TB-500 dosing protocol — loading and maintenance in mg and clicks

What TB-500 is and what it is studied for

TB-500 is a synthetic fragment of thymosin beta-4, a protein present in almost every cell that is studied for cell migration, the formation of new blood vessels and the organisation of new collagen at an injury site. Where BPC-157 is usually described as working locally, TB-500 is reported to act more systemically — the pen for a large muscle, a joint that has lost its range, or more than one site at once.

The important thing about the single pen is the schedule. The house window note is explicit: standalone TB-500 is 2–2.5 mg twice a week for four weeks, then once a week — never 2.5 mg daily. Daily dosing exists only as the 250–500 mcg micro-dose built into the Wolverine and GLOW combination pens. Confusing the two schedules is the most common TB-500 mistake.

Who it suits — and who should not run it

Written for the adult researcher recovering from a muscle tear, a joint injury with restricted range, or a slow post-surgical rehab — with a diagnosis in hand and a physio or loading plan already running. It is also the pen for the researcher who has finished a Wolverine cycle and wants a lower-frequency maintenance phase. The house exclusions:

Not for

• Active cancer or a recent cancer history — angiogenesis and cell-migration signalling make this a hard exclusion.
• Pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning pregnancy in the next 6 months.
• Under 18.
• An acute injury that has not been assessed — imaging and a surgical opinion where relevant come first.
• No rehab or physio plan in place.

Start gate: your physician or physio has confirmed the injury is one this protocol suits, and the loading plan is already running.

The house protocol

Subcutaneous in the abdomen a hand's width from the navel, alternating sides each dose; TB-500 does not need to go near the injury. Fixed days — Monday and Thursday in loading, Monday only in maintenance — same time of day. One pen = 300 clicks. The 10 mg pen delivers 33.3 mcg per click; the 5 mg pen delivers 16.7 mcg per click, so the same dose is twice the clicks.

Two phases: a four-week loading phase at two doses a week, then a four-week maintenance phase at one dose a week. 2 mg is the house default; 2.5 mg is the upper end of the house range for the larger researcher or the larger injury, and it is also the soft ceiling — nothing on this page goes above it.

Click total on the 10 mg pen at 2 mg: 8 loading doses × 60 + 4 maintenance doses × 60 = 720 clicks → 3 pens (900 clicks), leaving 180 clicks — 6 mg — at the end of the cycle. At 2.5 mg the same twelve doses are 12 × 75 = 900 clicks, which is exactly three pens with nothing left over. The 5 mg pen is 2.5 doses at 2 mg; it is the pen for a short maintenance stretch, not a full cycle.

A 60-click dose is a slow turn of the dial — count it twice. Keep the pen in the fridge between uses. A brief wave of tiredness or a head-rush feeling in the hour after a loading dose is reported by some researchers and usually fades by the third dose; a lump, spreading redness or warmth at the site is not normal and is a same-day message to your coach.

Week by week — what people typically notice and when

Mobility work is the training variable that matters most on TB-500: the compound is studied for cell migration and range, so the joint has to be taken through its range every day to give that anything to act on. Isometrics early, progressive loading from week 3 at the physio's pace, and 7–9 hours of sleep because remodelling is a night-time process.

Labs we ask for before and during

Baseline labs are enough for the pen on its own. Nutrition for repair is unchanged from the rest of the repair group: protein 1.6–2.0 g per kg, collagen with vitamin C 30–60 minutes before rehab sessions, omega-3 most days, vitamin D and magnesium as the general supplements.

Stacking: what it pairs with

The classic partner is a daily BPC-157 micro-dose: the two act on different parts of the same healing cascade, and running them as separate pens is how a researcher keeps the standalone TB-500 loading schedule while still dosing BPC-157 every day. The Wolverine pen is the alternative — both compounds daily at 33.3 mcg per click — and the two approaches are never combined, because the combo pen already contains TB-500.

The same rule applies to GLOW and KLOW: both carry TB-500 in every click, so the single pen is not added on top. A nightly CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin pairing for recovery sleep sits comfortably alongside. Any stack moves the week-8 lab repeat from optional to required.

Common mistakes

• Dosing it daily. 2.5 mg a day is seven times the house weekly maintenance dose. Daily TB-500 exists only as the micro-dose inside the combination pens.
• Running it on top of Wolverine, GLOW or KLOW. Those pens already contain TB-500; the single pen doubles it for no benefit.
• Miscounting a 60-click dose. It is a long turn of the dial. Count it, and count it again on the 5 mg pen where the same dose is 120 clicks.
• Going back to twice a week in maintenance because week 5 felt flat. The drop in frequency is the protocol. A regression is a message to your coach, not a dial adjustment.
• Skipping mobility work. Range of motion is what the compound is studied for; a joint that is not moved through its range gives it nothing to act on.