SANA (MVD1)

What it is

SANA is 5-(2-nitroethenyl)salicylic acid, a nitroalkene derivative of salicylate developed by Eolo Pharma. MVD1 is its clinical development code; SANA and MVD1 are two names for the same molecule, not a combination of compounds.

The proposed mechanism

The research points to increased mitochondrial respiration and creatine-dependent energy expenditure in adipose tissue. In mice, the weight and metabolic effects persisted without UCP1 or AMPK activity and disappeared when creatine metabolism was disrupted. SANA did not directly uncouple isolated mitochondria, suggesting a slower adaptive program rather than an acute stimulant-like effect.

The first human trial

A randomized Phase 1A/B trial included 17 people in its single-dose arm and 24 people with overweight or obesity in its 15-day repeated-dose arm. At the highest repeated dose, six participants lost about 3% of body weight and improved glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, and fructosamine. Appetite and satiety did not noticeably change. Those metabolic outcomes were exploratory; the trial's primary job was to assess safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics.

How this differs from CL-316243

CL-316243 acts directly as a beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist. SANA is being tested here as a separate path into energy expenditure, centered on creatine metabolism in adipose tissue. The mechanisms sit in the same broad thermogenesis neighborhood, but they are not interchangeable. Ending CL before starting SANA gives each compound its own ledger entry and practical result.

Exposure and safety context

The published repeated-dose trial used 200–400 mg/day for 15 days, so the experiment began below the studied repeated-dose range and the current 400 mg/day phase matches its upper boundary. This remains a personal dose-escalation experiment rather than a replication of the trial. Reversible renal tubular injury, seen as protein and glucose in urine, occurred in two participants at the highest single dose of 800 mg. The repeated-dose arm reported no definitively drug-related adverse events; headache and soft stools were the most frequent possibly related events. The short study does not provide a long-term safety record.

Source boundary

The public ledger lists the source as Research Compound. This is a source category, not a recommendation or sourcing instruction. The published clinical study evaluated MVD1 supplied through its formal development program, not the research product recorded here.

Sources

• Cal et al., Nature Metabolism 2025 — preclinical mechanism and the first-in-human Phase 1A/B study.
• Kazak et al., Cell Metabolism 2017 — genetic evidence connecting adipocyte creatine metabolism with diet-induced thermogenesis.
• Rahbani et al., Nature 2021 — creatine kinase B and futile creatine cycling in thermogenic fat.

Start and protocol

I started SANA (MVD1) on August 14, 2026 at 50 mg/day, taken pre-workout as part of the just-after-wake-up stack. I increased it to 100 mg/day on August 17 after no noticeable effect emerged at 50 mg, then to 200 mg/day on August 22 because 100 mg produced little noticeable thermogenic effect. It was subsequently increased to 400 mg/day, split into 200 mg after waking and 200 mg before sleep, to pursue greater benefit. This records my use; it is not a suggested dose, timing strategy, or protocol.

Why now

I kept SANA in the backlog while I tested CL-316243 on its own. CL produced a clear visual fat-loss result and is now stopped. Starting SANA after that closeout keeps this as the active thermogenesis experiment instead of running both compounds together and losing the ability to tell which one produced the next change.

Hypothesis

The useful result would be a visible improvement in leanness or body composition without relying on appetite suppression or a stimulant feeling. Because the proposed mechanism is adaptive rather than acutely stimulating, I am not treating pre-workout sensation as the main outcome.

What I will watch

The primary read is the same practical one that made the CL result useful: visible changes in the mirror and standardized photos. I will also watch body weight, waist, appetite, training output, recovery, temperature or sweating changes, headache, gastrointestinal response, and anything unusual in urinary or kidney markers.

Decision rule

I will judge SANA on whether it produces a clear personal body-composition result worth keeping or revisiting. The comparison is not whether it recreates the feeling of CL—CL had almost no feeling—but whether the visual result is at least as clear and the tradeoffs remain acceptable.