Ovagen Research

Ovagen is a trade name for a synthetic tripeptide, Glu-Asp-Leu, written EDL ^[1]. This page sets out what has been published about Ovagen. The honest answer is a small set of kidney studies in rats and in cell culture, all from one research network, plus a computer prediction.

What the molecule is

Ovagen is a three amino acid peptide rather than an extract. PubChem holds the structure as glutamyl-aspartyl-leucine, CID 444128, formula C15H25N3O8, molecular weight 375.37, with no CAS number among its nine synonyms ^[2].

The link between the trade name and the sequence rests on one table, in a 2022 review written by the compound's commercial originator ^[1]. No second source confirms it. The National Library of Medicine record for the sequence, C000600952, carries neither "Ovagen" nor the code "T-35" as an entry term ^[2]. The peptide is unreachable by brand name in MeSH.

The name is misleading too. Despite the prefix, the originator's own table assigns kidney and liver labels to this peptide, not ovarian ones ^[1].

The name collision that will mislead a search

A PubMed search for "Ovagen" returns a different product entirely. "Ovagen" is also a commercial ovine follicle stimulating hormone preparation used to superovulate sheep, goats and cattle ^[4][5]. Those veterinary papers are genuine and none concerns this peptide, so any evidence count built from that search is spurious.

What has actually been published on EDL

A small kidney literature, all from one research network. Three rat studies gave EDL itself: in kidney injury caused by cisplatin ^[10], in kidney injury caused by gentamicin and by interrupted blood supply ^[11], and to old rats ^[12]. Their authors report a nephroprotective effect in the injury models ^[10][11], and conclude that in old rats the peptide may be considered a nephroprotective agent ^[12]. A 2014 Russian-language paper by two of the same authors reports a renoprotective effect of the peptides it tested, T-35 among them, in an animal model of kidney injury caused by muscle breakdown ^[13]. Two 2014 papers tested EDL on aging kidney cells in culture ^[14][15]. A 2015 in vitro paper reports that the short peptides T-31 (AED) and T-35 (EDL) stimulate proliferation and reduce apoptosis of kidney cells ^[3]. That paper never uses the trade name Ovagen, and identifies the compound only by the code T-35 and the sequence EDL ^[3].

The 2022 review table also lists a molecular docking score of -28.27 for EDL, beside the label "nephroprotector / hepatoprotector" ^[1]. A docking score is a computer prediction rather than a measurement. The table cites the 2017 rat study for the kidney label and a patent for the liver label ^[1].

What is not known

There is no human study of any kind, and the animal work is limited to the kidney studies above. No pharmacokinetic data exists for this peptide, by any route, in any species, and no lifespan or survival data exists. ClinicalTrials.gov returns no registered study under the name ^[6], and no laboratory outside the originating network has published on it.

Those absence statements are scoped. Russian-language work outside MEDLINE could not be searched, so read them as "none could be located" rather than "none exists".

Family background

This section is background on the group, not evidence for this compound.

Vladimir Khavinson and the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology developed these peptides, hold patents across the family, and sell them ^[7]. Papers from the group nonetheless declare no patent or licensing arrangement ^[8]. This literature is not independent and is not described as such here.

EDL is also AEDL minus one alanine, and AEDL is the sequence usually given for Bronchogen, which is sold separately. That sequence is not settled: papers sharing an author give both AEDL and ADEL ^[9]. Nothing has been published on what functionally distinguishes the two, so this page leaves that question open.

Nothing above describes a use in people.

References

1. 1

   Khavinson V, et al. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022. PMID 35887081. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23147733. (Table 2 reads "Ovagen (EDL) -28.27 Nephroprotector / Hepatoprotector". Correction applied: the string T-35 does not occur in this paper.)
2. 2

   PubChem CID 444128, Glutamyl-aspartyl-leucine; NLM MeSH supplementary concept C000600952. Re-queried 27 August 2026. (C15H25N3O8, MW 375.37; no CAS in any of the nine synonyms; the NLM record carries neither "Ovagen" nor "T-35" as an entry term, and PubChem returns no record at all for the name "Ovagen".)
3. 3

   Chalisova NI, et al. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2015. PMID 26033601. DOI: 10.1007/s10517-015-2906-9. (Correction applied: the paper names neither Cartalax nor Ovagen. Its abstract reads "Short peptides T-31 (AED) and T-35 (EDL) also stimulate proliferation and reduce apoptosis of the kidney cells.")
4. 4

   Friedman E, et al. Domestic Animal Endocrinology. 2010;39(2):106-115. PMID 20399062. (Uses Ovagen as an FSH source in dairy cattle.)
5. 5

   McNatty KP, et al. Superovulation and embryo recovery in goats treated with Ovagen and Folltropin. New Zealand Veterinary Journal. 1989. PMID 16031503.
6. 6

   ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 registry query, run 27 August 2026. (Zero registered studies returned for ovagen.)
7. 7

   US Patent 6,727,227 B1, granted 27 April 2004. (Tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly; four named inventors including V.K. Khavinson; assignee the institute's clinic LLC.)
8. 8

   Khavinson V, Popovich I, Mikhailova O. Acta Biomedica. 2020. PMID 32921699. (Declares no commercial associations including patent or licensing arrangement.)
9. 9

   Khavinson VK, et al. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2012. PMID 22808515., which gives Bronchogen as AEDL; and Khavinson VK, et al. Lung. 2014. PMID 25015171., an in vitro biophysics and cell-culture paper, which gives it as ADEL. (Cited only to document that the Bronchogen sequence is reported inconsistently in papers sharing an author. Neither paper concerns EDL.)
10. 10

    Zamorskii II, Shchudrova TS, Lin'kova NS, Nichik TE, Khavinson VKh. Peptides restore functional state of the kidneys during cisplatin-induced acute renal failure. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2015;159(6):736-739. PMID 26515176.
11. 11

    Zamorskii II, Shchudrova TS, Lin'kova NS, Nichik TE, Khavinson VK. Nephroprotective effect of EDL peptide at acute injury of kidneys of different genesis. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2017;163(3):389-393. PMID 28744634.
12. 12

    Zamorskii II, Shchudrova TS, Zeleniuk VG, Linkova NS, Nichik TE, Khavinson VK. [The influence of peptides on the morphofunctional state of old rats kidneys]. Adv Gerontol. 2018;31(4):498-504. PMID 30607912. In Russian.
13. 13

    Zamorskii II, Shchudrova TS. [Main mechanisms of rhabdomyolysis-caused kidney injury and their correction by organospecific peptides]. Biofizika. 2014;59(5):1023-1026. PMID 25730989. In Russian.
14. 14

    Khavinson VKh, Lin'kova NS, Polyakova VO, Durnova AO, Nichik TE, Kvetnoi IM. Peptides regulate expression of signaling molecules in kidney cell cultures during in vitro aging. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2014;157(2):261-264. PMID 24958378.
15. 15

    Khavinson VKh, Tarnovskaia SI, Lin'kova NS, et al. [Tripeptides slow down aging process in renal cell culture]. Adv Gerontol. 2014;27(4):651-656. PMID 25946838. In Russian.