Peptide basics
Eleven trials, 1,215 people, and then it stopped
On this page
Tesofensine has 11 verified registered trials enrolling 1,215 people, with a furthest phase of 2.
It has no FDA-approved product and only 9 indexed publications in the last ten years.
That combination — real trials, then near-silence — is what a stalled development programme looks like in the record.
The registry records that testing stopped. It does not record why, and the reasons are not always about the compound.
This page describes what the public record shows for a compound whose development halted. It makes no claim about effectiveness or safety and contains no dose, schedule or route.
The shape of the record
Eleven registered trials with 1,215 participants is a substantial early-stage programme. It puts tesofensine ahead of most unapproved compounds on this site, several of which have no trials at all.1
What follows is the informative part. Its furthest phase is 2, there is no approval, and only 9 papers name it in the last ten years. The activity happened and then largely ceased.123
Why programmes stop
- The results did not justify a phase 3 trial.
- A safety signal appeared that made the risk unattractive.
- The sponsor ran out of money, was acquired, or changed strategy.
- A competitor reached the market first and the commercial case collapsed.1
The registry distinguishes none of these. It records that trials were registered, that they concluded, and that no later-phase trial followed. Anyone asserting which reason applies is going beyond what the record supports.1
Why a stalled compound is not the same as an untested one
It is tempting to lump tesofensine in with the 25 compounds here that have no trials at all. That misreads the situation in the compound's favour and against it at the same time.1
In its favour: 1,215 people received it under protocols with pre-specified outcomes, so something is actually known. Against it: that testing reached a point where somebody with full access to the data decided not to continue, which is information an untested compound does not carry.1
Common questions
Can a stalled compound be revived?
Yes, and it happens — a new sponsor, a new indication, or new understanding of the mechanism can restart a programme. The registry shows it when it does.
Does stopping at phase 2 mean it failed?
Not necessarily. The registry does not record the reason, and commercial decisions end programmes that were going well.
How do I spot this pattern elsewhere?
Look for a real trial count with a phase 2 or 3 ceiling, no approval, and few recent publications. This site records all four for every compound.
Sources
- RegulatoryClinicalTrials.gov search — intervention: tesofensineU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026clinicaltrials.gov/search?intr=tesofensine ↗↩ Back to text
- RegulatoryPubMed search — tesofensineU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22tesofensine%22 ↗↩ Back to text
- RegulatoryDrugs@FDA — approved drug products databaseU.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/ ↗↩ Back to text