Vilon

From Khavinson's St. Petersburg institute, designed from the amino-acid makeup of the calf-thymus drug Thymalin. It is the most-studied of the Khavinson short peptides and was cleared for clinical trials in Russia in 2002, but is not an approved medicine anywhere found.

Proposed, not established. Computer modeling ranked it the best DNA binder of all 400 possible dipeptides, and the group reports it regulates about 36 genes. In lymphocytes from older people it loosened tightly packed chromatin, and an independent team found it activated STAT1 and reduced inflammatory signals in human immune cells.

The developer's 2014 review summarizes Russian human studies: a small double-blind randomized surgical study reporting faster healing, a periodontitis study in older adults reporting better immune markers, and a colorectal cancer study with a striking survival claim that should be treated with strong caution. Mouse work reportedly addressed biological age and lifespan, but those numbers could not be verified. Cell studies cover human lymphocytes, fibroblasts and thymus cells. Nothing has been fully published in English or independently replicated.

No side effects were reported in the developer's studies, but adverse-event methods were not described. In lymphocytes it raised sister-chromatid exchanges, a DNA-exchange marker of unknown clinical meaning. As an immune modulator, it is a concern with autoimmune disease, transplants or immunosuppressants.

Not FDA-approved for any use and not on any FDA compounding list checked, so it cannot lawfully be compounded. Not named on the 2026 WADA List; most likely falls under S0.