RAD-150 (TLB-150)

What RAD-150 is

RAD-150 is a small synthetic molecule from the SARM family, the selective androgen receptor modulators. It builds directly on RAD140, which the biotech company Radius Health described in 2011 as a potent, orally bioavailable, nonsteroidal SARM. RAD140 carries a hydroxyl group on its side chain. In RAD-150, exactly this group is esterified with benzoic acid.

The identity can be checked cleanly. The chemistry database PubChem lists the compound under the number 68547459, with the synonyms RAD150 and TLB 150 Benzoate and the CAS number 1208070-53-4. The molecular formula is C27H20ClN5O3 with a molar mass of 497.9 g/mol; RAD140 comes to C20H16ClN5O2 and 393.8 g/mol. The difference corresponds exactly to one benzoyl group.

Its origin is in US patent 8,629,167 of Radius Health, inventor Chris P. Miller, priority 2008, granted 2014. There the compound is listed as example 87: made by reacting RAD140, example 22 in the patent, with benzoyl chloride. The same patent contains further esters of RAD140, including the acetate, propionate and butyrate. The name RAD-150 does not appear there. It comes from the market and plays on RAD140, without Radius ever having developed a substance of that name.

How it is supposed to work

The idea behind RAD-150 is that of RAD140: to engage the androgen receptor fully in muscle and bone, and as little as possible in the prostate, skin and hormonal feedback loop. For RAD140, the receptor effect has been shown in humans, the tissue selectivity in animals.

According to how it is presented on the market, the ester bond is meant to make the molecule longer-acting and better tolerated. Two routes would be conceivable: the body cleaves off the benzoic acid and releases RAD140, or the ester itself acts at the receptor. For neither route is there a measurement. The patent describes the compound neither as a precursor nor as a depot form, and data on absorption, breakdown or half-life have not been published.

What exists is a binding value. In the patent’s assay, a cell-free fluorescence polarisation test at the rat androgen receptor, the IC50 of example 87 was 130 nM. RAD140 reached 2 nM in the same assay. The ester does bind the receptor, then, but roughly 65-fold more weakly than its parent compound.

What the studies show

US patent 8,629,167, Radius Health — the only measurement on RAD-150

The patent describes a series of SARMs from the RAD140 programme, including example 87, the benzoic acid ester of RAD140. For all examples, binding to the rat androgen receptor is given, measured as displacement of a fluorescent ligand; the values are single or mean values. Example 87 comes to 130 nM, RAD140 to 2 nM, the acetate and propionate esters to 110 and 120 nM. The patent shows animal experiments only for two other compounds, not for the ester.

LoRusso et al., Clinical Breast Cancer 2022 — the parent compound in humans

This study concerns RAD140, not RAD-150, and is listed here because it is the only clinical study from this substance family. Open-label dose escalation in 22 heavily pretreated postmenopausal women with ER-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. The most common side effects were increases in AST in 59.1 percent, ALT in 45.5 percent and bilirubin in 27.3 percent. The receptor effect was detectable via SHBG, PSA and tumour biopsies; the clinical benefit rate at 24 weeks was 18.2 percent. Muscle mass was not measured.

Van Wagoner et al., JAMA 2017 — what is in SARM products

44 products sold online as SARMs were analysed with anti-doping methods. Only 23, i.e. 52 percent, contained any SARM at all, 17 another unapproved drug. RAD-150 was not part of the analysis; an investigation of products sold under this name has not been published.

Where the data stop

After the binding value. For RAD-150 there is no animal study, no pharmacokinetics, no toxicology, no human study and no case report. A query of ClinicalTrials.gov on October 14, 2026 returns no entry for RAD150, RAD-150 and TLB-150, Europe PMC no publication.

This means the promises from the market, that RAD-150 is stronger, longer-acting or better tolerated than RAD140, are unsupported. The one available figure points rather in the other direction, at least for direct receptor binding. Whether the ester becomes RAD140 in the body, how quickly and how completely, is the decisive open question. It determines whether the RAD140 data essentially apply to RAD-150. As long as it is unanswered, all statements on effects and risks are extrapolations from the parent compound.

And the parent compound itself is thinly studied: one phase 1 study in cancer patients, no controlled study on muscle building, no long-term data.

Status, approval and legal

RAD-150 is not approved as a medicine anywhere and was never developed clinically; it is sold as a research chemical. For the SARM class, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) makes clear that such products are not dietary supplements but unapproved drugs, often labelled “for research purposes only” and still sold for human use.

In sport the situation is clear. The WADA Prohibited List 2026, in force since January 1, 2026, lists the selective androgen receptor modulators in section S1.2 as an open group, “including, but not limited to”, with RAD140 as an example. RAD-150 is not named there, but as a SARM it is covered and banned at all times, in and out of competition. In Germany, the annex to the Anti-Doping Act likewise lists SARMs among the other anabolic agents with “for example” and names RAD-140, synonym Testolon; RAD-150 is not named. Manufacturing, trading and supplying for doping purposes are prohibited for substances on the WADA list under § 2(1) of the Anti-Doping Act. RAD-150 is not a narcotic, and it is not listed in the German Prescription Drugs Ordinance (AMVV). We do not give dosage information.

Safety

For RAD-150, nothing has been studied and nothing reported. The risks that can be named come from the parent compound and from the SARM class and have not been measured for the ester. Under RAD140, elevated liver values were the most common side effect, and a case report describes a 26-year-old with jaundice and acute liver injury that normalised within two months after stopping. The FDA warns for SARMs in general of liver injury up to liver failure, heart attack and stroke, psychosis, sleep disturbances, infertility and testicular shrinkage. Interactions have not been studied.

On top of this comes the product question: whether a powder or solution sold as RAD-150 contains the ester, RAD140 or something else entirely cannot be said without laboratory analysis. For people with liver disease, cardiovascular risks or a wish to have children, in pregnancy and breastfeeding and for adolescents, the substance is out of the question; for women it is particularly unsuitable because of its androgenic effect, and for tested athletes it means a ban.

Sources

• PubChem CID 68547459 — TLB 150 Benzoate (RAD150): structure, molecular formula, CAS number
• Radius Health, US patent 8,629,167 B2 (2014) — example 87, androgen receptor binding compared with RAD140
• Miller et al., ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2011 — development of RAD140
• LoRusso et al., Clinical Breast Cancer 2022 — phase 1 study of RAD140
• Ladna et al., Journal of Medical Case Reports 2023 — liver injury under RAD140
• Van Wagoner et al., JAMA 2017 — ingredients of 44 internet products sold as SARMs
• FDA — SARMs in bodybuilding products: unapproved drugs
• WADA — Prohibited List 2026, section S1.2 (other anabolic agents)
• Annex to § 2(3) of the German Anti-Doping Act — SARMs, for example RAD-140