RAD140 (Testolone): the SARM fact-checked

Key points

• RAD140 was developed around 2010 at the biotech company Radius Health — originally for patients with muscle wasting and later against certain forms of breast cancer, never as a training supplement.
• There is exactly 1 published human study, a phase 1 trial in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer; there, of all things, the liver values were dose-limiting.
• For the muscle-building use there is not a single controlled human study up to 2026 — everything else is animal model data and user reports from forums.
• The episode’s risk list has 4 items: a throttled own hormone axis with lowered testosterone, liver damage in case reports, falling HDL with a worse ApoB profile and completely missing long-term data.
• An analysis in the journal JAMA tested SARM products bought online: only about half contained the declared substance in the declared amount; the rest were incorrectly dosed, contaminated or something else entirely.
• The SARM family shows the same pattern: ostarine made it into phase 3 trials against muscle wasting and was still never approved; ligandrol showed lean mass gains along with clear testosterone suppression.
• The episode’s verdict: for 99 percent of listeners, strength training, protein, creatine and good sleep over 2 to 3 years deliver more lasting muscle mass than an RAD140 cycle — without the burden.