RAD-150 (TLB-150) — what it is, how it relates to RAD-140, and what the facts say

RAD-150, also sold as TLB-150, is the benzoate ester of RAD-140, one of the most widely known selective androgen receptor modulators. The difference between the two compounds comes down to a single chemical group, yet the difference in what is known about them is enormous. A fair amount is known about RAD-140, including things that are worrying. On RAD-150, the peer-reviewed literature is silent.

This article answers the two questions that most often lead to this name: what it is, and what people say about it. We answer the second with facts rather than forum accounts, because only facts can be checked. We cover the structure of the molecule, FDA’s position on the whole class and the state of the evidence. We then look at what the RAD-140 data do and do not say about its ester, and at the anti-doping status. We describe no protocols of use, and the FAQ section explains why.

In our catalogue, the compounds discussed in this article are chemical reagents intended solely for laboratory research (Research Use Only). They are not medicinal products, dietary supplements or foods, and they are not intended for use in humans or animals. What this status means is explained in our material on the legal status of research reagents.

What RAD-150 is and how it relates to RAD-140

RAD-140 is a non-steroidal SARM developed by Radius Health and described in 2011 as an orally available compound with anabolic activity in preclinical models (Miller et al., 2011, PMID 24900290). Its molecule has the formula C₂₀H₁₆ClN₅O₂ and a mass of 393.8 g/mol (PubChem CID 44200882). It carries a single hydroxyl group, and that group is where the two compounds differ.

In RAD-150 that hydroxyl group is esterified with benzoic acid. The product has the formula C₂₇H₂₀ClN₅O₃ and a mass of 497.9 g/mol. PubChem records it under the synonyms “TLB 150 Benzoate” and “RAD150”, with CAS number 1208070-53-4 (PubChem CID 68547459). The mass difference, 104 g/mol, matches a benzoyl residue exactly. Chemically, then, it is a derivative of RAD-140, not a new pharmacophore.

Supplier descriptions call RAD-150 a prodrug: the ester is said to hydrolyse in the body and release RAD-140, and thanks to its greater lipophilicity to act for longer. That mechanism is familiar from testosterone esters, so it sounds plausible. For RAD-150, however, nobody has described it in a peer-reviewed paper. There is no publication on whether and how fast the ester hydrolyses in animals or humans, or what its half-life is. The only figure for the ester itself is an IC50 of 130 nM in a rat androgen receptor binding assay. It comes from the Radius Health patent, where the ester is compound 87 (BindingDB, US 8629167). A patent is not a peer-reviewed publication, and reagent manufacturers’ materials repeat that number without data of their own.

FDA warnings about SARMs

The US FDA warns consumers that bodybuilding products containing SARMs have not been approved by the agency and that their quality is unknown. It lists the harms reported in people using such products: liver injury, including acute liver failure, and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. It urges consumers not to purchase such products (FDA, page current as of 2 December 2025).

FDA enforces that position with warning letters to sellers. In a letter of 12 December 2025 to a company in California, it named RAD-140 alongside LGD-4033, MK-677 and S-23. It classified the products as unapproved new drugs under section 505(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The agency wrote outright that the labels “RESEARCH COMPOUND” and “NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION” do not change the assessment. What counts is the rest of the seller’s communication, which pointed to use in humans (FDA, Warning Letter 719433, 2025). For the research reagent market, this is an important line: the way a product is described decides its status, not the wording on the label.

A separate problem is what the packages contain. In an analysis of 44 products sold online as SARMs, only 52% contained a SARM, and 39% contained a different unapproved drug. Nine per cent contained no active compound at all, and 25% contained substances not listed on the label. The declared amount matched the measured one in 41% of products (Van Wagoner et al., 2017, PMID 29183075). For a compound with no literature, such as RAD-150, the only tool for verifying identity and purity is the batch’s analytical document. We describe it in our article on the certificate of analysis. The risks shared by the whole class, from suppression of the hormonal axis to the liver and the circulatory system, are discussed in our guide SARMs for bodybuilders.

State of the evidence: zero peer-reviewed publications

That sentence needs documenting, so here is the search scope as of 1 November 2026. In PubMed, the queries “RAD-150”, “RAD150”, “TLB-150” and “TLB150” returned three records in total, from 1975 to 1994, in which the string meant something else. A query for CAS number 1208070-53-4 returned nothing. In Europe PMC, the CAS number and the name TLB150 gave zero hits, and the hits for “RAD-150” belonged to other fields. The ClinicalTrials.gov registry holds no trial of RAD-150 or TLB-150.

This means that for RAD-150 there are no published data on pharmacokinetics, efficacy or safety, in animals or in humans. Nor are there analyses of the identity of products sold under that name. Everything that can be said about it follows from the chemistry, namely the fact that it is an ester of RAD-140, and from what is known about the parent compound and the SARM class as a whole. The rest of this article therefore deals with RAD-140, with a clear caveat about what follows from it for the ester.

