5-Amino-1MQ: Mouse Data, Oral Absorption and the Missing Human Evidence

That gap between mouse data and what is sold, usually as oral capsules, is the whole story. This page sets out what the animal studies measured, what the pharmacokinetics imply for capsules, and what has not been tested. Research information only, not medical advice.

What the Mouse Studies Measured

NNMT methylates nicotinamide using the methyl donor SAM. Knocking the enzyme down in mice protected them from diet-induced obesity in a 2014 Nature paper (Kraus), and 5-amino-1MQ is one of the small molecules built to block it. All figures below are from mice or cultured cells.

Two cautions. First, the weight loss was modest in absolute terms (2.0 g over 11 days in the first study) and the groups were small. Second, the 5-amino-1MQ data are all from mice or cells, and a different NNMT inhibitor (JBSNF-000088) from another group also cut weight in obese mice (Kannt 2018), which supports the target rather than 5-amino-1MQ itself.

Oral Versus Injected: The Pharmacokinetics

Source: Babula et al, 2024. The sellers' standard format is a capsule, and the only published oral measurement is 3.5% bioavailability in mice. That does not tell us the human figure, but it does mean the injected mouse studies cannot be read as support for an oral product. The half-life figure also looks long until you notice that plasma levels stayed above the effective concentration for only a few hours.

Converting the Mouse Dose

No human dose-finding study exists. FDA's 2005 guidance gives a body-surface-area factor of 12.3 for converting a mouse dose in mg/kg to a human equivalent (FDA guidance, Table 1). Applied to the roughly 34 mg/kg a day used in the 11-day study (20 mg/kg per injection, three injections), that is about 2.8 mg/kg, or roughly 190 mg a day for a 70 kg adult, and about 114 mg per single injection. Treat this as arithmetic, not advice. The guidance was written to set a safe starting dose from toxicity data, not to predict a fat-loss dose, the mouse doses were injected, and oral absorption in mice was only 3.5%. Anyone quoting a human capsule dose is extrapolating, not citing a trial.

What Is Missing and What Could Go Wrong

• No human trial. ClinicalTrials.gov returned no study for 5-amino-1MQ on 27 October 2026, and a 2024 review of NNMT as a drug target states that clinical trials focusing on NNMT have not been documented (Sun 2024).
• MAO-A inhibition. The 2024 screening panel found this off-target activity, and the authors raised it as a possible contributor to the effects they saw. Whether it matters in people is unknown.
• Wider roles of NNMT. The enzyme is also studied in cancer, including a 2024 paper on cancer-associated fibroblasts in bladder cancer (Yang 2024). That research is about tumour biology, not about the safety of this compound.
• Purity. A small molecule needs identity and purity testing by a method suited to it, plus heavy metals. Read the testing guide with that difference in mind.

Regulatory Status

5-Amino-1MQ has no entry in Drugs@FDA and is not an approved drug that we could find. It is not a peptide, so it sits outside the peptide compounding debate covered in our advisory committee vote write-up; the legal status guide has the general framework.

Stacking

No combination has been tested in people. The Bureau's older stacking notes were reasoning from mechanism, not data, and are not repeated here. If you are comparing it with compounds that do have human trials, start with weight loss peptides, best peptides for fat loss, the retatrutide guide and the semaglutide dosage guide. The NAD+ side of the nicotinamide story is on the NAD+ page, and a fixed-ratio blend question is covered on the KLOW stack page. If the goal is libido, see PT-141 and kisspeptin instead; NNMT has nothing to do with them.

Where to Buy 5-Amino-1MQ

Disclosure. Links in this section may earn the Bureau a commission; the scorecard method is on the vendor scorecard page. Formats and sizes change, so check the listing rather than trusting a figure on any guide page, this one included.

