# 5-Amino-1MQ: NNMT Inhibitor Evidence, Dosing & Legal Status

> A clinical monograph on 5-Amino-1MQ — the small-molecule NNMT inhibitor sold as a fat-loss and longevity 'peptide.' Despite its peptide-channel marketing, it is not a peptide, and every efficacy finding is preclinical.

*Published 2026-06-30 · Updated 2026-07-01 · By Elena Soto, PharmD*

The short answer
5-Amino-1MQ is a small-molecule **NNMT inhibitor — not a peptide** — sold for fat loss and longevity. Its evidence is entirely *preclinical*: in mice it reduced fat mass without suppressing appetite and rejuvenated aged muscle stem cells, but there is **not a single registered, completed, or published human trial**, no human pharmacokinetics, and the only validated route is subcutaneous injection in mice. Highest defensible grade: **C**.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1)[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8)

5-Amino-1MQ (5-amino-1-methylquinolinium) is cross-listed in this peptide library only because it is sold through the same research-chemical channels and marketed to the same fat-loss and longevity audience as genuine metabolic peptides. It is, however, a **small-molecule quaternary-ammonium quinolinium cation** (formula C10H11N2+, molecular weight about 159 g/mol, PubChem CID 950107) with no amino-acid chain and no peptide bond — its true home in this taxonomy is among adjacent compounds.[5](https://peptidevox.com/#r5) This monograph holds it to the same evidence-first standard as everything else in the encyclopedia.

*This article is informational and editorial content for research and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice, not a protocol to follow, and not a sourcing or buying guide. 5-Amino-1MQ is an unapproved investigational research chemical with zero published human trials; it is sold as a "research chemical not for human use" and is prohibited in sport. Dosing figures are reported strictly as seen in the published literature for completeness. Consult a licensed clinician before any health decision.*

## What is 5-Amino-1MQ and how does it work?

5-Amino-1MQ is a selective, membrane-permeable inhibitor of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), developed in academic medicinal-chemistry programs at the University of Texas Medical Branch and UT San Antonio as a tool compound and metabolic-disease drug candidate.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) Structurally it is a quaternary quinolinium cation supplied as the iodide salt, with a permanent positive charge on the N-methylated ring nitrogen and an amino group at the 5-position — a nicotinamide and methyl-substrate mimic, not a polypeptide.[5](https://peptidevox.com/#r5) Despite its cationic nature, medicinal-chemistry optimization produced enough membrane permeability to reach the intracellular enzyme target.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1)

NNMT is a cytosolic phase-II enzyme that transfers a methyl group from S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to nicotinamide, yielding 1-methylnicotinamide and S-adenosylhomocysteine. When pathologically over-expressed, NNMT acts as a methyl sink and a drain on the nicotinamide that feeds NAD+ salvage. 5-Amino-1MQ competitively occupies NNMT's **nicotinamide-binding pocket** — not the conserved SAM pocket shared by other methyltransferases — which underlies its selectivity.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) By blocking the reaction it is reported to preserve SAM, lower 1-methylnicotinamide, and spare nicotinamide for NAD+ resynthesis, secondarily supporting NAD+ and sirtuin signaling while suppressing adipocyte lipogenesis.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) In vitro the biochemical IC50 for NNMT is roughly 1 micromolar, with a clean off-target profile: no meaningful inhibition of DNMT1, PRMT3, NAMPT, or SIRT1 across tested concentrations.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) Crucially, **no published human pharmacokinetics, half-life, or oral-bioavailability data exist** — all in-vivo dosing in the primary literature used subcutaneous injection in mice, and the public record of NNMT-inhibitor translation status can be reviewed in the [2026 Pharmacological Research review](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165614726000866).[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8)

## What is the evidence by indication?

Every indication below rests on animal and/or in-vitro data only. There are no human randomized controlled trials and no human cohort or observational efficacy data for 5-Amino-1MQ in any indication, so the highest defensible grade is C.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8)

  5-Amino-1MQ evidence by indication

    IndicationBest evidenceGrade

    Obesity / adiposity reductionDiet-induced obese mice: fat-mass, adipocyte-size & cholesterol reductions without appetite changeC (preclinical)
    Aged skeletal-muscle regeneration / sarcopeniaAged-mouse model: reactivation of senescent satellite cells, improved regenerationC (preclinical)
    NAD+ / longevity / metabolic anti-agingIn-vitro adipocyte NAD+ rise; no human NAD+ measurement; longevity claims unprovenD-to-C
    Oncology (research tool, not a wellness use)NNMT inhibition studied as anti-cancer / chemo-sensitizing tool; context-dependentC (double-edged)

The foundational obesity study (Neelakantan et al., *Biochemical Pharmacology* 2018) treated male diet-induced obese mice with 5-Amino-1MQ at 20 mg/kg subcutaneously three times daily for 11 days against saline controls. Treated mice lost roughly 2 grams of body weight (about 5 percent from baseline) while controls gained weight; epididymal white-adipose mass fell about 35 percent, adipocyte cross-sectional area fell over 30 percent, and plasma total cholesterol dropped about 30 percent — all without any change in food intake, indicating a metabolic rather than anorectic mechanism.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) In vitro, the compound raised adipocyte NAD+ roughly 1.2- to 1.6-fold and cut lipid accumulation by 50 to 70 percent at 30 to 60 micromolar with no cytotoxicity.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) A 2021 follow-up showed NNMT inhibition combined with a low-fat-diet switch normalized whole-body adiposity faster than diet alone and reshaped the gut microbiome.[4](https://peptidevox.com/#r4)