What is known about RAD-140, and why it does not carry over automatically

RAD-140 has preclinical studies and one human study behind it. In rats it showed neuroprotective activity (Jayaraman et al., 2014, PMID 24428527). In ageing female mice it impaired muscle adaptation to exercise and increased frailty measures and the risk of death (Brown et al., 2023, PMID 37758180). The only clinical study is a phase 1 trial in 22 postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer. The most frequent adverse events were rises in the liver enzymes AST (59.1%) and ALT (45.5%) and in bilirubin (27.3%). Grade 3 or 4 events occurred in 72.7% of patients (LoRusso et al., 2022, PMID 34565686).

Then there are the case reports in people who bought RAD-140 as a training “supplement”. Drug-induced liver injury with a cholestatic pattern has been described (Barbara et al., 2020, PMID 33062783), including in a 26-year-old with no coexisting conditions (Ladna et al., 2023, PMID 36978171). In a 2026 case, after a product containing RAD-140 and andarine, plasmapheresis was needed despite discontinuation and corticosteroid therapy (Dao et al., 2026, PMID 42417499). Cardiologists have described heart failure with a fatal outcome (Skorupski et al., 2024, PMID 38864168) and myopericarditis in a 16-year-old after the first dose (Schwartzman et al., 2024, PMID 39157568). A fuller review of these data is in our article on RAD-140.

What follows from this for RAD-150? Two things, seemingly contradictory. If the ester really does release RAD-140, then all the risks above apply to it in equal measure, and perhaps for longer, since it is supposed to act more slowly. If instead hydrolysis proceeds differently from what suppliers assume, then RAD-150 is a separate substance about which nothing is known. Neither variant justifies the claim that the ester is “stronger” or “safer”. The RAD-140 data set the lower bound of the risk, not the profile of RAD-150.

Regulatory status

European Union. Neither RAD-140 nor its ester appears in EMA’s Article 57 data on authorised medicinal products (as of 9 October 2026). Neither one is permitted as an ingredient of foods or food supplements in the EU. In our catalogue, RAD-150 TLB 10 mg is a reagent for laboratory research.

United States. Searching Drugs@FDA for RAD-140 or testolone returns no product, let alone its ester (checked 1 November 2026). The clinical programme for RAD-140 in breast cancer stopped at phase 1. FDA classifies SARMs sold with any suggestion of human use as unapproved new drugs, and its warning letters name RAD-140 among them (FDA, Warning Letter 719433, 2025).

Other countries. No medicinal registration of RAD-140 is known in any country. RAD-150 never entered clinical trials, so its status is simpler still: a chemical substance with no approval anywhere.

Anti-doping note

Class S1.2 of the WADA Prohibited List, “other anabolic agents”, covers selective androgen receptor modulators as a group and names RAD140 among them, alongside andarine, ostarine, LGD-4033, S-23 and YK-11. The enumeration is preceded by “including, but not limited to”, so the list of examples is not closed. RAD-150, as a SARM and an ester of a substance named on the List, falls under the same class. The whole of class S1 is prohibited at all times, in and out of competition. SARMs have been on the List since 2008, and anti-doping laboratories detect them routinely (Thevis and Schänzer, 2018, PMID 28137616).

If the ester releases RAD-140, doping control will detect RAD-140 metabolites, whose profile in humans has been described in micro-dose studies (Wagener et al., 2022, PMID 35888790). For athletes tested in the United States, the same classification applies through USADA, a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code. The classes of the List are explained in more detail in our guide to the WADA Prohibited List; the binding interpretation lies with WADA and the national anti-doping bodies.

Frequently asked questions

What is RAD 150?
The benzoate ester of RAD-140, also sold as TLB-150. It differs from RAD-140 by a single benzoyl residue attached to the hydroxyl group. It is described as a prodrug meant to release RAD-140, but nobody has published that mechanism.

RAD 150 opinions: what do the facts say?
That there are no facts. In PubMed, Europe PMC and the clinical trials registry there is not a single paper on RAD-150. Opinions online describe the impressions of the people writing them, which cannot be verified or tied to a specific substance of known purity.

Is RAD-150 stronger than RAD-140?
No data allow that conclusion. The claim of greater potency and longer action comes from sales descriptions and rests on an analogy with testosterone esters, not on studies.

Is RAD-150 a medicine or a supplement?
Neither. It is not registered as a medicine in any country and is not an authorised food ingredient. FDA classifies SARMs sold with any suggestion of human use as unapproved new drugs.

What is the dosing of RAD-150, and why is it not here?
No clinical or animal data exist on which any figure could be based, and the reagent in the catalogue is not for administration to humans. The doses circulating online have no source.

Is RAD-150 prohibited in sport?
Yes, at all times. It falls under class S1.2 of the WADA Prohibited List as a SARM and an ester of RAD140, which is named on the List.

Summary

RAD-150 is the benzoate ester of RAD-140, with a mass of 497.9 g/mol, sold as TLB-150. The peer-reviewed literature contains not a single paper on it, so nobody knows whether it hydrolyses, how long it acts or what risks it carries. The only figure, an IC50 from a patent, concerns receptor binding in a test tube. RAD-140 is known to have raised liver enzymes in most patients in its only clinical trial. Case reports link it to liver and heart injury in young men. FDA warns against SARMs and classifies them as unapproved new drugs when they are sold with any suggestion of human use. In sport, RAD-150 falls under class S1.2 and is prohibited at all times.

