Mazdutide

Mazdutide is a weekly weight-loss shot made by a Chinese company, Innovent. In China it is sold as Mafu. You may also see the code name IBI362.

It copies two gut hormones at once. One is GLP-1, which makes you feel full. The other is glucagon, which is meant to help your body burn a bit more energy. So it cuts hunger and may nudge up calorie burn.

It is approved in China for obesity. It is not FDA-approved. It is not legal to bring into the US for personal use.

People use it to lose weight. China approved it for obesity in June 2025, and later for type 2 diabetes.

You may also hear about it for liver disease (MASLD, a fatty liver problem). Be careful there. The liver work is a separate, smaller program. The big weight-loss numbers do not carry over to the liver use. Do not pick a dose off the weight-loss trial for a liver reason.

The trials are real and strong, but only in Chinese patients so far.

In the big GLORY-1 trial, with 610 people, the average weight loss was about 14.4% at the 6 mg dose over 48 weeks. Picture someone at 200 pounds finishing near 171. A second trial, GLORY-2, reported up to 20.1% at a higher 9 mg dose, which would put that same person around 160.

Those are solid numbers. The catch is that long-term data outside China is thin. And there is a bigger, practical problem: if you buy it on the US research market, the vial often is not even mazdutide (more on that below).

It is a small shot under the skin (subcutaneous), once a week.

In the trials, doses were 4 mg, 6 mg, and 9 mg per week, started low and raised slowly. That slow climb is called titration, and it helps your stomach adjust.

There is no FDA-approved version to follow. The only clean supply is the Chinese pharmacy (Mafu), which is not legal to import.

The common stuff

Side effects are mostly stomach problems, like other drugs in this family: feeling sick, throwing up, and diarrhea. They are usually worst after a dose increase.

The serious stuff

• Do not use it if you or your family has a history of medullary thyroid cancer or a tumor called pheochromocytoma.
• Do not use it if you have had pancreatitis or serious heart disease.
• The glucagon part can push your heart rate up more than tirzepatide does. If it climbs more than about 10 bpm and stays there, that is a reason to stop.

Talk to a real doctor. We are not your doctor.

Here are the lanes, safest to riskiest.

• Brand. Only in China (Mafu). There is no US version, and importing it is illegal.
• Compounded. Rare in the US before FDA approval, about $350–$600 a month where you can find it. Most pharmacies decline it.
• Research-only (RUO). About $180–$350 a month. This is the riskiest lane, and the problem is identity.
• Gray market. Overseas raw, pricing not confirmed.

The big scam: US research vials labeled "mazdutide" are very often a different GLP-1 drug instead, like semaglutide, tirzepatide, or retatrutide. The only honest check is mass spectrometry on the vial, and even that cannot fully confirm the glucagon part. Always demand a COA, a lab report on what is really inside.