Is 5-amino-1MQ FDA-approved, and what does the research show?

What is 5-amino-1MQ?

5-amino-1MQ is a small molecule, not a peptide ¹. Its full name is 5-amino-1-methylquinolinium, and it was designed in a university laboratory as a research compound to block NNMT ¹. NNMT is an enzyme inside cells that takes part in two cycles regulating energy use, the NAD+ salvage pathway and the methionine cycle ¹. The enzyme is produced in greater amounts in the fat tissue of obese and diabetic mice, which is why it drew interest as a target for obesity drugs ¹.

Is 5-amino-1MQ FDA-approved?

5-amino-1MQ is not FDA-approved: Drugs@FDA lists no approved 5-amino-1MQ product as of November 9, 2026 ². It is a research compound studied so far in cells and in mice ¹, ⁵. It is not named on FDA's list of bulk drug substances nominated for compounding under section 503A, updated May 14, 2026 ³.

In a warning letter dated January 20, 2026, FDA told a Florida outsourcing facility that 5-amino-1MQ does "not appear on the 503B bulks list" ⁴. The letter names it in full as 5-amino-1-methylquinolinium iodide ⁴. Drug products compounded from it, FDA wrote, "are not eligible for the exemptions provided by section 503B" ⁴.

Section 503B is the part of federal drug law under which outsourcing facilities register with FDA to compound medicines ⁴. For a reader, this means FDA has treated products compounded from 5-amino-1MQ as outside the protections that section gives ⁴. FDA has a separate interim policy, dated January 7, 2025, for pharmacies compounding under section 503A ⁶. It says products compounded from "substances not nominated for the 503A bulks list" are "not within the scope of the policy" ⁶. A substance never nominated has no enforcement discretion under that policy ⁶, and 5-amino-1MQ is not on the list ³.

See the FDA status of every peptide, updated weekly.

How does 5-amino-1MQ work?

The mechanism is proposed from cell and mouse work ¹; no human study had tested it as of November 9, 2026 ⁷. Shown in cells: in cultured mouse fat cells, 5-amino-1MQ lowered the enzyme's product, 1-methylnicotinamide, and raised two energy-regulating molecules, NAD+ and SAM ¹. In fat-precursor cells as they matured, the higher concentrations tested reduced fat accumulation by 50 to 70 percent ¹. The authors propose that this increased flow of NAD+ and SAM "may potentially define the therapeutic mechanism-of-action" ¹.

In mice the compound reduced weight without reducing food intake, which the authors read as a change in metabolism rather than appetite ¹. It was selective: it barely affected the related enzymes the authors tested ¹.

What does the research show?

Studied in animals for obesity: 18 male mice made obese on a high-fat diet, 9 given 5-amino-1MQ by injection and 9 given saline, for 11 days ¹. Treated mice lost 2.0 grams, about 5.1 percent of body weight, while the saline group gained 0.6 grams, about 1.4 percent ¹. The fat pad the authors weighed was about 35 percent smaller and total cholesterol about 30 percent lower in treated mice ¹. Food intake did not differ between the groups ¹. The authors call this an 11-day "proof-of-concept" study ¹.

Studied in animals for obesity with a diet change: the same group later treated obese male mice that were switched to a low-fat diet, for about seven weeks ⁵. The groups held 6 to 8 mice each ⁵. At the end, the treated mice's body weight and fat mass were statistically indistinguishable from mice that had been lean throughout ⁵. The diet switch alone did not restore those measures to lean levels in the same time ⁵.

The study's main aim was the gut microbiome, where treated mice had more Lactobacillus and less Erysipelatoclostridium than untreated mice on the same diet ⁵. Those two differences did not survive the authors' Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons ⁵. The authors note the "limited n per group" ⁵. They write that the microbiome changes "could have been driven by additive, synergistic, or independent mechanisms relative to those induced by diet switch alone", which could not be determined because no group was treated while staying on the Western diet ⁵.

No published human trial of 5-amino-1MQ was found as of November 9, 2026, and ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. registry of clinical studies, lists no study of it ⁷. Its effects on weight, cholesterol or safety in people are therefore unknown.

What are the side effects?

No human safety data exist among the sources opened. In the 11-day mouse study, the authors reported "no observable adverse effects" and "negligible toxicity" ¹. In cultured cells, 5-amino-1MQ reduced cell survival at the highest concentrations tested, by about 40 percent at the top concentration ¹. The seven-week mouse study reported weight and microbiome outcomes and no safety measures ⁵. A short study in 18 mice cannot show what a compound does in people over months.

FDA has written nothing about the safety of 5-amino-1MQ itself in the sources opened. Its January 2026 warning letter concerns a compounder's eligibility and practices, not the compound's effects ⁴.

In sport

5-amino-1MQ is not named on WADA's 2026 Prohibited List ⁸. The list opens with a class S0, "non-approved substances", prohibited at all times ⁸. It covers "any pharmacological substance which is not addressed by any of the subsequent sections of the List and with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use", including drugs in pre-clinical development ⁸. FDA lists no approved 5-amino-1MQ product as of November 9, 2026 ²; no other regulator's record was read for this page. The list does not say whether 5-amino-1MQ falls within S0, and an athlete who is tested should ask their anti-doping organization.

What JumpstartMD offers

JumpstartMD does not prescribe 5-amino-1MQ. Our peptide library covers it so you have the facts on its FDA status and the evidence, current as of November 9, 2026.

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Compounded medications are not FDA-approved, and FDA does not review their safety, effectiveness, or quality before they are marketed. A licensed clinician decides after an evaluation whether a peptide is appropriate for you, and not every patient will qualify.