27 compounds were read against these 2 conditions; 12 produced a graded row. The other 15 are named further down.

The ranking, and the key it uses

Ordered by the best rung the compound holds anywhere in this goal; then by what that study measured; then by how many graded rows it holds here, as a tie-break only; then by name. There is no blended score — one number mixing the rung and what was measured would invent a third scale nothing was graded against. Every rung links to the rubric that assigned it.

1. 01

   GLP-2 (Teduglutide)

   human RCT · direct outcome · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Short bowel syndrome

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Short bowel syndrome

      human RCT Direct outcome Approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with short bowel syndrome dependent on parenteral support for at least 12 months, n=86 randomised 1:1, mean age 50 years, mean remaining small intestine 77.3 +/- 64.4 cm, 24 weeks; a separate 24-week study enrolled 59 children aged 1 to 17 years, 26 of them at the licensed dose. Sex breakdown is not given in the label

      Approved by the FDA as GATTEX for adults and children aged 1 year and older with short bowel syndrome who are dependent on parenteral support. The registrational endpoint was a fall of at least 20% in weekly parenteral nutrition volume at both week 20 and week 24, reached by 63% (27/43) on teduglutide against 30% (13/43) on placebo (p=0.002); mean weekly volume fell 4.4 L from a baseline of 12.9 L against 2.3 L from 13.2 L. Ten of the 30 patients who completed 30 months in the open-label extension came off parenteral support altogether, which was not an endpoint of the randomised study.

      Source DailyMed — the FDA label 1 primary source read for this row

2. 02

   hGH

   human RCT · direct outcome · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Short bowel syndrome

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Short bowel syndrome

      human RCT Direct outcome Approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with short bowel syndrome dependent on intravenous parenteral nutrition, n=41 in three arms (placebo plus glutamine n=9, somatropin without glutamine n=16, somatropin with glutamine n=16); two-week equilibration then four weeks of double-blind treatment; sex not reported in the label

      Recombinant human growth hormone is approved by the FDA as Zorbtive (somatropin, rDNA origin) for short bowel syndrome in patients receiving specialised nutritional support. The primary endpoint was change in weekly total intravenous parenteral nutrition volume after four weeks at about 0.1 mg/kg/day: a mean fall of 3.8 L/week on placebo plus glutamine, 5.9 L/week on somatropin alone and 7.7 L/week on somatropin with glutamine. The label states that administration for more than 4 weeks has not been adequately studied and that safety and effectiveness in paediatric patients with short bowel syndrome have not been established; peripheral oedema was reported in 69% and 81% of the two somatropin arms against 11% on placebo.

      Source FDA label 1 primary source read for this row

3. 03

   Liraglutide

   human observational · direct outcome · 2 graded rows across 2 of 2 conditions

   Ulcerative colitis · Short bowel syndrome

   2 graded rows, 2 sources

   1. Ulcerative colitis

      human observational Direct outcome Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with ulcerative colitis who started liraglutide or semaglutide for a metabolic indication and stayed on it at least 12 weeks, forming part of a 150-patient treated arm matched 1:1 to 150 untreated controls, single US academic health system, 2022 to 2024; the liraglutide subgroup size and its sex breakdown are not reported in the abstract

      In the same retrospective matched cohort, the liraglutide subgroup reached 60% symptomatic remission at 12 weeks (partial Mayo 2 or less with rectal bleeding subscore zero) against 72.5% for semaglutide, while the whole GLP-1 receptor agonist arm reached 66.7% against 25.3% in matched controls. The comparison between the two drugs was not randomised and no head-to-head trial exists. Treatment was started for metabolic indications, not for colitis, the design cannot exclude confounding by indication, and no randomised trial of liraglutide in ulcerative colitis is on file.

      Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

   2. Short bowel syndrome

      human case series Surrogate marker Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with end-jejunostomy short bowel syndrome and intestinal failure, n=8, aged 63.4 +/- 10.9 years, remaining small bowel 110 +/- 66 cm, 8 weeks open-label, no control group; sex not reported in the abstract

      An 8-week open-label pilot study ran 72-hour metabolic balance studies before and after once-daily subcutaneous liraglutide. Ostomy wet weight output fell by 474 +/- 563 g/day from 3249 +/- 1352 g/day (p=0.049) and intestinal energy absorption rose by 902 +/- 882 kJ/day (p=0.02). Parenteral support volume and oral fluid intake were deliberately held constant throughout, so no change in parenteral support requirement was or could be measured; the authors describe the result as a hypothesis for larger randomised placebo-controlled studies, and no such study is on file.

      Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

4. 04

   Semaglutide

   human observational · direct outcome · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Ulcerative colitis

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Ulcerative colitis

      human observational Direct outcome Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with ulcerative colitis who started semaglutide or liraglutide for a metabolic indication and stayed on it at least 12 weeks, n=150, matched 1:1 to 150 untreated controls at one US academic health system, 2022 to 2024; sex breakdown not reported in the abstract

      A retrospective matched electronic-health-record cohort measured symptomatic remission at 12 weeks, defined as a partial Mayo score of 2 or less with a rectal bleeding subscore of zero: 66.7% of GLP-1 receptor agonist users against 25.3% of controls, adjusted odds ratio 5.90 (95% CI 3.52 to 9.86), with weight loss not associated with remission. Within the treated arm the semaglutide subgroup reached 72.5% against 60% for liraglutide, but the two were not randomised against each other and subgroup sizes are not given in the abstract. Everyone treated started the drug for a metabolic indication rather than for colitis, so the arms differ by indication as well as by drug, and no randomised trial of semaglutide in ulcerative colitis is on file.

      Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

5. 05

   GLP-1 (7-36)

   human observational · surrogate marker · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Short bowel syndrome

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Short bowel syndrome

      human observational Surrogate marker Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with short bowel syndrome, n=9 (5 women, 4 men), aged 52 +/- 11 years, 7 with end-jejunostomy and 2 with half the colon in continuity; four 72-hour balance studies per patient

      Each patient completed four identical 72-hour balance studies receiving continuous intravenous GLP-1, saline placebo, GLP-2, or GLP-1 plus GLP-2 at 1 pmol/kg/min. GLP-1 lowered faecal wet weight, energy, nitrogen, sodium and potassium losses against placebo, but only the GLP-2-containing arms raised absolute wet weight and sodium absorption, and the authors concluded GLP-1 was the less potent of the two. Graded as observational rather than as a randomised trial because the abstract calls the study placebo-controlled without stating that treatment order was randomised or that anyone was blinded, and the full text is subscription-only; the abstract also names the infusate only as GLP-1, without specifying the 7-36 amide form. Acute balance-study absorption is not parenteral support volume or dependency, neither of which was measured.

      Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

6. 06

   Guanylin

   human observational · mechanistic only · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Ulcerative colitis

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Ulcerative colitis

      human observational Mechanistic only Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with ulcerative colitis, n=60, graded 1 to 3 on a modified Mayo disease activity index, against 20 normal controls; colonic mucosal expression measured by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot, nothing administered

      Recorded, and not evidence for this condition

      Guanylin messenger RNA and protein in colonic mucosa were lower in ulcerative colitis than in controls and fell further as the disease activity index rose, alongside guanylate cyclase-C and uroguanylin. Nothing was given to anyone: no study has administered guanylin to a person with ulcerative colitis. A separate experiment in Balb/c mice delivered a guanylin overexpression vector once daily for a week and reported lower intestinal permeability and histopathology scores - that is gene delivery in a mouse, not the peptide given as a treatment, and it does not measure the condition in a human.

      Source PubMed 2 primary sources read for this row

7. 07

   Omentin

   human observational · mechanistic only · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Ulcerative colitis

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Ulcerative colitis

      human observational Mechanistic only Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      consecutive adults with ulcerative colitis, n=126, stratified by Montreal extent into distal E1/E2 (n=84) and extensive E3 (n=42); a 36-patient subgroup assessed at week 14 of infliximab induction; age and sex not reported in the abstract

      Recorded, and not evidence for this condition

      Serum omentin-1 was quantified by ELISA and was lower in extensive than in distal colitis, median 48.60 against 62.70 ng/mL (p<0.01), and higher at baseline in the 23 of 36 patients who responded to infliximab. Omentin-1 was only measured; no study has administered omentin to anyone with ulcerative colitis, so nothing here tests whether giving it changes disease activity. This is a biomarker association read off blood samples, and the step from it to an effect is an argument rather than a result.