The second pillar is aged muscle. Neelakantan et al. (2019) reported that aged mouse muscle has elevated NNMT, and that inhibiting it with 5-Amino-1MQ reactivated senescent muscle stem cells and improved regenerative capacity and contractile recovery after injury in aged mice — the authors called it the first clear evidence that NNMT inhibitors are a viable pharmacological approach to enhancing aged-muscle regeneration.[2](https://peptidevox.com/#r2)[3](https://peptidevox.com/#r3) The popular NAD+-booster and longevity framing is mechanistic extrapolation: in-vitro NAD+ rises are real, but no study has measured intracellular NAD+ after 5-Amino-1MQ in humans, and clinical longevity claims remain unproven marketing.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8) Separately, because NNMT is tumor-promoting in many cancers, NNMT inhibitors are studied as anti-cancer tools — preclinical research interest that is the opposite of a wellness indication and a reminder that NNMT biology is context-dependent.[6](https://peptidevox.com/#r6)[7](https://peptidevox.com/#r7)

Proven vs hyped
Proven in humans: nothing. The reproducible, mechanistically coherent rodent data on adiposity and aged muscle are genuine but preclinical. The marketed combination of fat loss, NAD+ support, and longevity in humans extrapolates from mouse and cell-culture findings with no validating human trial.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8)

## What doses appear in the literature, and what are the risks?

Reported strictly as information, not a protocol. The only controlled dosing is preclinical: 20 mg/kg subcutaneously, three times daily (about 60 mg/kg/day) for 11 days reversed adiposity in diet-induced obese mice, with a tolerability arm finding that dose well tolerated.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) Naive milligram-per-kilogram scaling from mouse to human is not clinically validated and should not be used to infer a human dose. Consumer and research-chemical channels market the compound predominantly as oral capsules, commonly cited around 50 mg per day and sometimes 50 to 150 mg per day, often cycled — figures that originate from vendor copy, not from any pharmacokinetic or efficacy study, for a cationic molecule whose only in-vivo evidence used injection.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8)

On safety, there is simply no published human safety, tolerability, or pharmacokinetic study, so the human adverse-effect profile is genuinely unknown.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8) The short rodent studies showed no overt toxicity at effective doses, but they were never designed to detect chronic, carcinogenic, reproductive, or methylation-related harm.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1) The dominant theoretical concerns are mechanistic: the compound by design alters SAM and NAD+-precursor flux, so chronic perturbation of one-carbon and epigenetic methylation is uncharacterized, and because NNMT is over-expressed in many tumors with context-dependent effects, individuals with active or prior cancer are commonly advised to avoid it.[6](https://peptidevox.com/#r6) No formal human drug-interaction or CYP studies exist; pregnancy and lactation are precautionary contraindications for a methyl-donor-modulating agent; and as an unregulated research chemical, products carry real risks of mislabeling, under- or over-dosing, and contamination.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8)

## What is the FDA and WADA status in 2026?

5-Amino-1MQ has no FDA-approved indication and no investigational new drug application on the public record. It is sold as an unapproved research chemical — and, dubiously, as a dietary or energy-expenditure product — which does not require FDA pre-market approval but is also not a lawfully marketed dietary ingredient or an approved drug, and it is not an established 503A-compoundable or 503B bulk substance for human therapeutic use.[8](https://peptidevox.com/#r8) No 5-Amino-1MQ trial is listed as registered or completed on ClinicalTrials.gov as of 2026. The underlying quinoline-derived NNMT-inhibitor chemotype is covered by issued US patents, including US 11,401,243 and US 12,071,409.[9](https://peptidevox.com/#r9)[10](https://peptidevox.com/#r10)

For athletes the picture is clear despite the compound not being named on the list. Under the 2026 WADA Prohibited List (in force 1 January 2026), a non-approved substance like 5-Amino-1MQ is prohibited at all times under category S0 (Non-Approved Substances), and its metabolic-modulator profile may additionally implicate category S4 (Hormone and Metabolic Modulators).[11](https://peptidevox.com/#r11) Any WADA-tested athlete should treat it as banned regardless of efficacy.[11](https://peptidevox.com/#r11)

**Bottom line.** 5-Amino-1MQ is a genuinely interesting, well-characterized small-molecule NNMT inhibitor — not a peptide — with a clean in-vitro selectivity profile and reproducible rodent data: in obese mice it cut fat mass, adipocyte size, and cholesterol without suppressing appetite, and in aged mice it rejuvenated muscle stem cells.[1](https://peptidevox.com/#r1)[2](https://peptidevox.com/#r2) From a root-cause metabolic standpoint, targeting an over-expressed methyl-sink enzyme is a more upstream strategy than stimulant thermogenics. But the honest evidence grade is C across the board: not a single registered, completed, or published human trial, no human pharmacokinetics or oral-bioavailability data, and a validated route (subcutaneous injection) that no consumer uses. The gap between the confident fat-loss, NAD+, and longevity marketing and the entirely preclinical data is large — treat consumer products as experimental with an unknown safety floor.

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Source: https://peptidevox.com/peptide-encyclopedia/5-amino-1mq
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