Stenabolic (SR9009): What It Is, How It Works, and What the Evidence Actually Shows

Key takeaways

What Stenabolic (SR9009) Is

SR9009, sold online under the brand name Stenabolic, is a synthetic small molecule that activates the nuclear receptors REV-ERB-alpha and REV-ERB-beta. These receptors are core components of the molecular circadian clock and help regulate the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism, glucose handling, and inflammation. SR9009 is not a hormone and does not bind the androgen receptor, which is the defining feature of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs). Grouping SR9009 with SARMs such as ostarine or LGD-4033 is a mechanistic error that is nonetheless common in vendor marketing.

The compound was first described by the Burris laboratory as part of a research program aimed at understanding how synthetic REV-ERB ligands affect circadian behavior and metabolism. It was never developed as a marketed drug and has no assigned generic pharmaceutical name beyond its research code.

How It Is Reported to Work

REV-ERB-alpha and REV-ERB-beta act as transcriptional repressors that help coordinate circadian rhythm with metabolic gene expression. In the foundational study, <cite index="18-3,18-4,18-5,18-6,18-7">systemic administration of synthetic REV-ERB agonists SR9011 and SR9009 altered circadian behaviour and the circadian pattern of core clock gene expression in the hypothalami of mice, and also altered the circadian pattern of expression of metabolic genes in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, resulting in increased energy expenditure</cite>. In that same study, <cite index="18-10">the REV-ERB agonists reduced fat mass in diet-induced obese mice and improved dyslipidaemia and hyperglycaemia</cite>, and the authors concluded <cite index="18-11">these results suggest that synthetic REV-ERB ligands are promising candidates for the treatment of metabolic diseases</cite>.

Later independent research has complicated this mechanistic picture. A 2019 study in PNAS reported that <cite index="22-1">SR9009 was found to exert REV-ERB-independent effects on proliferation, metabolism, and gene transcription in two different cell types depleted of REV-ERBs</cite>, meaning some of the effects attributed to REV-ERB activation in cell and animal studies may not actually run through the REV-ERB receptors at all. This is a meaningful caveat: it means that a portion of the published biology of SR9009 cannot be cleanly attributed to its stated mechanism.

What the Preclinical Evidence Shows

Essentially all published data on SR9009 come from cell culture and animal studies, most conducted in mice and delivered by intraperitoneal injection rather than by mouth. Effects reported across various rodent models include altered circadian and metabolic gene expression, reduced fat mass, improved lipid and glucose profiles, and increased energy expenditure in diet-induced obese mice, as described above.

SR9009 has also been studied in inflammatory and disease models unrelated to bodybuilding claims. In bone marrow-derived mast cells, researchers found that <cite index="26-5,26-6">SR9009 and other synthetic REV-ERB agonists affected the mast cell clockwork, and SR9009 inhibited IgE- and IL-33-mediated mast cell activation in wild-type cells in association with inhibition of Gab2/PI3K and NF-kB activation</cite>. In a mouse model of spinal cord injury, a 2025 study found that intraperitoneal SR9009 given at 100 mg/kg per day for the first week after injury <cite index="1-4,1-5">reduced hematoma and decreased expression of transcripts associated with blood-spinal cord barrier disruption and inflammation at 3 days post-injury, but hindlimb functional recovery remained unchanged throughout 6 weeks of follow-up and no significant differences in white matter sparing were observed at study completion</cite>. This is an important illustration that preclinical benefits seen on short-term biomarkers do not always translate into meaningful functional outcomes, even within the same animal model.

Other studies have examined SR9009 in non-mammalian species. In goldfish, researchers reported that <cite index="5-3,5-4">SR9009 inhibited feeding and lowered body weight and length gain, while ghrelin mRNA abundance decreased in the intestine and leptin-aI mRNA abundance increased in the liver</cite>. This breadth of findings across species and disease models reflects an active basic-science research program into REV-ERB pharmacology generally, not a body of evidence supporting use of SR9009 as a human performance or weight-loss product.

Pharmacokinetics and the Oral Dosing Problem

A recurring theme in the primary pharmacology literature is that SR9009 has an unfavorable pharmacokinetic profile. Patent filings reviewing the compound class note that <cite index="20-4,20-5">the use of SR9009 and SR9011 to interrogate REV-ERB-alpha biology is complicated by high metabolic clearance rates that necessitate high dosing to achieve meaningful levels of exposure in vivo, and that the unfavorable drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic profile of these compounds renders them unsuitable as effective clinical remedies</cite>. A subsequent medicinal chemistry review of REV-ERB agonists likewise notes that later-generation compounds developed by the same research group were designed specifically to improve on this weakness, since <cite index="3-6">the poor oral bioavailability of the original compounds limited their application, and successor tetrahydroisoquinoline-based agonists showed longer half-life and lower plasma clearance rate</cite>.