      Source PubMed Central 1 primary source read for this row

8. 08

   Uroguanylin

   human observational · mechanistic only · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Ulcerative colitis

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Ulcerative colitis

      human observational Mechanistic only Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      adults with ulcerative colitis, n=60, graded 1 to 3 on a modified Mayo disease activity index, against 20 normal controls; colonic mucosal expression measured by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot, nothing administered

      Recorded, and not evidence for this condition

      Uroguanylin messenger RNA and protein in colonic mucosa were lower in ulcerative colitis than in controls and fell in proportion to the disease activity index, alongside guanylate cyclase-C and guanylin. This is an expression measurement in removed tissue, not an intervention: no study has administered uroguanylin to a person with ulcerative colitis, and the step from a downregulated endogenous ligand to a treatment effect is an argument, not a result.

      Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

9. 09

   Exendin-4

   human case series · direct outcome · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

   Short bowel syndrome

   1 graded row, 1 source

   1. Short bowel syndrome

      human case series Direct outcome Not approved for this condition

      Who was studied

      5 consecutive patients with 90 cm or less of remaining small bowel, 4 men and 1 woman, aged 46 to 69 years, one month of treatment, no control group

      Exenatide is the synthetic form of exendin-4. In an uncontrolled series of five patients, all of whom had 6 to 15 bowel movements a day at baseline, bowel frequency and stool form improved and total parenteral nutrition was stopped in three of the five within a month; fasting antroduodenal manometry normalised. There was no control group, no randomisation and no blinding, the whole series is five people, and no larger or controlled study of exenatide in short bowel syndrome is on file.

      Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

10. 10

    BPC-157

    animal in vivo · direct outcome · 2 graded rows across 2 of 2 conditions

    Ulcerative colitis · Short bowel syndrome

    2 graded rows, 2 sources

    1. Ulcerative colitis

       animal in vivo Direct outcome Not approved for this condition

       Who was studied

       rats given 400 mg/kg cysteamine intrarectally, and a separate colon-colon anastomosis model, sacrificed at days 3, 5, 7 and 14; strain, sex and n per group not reported in the abstract obtained

       BPC 157 at 10 mcg/kg or 10 ng/kg intraperitoneally, or 0.16 mcg/mL in drinking water, was reported to heal cysteamine colitis and colon-colon anastomosis in rats where saline controls did not. Cysteamine colitis is a chemical injury model, not a model of ulcerative colitis, and the same paper's other half is a cuprizone brain-injury model, so the colitis arm is one part of a broad claim. The BPC-157 colitis literature is large but almost entirely review articles from the one Zagreb group; the phase II inflammatory bowel disease programme they cite (PL 14736, Pliva) has no published result, and ClinicalTrials.gov lists only three registered BPC-157 studies - healthy volunteers, hamstring strain and a peptide gummy - none with a gastrointestinal endpoint. There is no human colitis evidence of any rung.

       Source PubMed 2 primary sources read for this row

    2. Short bowel syndrome

       animal in vivo Surrogate marker Not approved for this condition

       Who was studied

       rats with surgically induced short bowel syndrome after resection from the fourth ileal artery to 5 cm below the pylorus, followed 4 weeks; strain, sex and n per group not reported in the abstract obtained

       BPC 157 at 10 mcg/kg or 10 ng/kg, given intraperitoneally or in drinking water for 4 weeks, was reported to reverse postoperative weight loss and to change villus height, crypt depth, muscular layer thickness, the jejunum-to-ileum diameter ratio and anastomosis breaking strength. Those are adaptation morphology in a rat, not absorption or parenteral support in a person. No human study of BPC-157 in short bowel syndrome exists: the phase II inflammatory bowel disease programme the paper cites (PL 14736, Pliva) has no published result, and ClinicalTrials.gov lists three registered BPC-157 studies - healthy volunteers, hamstring strain and a peptide gummy - none with a gastrointestinal endpoint.

