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Not medical advice. The Atlas is not a substitute for a clinician who can examine you.

Cardarine (GW-501516)

GW1516, PPAR-delta agonist (NOT a SARM)

Evidence grade 1 of 5, Untested. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.

The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.

FDA
Not FDA approved; development terminated by GSK (2007) over carcinogenicity
WADA
Prohibited at all times (S4.5 Metabolic Modulators, PPARdelta agonists)

Reference only. Not medical advice.

What can go wrong

The headline concern is carcinogenicity: multi-organ tumors in long-term animal studies at the doses studied, which is why GSK abandoned it. Additional reports of liver toxicity. It is prohibited in all WADA sport. Consumer products are unregulated and often mislabeled or combined with SARMs, compounding risk.

This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about cardarine (gw-501516) in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.

Cardarine (GW-501516, GW1516) is frequently sold and grouped with SARMs, but it is NOT a SARM, it is a PPAR-delta (PPARbeta/delta) agonist developed by a GlaxoSmithKline/Ligand collaboration for dyslipidemia and metabolic disease. GSK terminated development in 2007 after long-term rodent studies showed it caused cancers in multiple organs. It has no androgenic mechanism and is marketed for 'endurance/fat loss.'

Sold alongside SARMs, but it is not one, and GSK killed it because it caused cancer in animals.

What people take it for

These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.

  • Marketed (illegally) for endurance and fat loss
  • Originally investigated for dyslipidemia/metabolic disease

How it is supposed to work

GW-501516 activates the nuclear receptor PPAR-delta, shifting gene expression toward fatty-acid oxidation and altering energy metabolism in muscle. This is a metabolic mechanism entirely distinct from androgen-receptor modulation, it does not build muscle by an anabolic-androgen pathway and is not a SARM at all.

Two honest corrections

First, the classification: retailers list cardarine with SARMs, but it has no androgenic activity, it is a PPAR-delta agonist. Second, the safety: GSK did not shelve it for lack of effect. Long-term carcinogenicity studies showed tumors across multiple organ systems (including liver, bladder and other sites) in rodents, and development was halted in 2007. WADA classifies it as a prohibited metabolic modulator.

Safety in detail

GW-501516 was terminated by its developer after animal studies showed it caused cancer in multiple organs. It is an unapproved drug with a documented carcinogenicity signal. Self-administration carries a serious, developer-acknowledged cancer concern.

What it does to fertility

No direct androgenic/HPTA mechanism; it is not a testosterone-suppressing SARM. Reproductive effects in humans are not well characterized, but its primary safety issue is carcinogenicity, not fertility.

What has to be monitored

The bloodwork this needs, and the reason it belongs with a clinician rather than a website.

  • This compound has a carcinogenicity signal and no safe established use; the appropriate action is avoidance
  • Liver function tests if exposure has occurred

What people get wrong

  • Often saidCardarine is a SARM

    ActuallyIt is a PPAR-delta agonist with no androgenic mechanism; it is not a SARM.

  • Often saidGSK dropped it for business reasons

    ActuallyGSK terminated it in 2007 specifically because long-term animal studies showed it caused cancers in multiple organs.

Who profits, and who pushes back

Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.

How we got here

GW-501516 was invented in a GlaxoSmithKline/Ligand collaboration in the 1990s as a metabolic-disease candidate for dyslipidemia and related conditions. Two-year rodent carcinogenicity studies revealed tumors across multiple organs, and GSK halted development in 2007. Despite this, it entered the sports/gray market as 'Cardarine' and remains widely sold and frequently misclassified as a SARM.

  1. 1990sDiscovered in GSK/Ligand collaboration
  2. Early 2000sStudied for dyslipidemia/metabolic disease and endurance in animals
  3. 2007GSK terminates development over multi-organ carcinogenicity
  4. 2010sSold as 'Cardarine,' misclassified as a SARM

At a glance

Class
PPAR-delta agonist (NOT a SARM)
Developer
GSK / Ligand collaboration
Terminated
2007, over carcinogenicity
Marketed for
Endurance, fat loss

What this entry does not yet cover

What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Cardarine (GW-501516). A short entry is not a safe entry.

  • Cost and market. We have not documented what it sells for or who sells it.
  • Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
  • Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
  • What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
  • How it compares. We have not set it against the alternatives.
  • Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.

Sources

The studies below are named and described, but not linked. You cannot open them from here and check our reading against them, which means this page is our summary of the literature rather than a document you can verify. Weigh it accordingly until the links exist.

The studies that matter

  • Mouse carcinogenicity study of GW501516 (PPARdelta agonist)~2007

    Induced tumors in multiple organs; basis for GSK terminating development

  • Case report: poisonous GW1516 + MK-2866 combination (Drug Test Anal-adjacent literature)2021

    Clinical/analytical case documenting toxicity from combined cardarine and ostarine use