The original 2012 study establishing SR9009's biological activity dosed mice exclusively by intraperitoneal injection; it did not report an oral efficacy arm. This distinction matters because virtually all products sold to consumers as "Stenabolic" are oral capsules or liquids, meaning the dosing route used in every published biological experiment differs from the dosing route used by consumers. Whether meaningful systemic exposure is achieved after oral consumption in humans has not been established in any published, peer-reviewed pharmacokinetic study. Claims of specific oral bioavailability percentages for SR9009 that circulate on vendor and bodybuilding websites are not traceable to a peer-reviewed human or animal pharmacokinetic study and should be treated as unverified.

Human Data

There are no published human clinical trials of SR9009, at any phase, for any indication. Independent reviewers of the compound's evidence base consistently reach this same conclusion. As one detailed evidence summary states plainly, <cite index="10-1">there are no human clinical trials, no human pharmacokinetic data, and no human safety data</cite> for SR9009. Because no controlled human dosing study exists, there is no established human dose, no characterized human pharmacokinetic profile, no defined side-effect profile in people, and no data on drug interactions, long-term safety, or effects in people with pre-existing conditions.

A 2016 laboratory study analyzing the compound's metabolism in human liver microsomes noted the real-world consumer context driving this research: <cite index="45-1">illicit use of SR9009 and SR9011 for doping purposes could be anticipated, especially since SR9009 is marketed in illicit products, and the presence of SR9009 could be demonstrated in a black market product purchased over the internet</cite>. This confirms that products sold as Stenabolic have been analyzed and found to actually contain the substance, but it says nothing about whether oral consumption of that product produces any of the effects described in the injected-rodent literature.

Regulatory and Anti-Doping Status

SR9009 is not approved by the FDA, or by any other national medicines regulator, for any human medical use. No pharmaceutical company has taken it through clinical development, and it does not have generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status or dietary ingredient status under U.S. law. The FDA has separately and repeatedly warned that unapproved research chemicals marketed to consumers as bodybuilding or performance products, most commonly SARMs, are unapproved drugs that have not been reviewed by the agency for safety or effectiveness, and has linked such products to serious adverse events including liver injury and cardiovascular risk. While these specific FDA actions have targeted androgen receptor-binding SARMs rather than REV-ERB agonists by name, the same underlying regulatory status applies to SR9009: it is an unapproved drug substance with no FDA safety or efficacy review, regardless of how it is labeled or marketed.

SR9009 is prohibited in competitive sport. It appears by name on the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List under the class of hormone and metabolic modulators, where <cite index="42-2,42-3,42-4,42-5">Rev-erb-alpha agonists such as SR9009 and SR9011 are listed under metabolic modulators (S4.4.1)</cite>. Athletes subject to anti-doping codes can be sanctioned for a positive test regardless of whether the product was sold as a supplement or a research chemical.

Safety Considerations

Because no human trial has ever been conducted, no organization can currently define a safe or effective dose of SR9009 in people, and no clinical monitoring protocol exists for its use. The rodent literature relied on intraperitoneal injection at high doses (commonly around 100 mg/kg), a route and dose that cannot be directly compared to oral consumption of a capsule in a human. Reports of adverse effects in humans are limited to anecdotal, unregulated user self-reports rather than data collected under any clinical or research oversight, and should not be treated as reliable safety evidence in either direction.

Consumers should also be aware that products sold online as "Stenabolic" are unregulated. Purity, actual content, and contamination have not been systematically verified across the market, and at least one purchased black-market product has been directly analyzed and confirmed to contain the substance, underscoring that these are unregulated chemical products rather than tested pharmaceuticals.

Bottom Line

SR9009 (Stenabolic) is a legitimate research tool in circadian and metabolic pharmacology, with a genuine and still-active body of preclinical literature spanning mouse models of obesity, inflammation, spinal cord injury, and other conditions. It is mechanistically distinct from SARMs and does not act on the androgen receptor. However, none of this preclinical promise has been confirmed in a published human trial, the pharmacokinetic profile of the parent compound is considered unfavorable even by researchers who work with it, and the oral consumer products sold under this name have not been shown to reproduce the biology observed in injected laboratory animals. It is not approved for human use by the FDA or any other regulator, and it is prohibited in Olympic and other WADA-code sport.

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