Product documentation

Reagent page with batch documentation: RAD-150 TLB 10 mg, 60 capsules. Compounds of this class are collected in the categories SARMs and SARMs in capsules. The parent compound is discussed in our article on RAD-140. A certificate of analysis confirms each batch’s identity and purity.

Bibliography

1. Miller CP, Shomali M, Lyttle CR, et al. Design, Synthesis, and Preclinical Characterization of the Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM) RAD140. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2011;2(2):124-129. doi:10.1021/ml1002508. PMID: 24900290
2. Jayaraman A, Christensen A, Moser VA, et al. Selective androgen receptor modulator RAD140 is neuroprotective in cultured neurons and kainate-lesioned male rats. Endocrinology. 2014;155(4):1398-1406. doi:10.1210/en.2013-1725. PMID: 24428527
3. Brown AM, Ganjayi MS, Baumann CW. RAD140 (Testolone) negatively impacts skeletal muscle adaptation, frailty status and mortality risk in female mice. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2023;50(12):973-983. doi:10.1111/1440-1681.13824. PMID: 37758180
4. LoRusso P, Hamilton E, Ma C, et al. A First-in-Human Phase 1 Study of a Novel Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM), RAD140, in ER+/HER2- Metastatic Breast Cancer. Clin Breast Cancer. 2022;22(1):67-77. doi:10.1016/j.clbc.2021.08.003. PMID: 34565686
5. Barbara M, Dhingra S, Mindikoglu AL. Drug-Induced Liver Injury Associated With Alpha Bolic (RAD-140) and Alpha Elite (RAD-140 and LGD-4033). ACG Case Rep J. 2020;7(6):e00409. doi:10.14309/crj.0000000000000409. PMID: 33062783
6. Ladna M, Taylor K, Bhat A, et al. Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury related to use of novel selective androgen receptor modulator RAD140 (Testalone): a case report. J Med Case Rep. 2023;17(1):134. doi:10.1186/s13256-023-03847-8. PMID: 36978171
7. Dao D, King B, Dao H, et al. Unregulated gains: a case of RAD-140-induced liver injury. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2026:1-3. doi:10.1080/08998280.2026.2691619. PMID: 42417499
8. Skorupski WJ, Marko A, Janus M, et al. Selective androgen receptor modulator abuse-induced heart failure: catastrophic effects of RAD-140 (Testolone). Pol Arch Intern Med. 2024;134(7-8):16770. doi:10.20452/pamw.16770. PMID: 38864168
9. Schwartzman KH, Kohli U, Chaudhuri NR, et al. Myopericarditis Following Use of Selective Androgen Receptor Modifier “RAD-140”. JACC Case Rep. 2024;29(15):102423. doi:10.1016/j.jaccas.2024.102423. PMID: 39157568
10. Van Wagoner RM, Eichner A, Bhasin S, et al. Chemical Composition and Labeling of Substances Marketed as Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators and Sold via the Internet. JAMA. 2017;318(20):2004-2010. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.17069. PMID: 29183075
11. Thevis M, Schänzer W. Detection of SARMs in doping control analysis. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2018;464:34-45. doi:10.1016/j.mce.2017.01.040. PMID: 28137616
12. Wagener F, Euler L, Görgens C, et al. Human In Vivo Metabolism and Elimination Behavior of Micro-Dosed Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator RAD140 for Doping Control Purposes. Metabolites. 2022;12(7):666. doi:10.3390/metabo12070666. PMID: 35888790
13. National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Summary, CID 68547459, TLB 150 Benzoate (RAD150), CAS 1208070-53-4; CID 44200882, RAD140. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed 1 November 2026)
14. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Certain Bodybuilding Products Put Consumers at Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke, Serious Liver Damage, and More (content current as of 2 December 2025). fda.gov (accessed 1 November 2026)
15. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Warning Letter 719433, Prime Sports Nutrition, 12 December 2025. fda.gov (accessed 1 November 2026)
16. European Medicines Agency. Article 57 product data (data as of 9 October 2026): no entry for RAD140, testolone or TLB-150. ema.europa.eu (accessed 1 November 2026)
17. World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List, class S1.2. wada-ama.org (accessed 1 November 2026)
18. Miller CP (inventor), Radius Health Inc. Selective androgen receptor modulators. US Patent 8629167 B2, granted 14 January 2014; compound 87 in BindingDB as BDBM112874 (IC50 130 nM, rat androgen receptor). bindingdb.org (accessed 2 November 2026)
19. Negative queries (1 November 2026): PubMed “RAD-150” OR “RAD150” OR “TLB-150” OR “TLB150”: 3 records unrelated to this compound; PubMed and Europe PMC “1208070-53-4”: 0; ClinicalTrials.gov “RAD-150”, “TLB-150”: 0.