       Source PubMed 2 primary sources read for this row

11. 11

    KPV

    animal in vivo · direct outcome · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

    Ulcerative colitis

    1 graded row, 1 source

    1. Ulcerative colitis

       animal in vivo Direct outcome Not approved for this condition

       Who was studied

       female C57BL/6 mice, 8 weeks old, 18-22 g, 10 per group; DSS colitis (3% w/v in drinking water, assessed at 8 days) and TNBS colitis (150 mg/kg in 50% ethanol intrarectally, assessed at 48 hours)

       Oral KPV at 100 micromolar in the drinking water reduced body weight loss, colonic myeloperoxidase activity, histological inflammation and pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA in both chemical colitis models. The rest of the paper is in vitro, in Caco2-BBE and HT29-Cl.19A epithelial lines and Jurkat T cells, and shows the effect runs through the PepT1 di/tripeptide transporter. DSS and TNBS colitis are chemical injury models and not ulcerative colitis, the tripeptide was delivered in water rather than as a dosed medicine, and no human trial of KPV in ulcerative colitis or in any inflammatory bowel disease is on file.

       Source PubMed Central 1 primary source read for this row

12. 12

    PEA

    animal in vivo · direct outcome · 1 graded row across 1 of 2 conditions

    Ulcerative colitis

    1 graded row, 1 source

    1. Ulcerative colitis

       animal in vivo Direct outcome Not approved for this condition

       Who was studied

       mice with DSS-induced colitis, strain, sex and n per group not reported in the abstract obtained; the human material was colonic biopsies from ulcerative colitis patients and primary human enteric glial cell cultures, not treated patients

       Palmitoylethanolamide improved the macroscopic signs of DSS colitis in mice - disease activity index, colon length, spleen weight, macrophage and neutrophil infiltration - and lowered the pro-inflammatory markers tested, with the effect abolished by a PPAR-alpha antagonist but not a PPAR-gamma one. The human half of the study exposed ex vivo ulcerative colitis biopsies and enteric glial cultures to the compound in a dish. No patient was given palmitoylethanolamide, no clinical endpoint was measured in a person, and no trial of it in ulcerative colitis is on file.

       Source PubMed 1 primary source read for this row

Checked, and nothing on file

15 compounds were read against these conditions and produced no gradeable row. They are named here rather than left off, because a list of 12 reads identically whether 12 survived 27 or 12 were all anyone thought of.

1. Carnosine on ulcerative colitis

   No rung — nothing on file to grade Not approved for this condition

   Recorded as a named absence. The one randomised, placebo-controlled, investigator-blinded ulcerative colitis trial in this area tested polaprezinc, a zinc-L-carnosine chelate, and not carnosine: 28 patients, 18 given a 150 mg polaprezinc enema and 10 not, with modified Matts' endoscopic and Mayo scores read at one week on top of usual induction therapy. The zinc is half the molecule that was tested and that design cannot separate it from the carnosine, so the trial grades as evidence for polaprezinc. No trial of carnosine itself in ulcerative colitis is on file.

2. Cholecystokinin (CCK)

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

3. Dulaglutide

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

4. Galanin

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

5. Gastrin

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

6. Ghrelin

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

7. GIP (Gastric Inhibitory Peptide)

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

8. Ipamorelin

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

9. Motilin

   No rung — nothing on file to grade

   Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

10. Neurotensin

    No rung — nothing on file to grade

    Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

11. PYY3-36

    No rung — nothing on file to grade

    Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

12. Secretin

    No rung — nothing on file to grade

    Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

13. Thymosin alpha-1

    No rung — nothing on file to grade

    Checked against ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

14. VIP

    No rung — nothing on file to grade

    Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

15. Wheat Peptides

    No rung — nothing on file to grade

    Checked against short bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis. No study meeting the rubric was found for any of them.

Browse by goal

• Weight loss — 29 compounds with a graded row, from 48 checked
• Anti-ageing & metabolic — 16 compounds with a graded row, from 30 checked
• Muscle growth — 9 compounds with a graded row, from 20 checked
• Infection & immunity — 23 compounds with a graded row, from 30 checked
• Cardiovascular — 29 compounds with a graded row, from 33 checked
• Healing & recovery — 16 compounds with a graded row, from 29 checked
• Sexual health & fertility — 13 compounds with a graded row, from 28 checked
• Pain — 8 compounds with a graded row, from 19 checked
• Skin & hair — 9 compounds with a graded row, from 33 checked
• Brain & nerve recovery — 7 compounds with a graded row, from 15 checked
• Mood & anxiety — 3 compounds with a graded row, from 12 checked
• Sleep — 9 compounds with a graded row, from 30 checked
• Cognition — 8 compounds with a graded row, from 43 checked
• Inflammation — 5 compounds with a graded row, from 23 checked
• Biological ageing — 8 compounds with a graded row, from 30 checked