Does Thymalin help with respiratory infections?

What the studies show

A 2.0–2.4-fold fall in acute respiratory disease is reported in the same paper, with the same design limits.

A few small or poorly-controlled human studies. Enough to be interesting; not enough to count on. Most of what gets called “clinically proven” online lives here.

1. 1
   Khavinson VKh, Morozov VG. Peptides of pineal gland and thymus prolong human life.Neuro Endocrinol Lett, 2003;24:233–240266 elderly participants, 6–8 years. No randomisation or blinding described.

In context

Thymalin is a mixture of short peptides extracted from calf thymus, developed in Soviet-era St Petersburg and sold as an immune 'bioregulator'. The evidence behind its anti-ageing reputation is a 2003 report of 266 elderly people followed for six to eight years, which claims halved mortality but describes neither randomisation nor blinding. No trial outside that group's institute exists in the indexed literature. It is not approved in any region this site covers.

Thymalin is not approved (russia only). Legal status differs by country — see the regulation section or the jurisdiction pages.

Questions

Other outcomes for Thymalin

• CMortality in the elderly1 long-term series (n=266, 6–8 yr)
• CIndependent replicationNone found

Written and maintained by LYO Research — how pages are written and checked. Reviewed 23 September 2026. Grades count human evidence only; see how LYO grades. Not medical advice. Correct this page →