number and metabolic rate. In mice, activating it increased mitochondrial content and running endurance — findings that produced the "exercise mimetic" framing the whole grey market rests on. The problem is not the mechanism, it is the delivery: SR9009 is very poorly absorbed orally, so the dramatic mouse results came from injected administration that oral capsules cannot reproduce.

Mouse data only. The foundational exercise studies used injected administration in mice; human pharmacokinetics and oral exposure are not established, and some of its cellular effects occur independently of Rev-erb — the mechanism story is less clean than marketed. No human trials exist.

• NONE. There is no human trial of SR9009 of any size, phase or quality — it never entered clinical development.
• The foundational exercise-capacity result came from six mice per group and used non-oral administration. Later animal work using oral gavage reported limited systemic exposure. Neither supports any self-administered route in humans — the point is evidentiary, not a comparison of routes.
• Human pharmacokinetics have NEVER been characterised — no oral bioavailability figure or half-life exists for people. Mouse oral gavage showed limited systemic exposure, which is suggestive rather than a human number, and the injected mouse endurance result cannot be extrapolated to a marketed oral capsule.
• The mechanistic story is worse than unsettled. In cells engineered to lack both REV-ERB receptors entirely, SR9009 still reduced proliferation and mitochondrial respiration — so it does things that have nothing to do with its supposed target. Investigators also flagged nitrothiophene toxicophores in its structure. Human significance of either finding is unknown, which is not the same as benign.
• It is prohibited in sport and appears in doping sanctions, which is where most of the analytical data on real-world products comes from.

Human pharmacokinetics have never been characterised — no bioavailability or half-life figure exists for people. Animal work using oral administration reported limited systemic exposure. Sold as research-chemical supply of unverified identity, and analytical testing of this category routinely finds mislabelled contents.

Unknown by absence of study, which is not the same as safe. Perturbing circadian clock machinery is a systemic intervention, not a targeted one. WADA bans it.

• Everyone — a compound with zero human data, a delivery problem that undermines even its animal evidence, and unverified supply
• Anyone in tested sport, where it is prohibited
• Anyone pregnant or breastfeeding

• No characterised human interaction profile exists.
• Circadian biology is its target, so effects on sleep are mechanistically plausible and entirely unstudied in people.
• Any tested sport, where it is prohibited.

• There is nothing meaningful to monitor, and offering a panel would imply a level of knowledge that does not exist for a compound with zero human data.
• The honest position: no human study has ever established what it does in a person, at any exposure, over any duration.

Nothing is known about stopping because nothing is known about taking it. No withdrawal syndrome is described, and no established effect exists to lose.

US: not FDA-approved for human use; unscheduled. Marketing for human use may violate the FD&C Act.

• Regulation of circadian behaviour and metabolism by synthetic REV-ERB agonistsNature · 2012
• Deficiency of intestinal Bmal1 prevents obesity induced by high-fat feedingNat Commun · 2021
• REV-ERBα integrates colon clock with experimental colitis through regulation of NF-κB/NLRP3 axisNat Commun · 2018
• NR1D1 Stimulates Antitumor Immune Responses in Breast Cancer by Activating cGAS-STING SignalingCancer Res · 2023
• Rhythms under tension: Circadian clocks in an Unsynced SocietyBiomed J · 2025
• The circadian clock protein Rev-erbα provides neuroprotection and attenuates neuroinflammation against Parkinson's disease via the microglial NLRP3 inflammasomeJ Neuroinflammation · 2022
• BMAL1 insufficiency increases the risk of thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissectionCardiovasc Res · 2026
• New biochemical approaches for the treatment of glioblastomaJ Biol Chem · 2025
• Nobiletin promotes lipolysis of white adipose tissue in a circadian clock-dependent mannerJ Nutr Biochem · 2024
• SR9009 inhibits lethal prostate cancer subtype 1 by regulating the LXRα/FOXM1 pathway independently of REV-ERBsCell Death Dis · 2022
• Rev-erbα agonist SR9009 protects against cerebral ischemic injury through mechanisms involving Nrf2 pathwayFront Pharmacol · 2023
• SR9009 improves heart function after pressure overload independent of cardiac REV-ERBFront Cardiovasc Med · 2022