ARA-290 Pen

Before you start
Check the batch number on the pen against the certificate of analysis on this page. If they don't match, don't use the pen. Contact us and we'll replace it.

Inspect the solution through the window. It should be clear and free of particles. Copper peptide solutions are blue, and that colour is expected. Cloudiness, discolouration or visible matter means the pen should not be used.

The pen
Each pen arrives pre-filled, in solution, at the concentration on the label. There is nothing to reconstitute, no bacteriostatic water to add and no concentration to calculate.

The dose counter is mechanical. Turning the dial advances it one increment at a time, with an audible click per increment, and the number in the window is the amount set. The counter cannot be turned past the volume remaining.

Pens take standard pen needles, supplied with your order. Fit a fresh one each time and remove it afterwards. Leaving a needle attached lets air into the cartridge and can affect what the counter reads next.

Storage
Refrigerate at 2–8°C on arrival and keep the pen in its carton. Peptides in solution degrade faster in light, and copper peptides faster still.

Do not freeze. Freezing damages peptides in solution and the pen cannot be relied on afterwards, whatever it looks like.

Return the pen to refrigeration between uses once the seal is broken. A cold pen is stiffer to dial, so leaving it out for a few minutes beforehand makes the counter turn more smoothly.

Disposal
Used needles go into a sharps container, not household waste. UK pharmacies and local councils both supply them, and most councils collect full ones on request.

Supplied for laboratory research use only. Not for human or veterinary use, and not a medicine. Nothing on this page describes a protocol, a schedule or an application, and none should be inferred.

Every batch is tested before release
No batch reaches our shelves without a report from an independent laboratory. Testing is done by a third party with no commercial interest in the result, not by us and not by the manufacturer.

What the certificate shows
Identity, confirming the compound is what the label says it is. Purity, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and reported as a percentage. The date of testing and the batch number the result applies to.

How to check it yourself
Every pen carries a batch number, and the certificate on this page carries the same number. If the two don't match, something has gone wrong in our dispatch and we want to hear about it. We'll replace the pen.

Certificates are published as the laboratory issued them. We don't retype results, summarise them or crop the report.

Cold chain
Stock is held refrigerated and ships in insulated packaging with a cold pack. Orders are dispatched so they travel over the shortest practical window rather than sitting in a depot over a weekend.

If a pen arrives damaged, warm, or not matching its certificate, contact us within 48 hours of delivery and we'll replace it.

Does this raise red blood cell count like EPO?

No, and that is the design intent. The fragment was selected to engage the tissue signalling route of erythropoietin without the erythropoietic one. Trials measured haematocrit and did not find the increase EPO produces.

What is the innate repair receptor?

The name used in this literature for a receptor complex, separate from the classical EPO receptor, through which erythropoietin is proposed to signal to injured tissue. It is the target ARA-290 was built around.

How far did the human trials get?

Phase 2, in small fibre neuropathy associated with sarcoidosis and in diabetic neuropathy. It has not been approved for any indication.

Is this prohibited in sport?

It is not named on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list, but WADA also bans substances with no current approval for human therapeutic use under S0. Check the current list yourself if you are tested.

Why is the solution clear rather than blue?

Blue solutions in our range are the copper complexes, GHK-Cu and AHK-Cu. This one in solution is clear. Cloudiness or visible particles mean the pen should not be used.

How many doses are in a 5mg pen?

That depends entirely on the increment you dial, so there is no single answer. The counter shows what is set and the pen cannot be turned past the volume remaining.