• Amino Club: the vendor Bureau readers order from most this year, with the most detailed testing policy of the five we score and a certificate reachable from the vial itself. Code 100 takes 20% off a first order. Amino Club review.
• PSPeptides: the one to use outside the United States, and the vendor most likely to offer an oral format given the tablet line it already runs. Code PEPTIDEBUREAU takes 10% off and keeps the order counted for the Bureau.
• Apollo Peptide Sciences: a short catalogue, mostly GLP compounds under coded names. Test reports sit as a gallery image rather than in a library, so check the report's batch against what you received. Apollo review.
• Pantheon Peptides: the widest single-compound catalogue of the five, and the only one selling 5-Amino-1MQ inside a blend. Convenient, and you inherit somebody else's ratio. Pantheon review.

The buying guide applies as usual, and the daily price tracker is the honest way to compare listings quoted in different vial sizes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 5-amino-1MQ a peptide?

No. 5-amino-1-methylquinolinium is a small molecule built on a methylquinolinium scaffold, designed as an inhibitor of the enzyme nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT). It is sold alongside peptides, which is why it is often called one.

Does 5-amino-1MQ cause fat loss?

In obese mice, yes. In a 2018 study, diet-induced obese mice given 20 mg/kg subcutaneously three times daily for 11 days lost 5.1% of body weight while controls gained 1.4%, with no change in food intake. We found no human trial, so no human weight change has been measured.

What is the dosage for 5-amino-1MQ?

No human dose has been established. The mouse studies injected 10 to about 34 mg/kg a day. A body-surface-area conversion of 34 mg/kg a day gives roughly 190 mg a day for a 70 kg adult, but that is arithmetic from an injected mouse dose, not a recommendation.

Does 5-amino-1MQ work orally?

Unknown in people. In mice, oral bioavailability of the compound was only 3.5% in a 2024 pharmacokinetic study, and the effects in the fat-loss studies came from injections. Whether a capsule produces useful levels in humans has not been published.

What are the side effects of 5-amino-1MQ?

There are no human safety data. In mice, a 2024 study found that 5-amino-1MQ inhibited the enzyme MAO-A in a screening panel, which is an off-target activity that could matter in people. A 2018 dose-escalation test reported 60 mg/kg a day as well tolerated in two mice, which is too small to say much.

Is 5-amino-1MQ FDA approved?

No. It has no Drugs@FDA entry, no clinical trial on ClinicalTrials.gov as of 27 October 2026, and it is not an approved drug anywhere that we could find. It is sold as a research chemical.

Sources

1. Selective and membrane-permeable small molecule inhibitors of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase reverse high fat diet-induced obesity in mice, Neelakantan et al, Biochem Pharmacol, 2018
2. Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase inhibition mitigates obesity-related metabolic dysfunction, Babula et al, Diabetes Obes Metab, 2024
3. Combined nicotinamide N-methyltransferase inhibition and reduced-calorie diet normalizes body composition and enhances metabolic benefits in obese mice, Sampson et al, Sci Rep, 2021
4. Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase knockdown protects against diet-induced obesity, Kraus et al, Nature, 2014
5. A small molecule inhibitor of Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase for the treatment of metabolic disorders (JBSNF-000088, a different inhibitor), Kannt et al, Sci Rep, 2018
6. Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT): a novel therapeutic target for metabolic syndrome, Sun et al, Front Pharmacol, 2024
7. NAD+ metabolism enzyme NNMT in cancer-associated fibroblasts drives tumor progression and resistance to immunotherapy, Yang et al, J Immunother Cancer, 2024
8. Estimating the maximum safe starting dose in initial clinical trials for therapeutics in adult healthy volunteers, FDA guidance for industry, July 2005 (Table 1, body surface area factors)
9. ClinicalTrials.gov search for 5-amino-1MQ, run 27 October 2026 (no studies)
10. Drugs@FDA query via openFDA, run 27 October 2026 (no match)

Related reading: reconstitution, bacteriostatic water, injection basics, storage, cycles, BPC-157, GHK-Cu, prices, all guides.