Cardarine vs Ostarine
Sold side by side and constantly confused. Cardarine is not a SARM at all — different receptor, different class, and a completely different reason it never became a drug.
Short answer
Ostarine has the stronger evidence for its marketed use, with human clinical data against only preclinical or minimal evidence for Cardarine, resting mostly on animal or lab work. The headline human result for Cardarine is up to +16.9% HDL cholesterol and −16.9% triglycerides over 12 weeks in 268 patients; endurance never tested in humans.
Cardarine
GW-501516, endurobol
Not a SARM but a PPARδ agonist — a real mechanism and a real 12-week human lipid signal, ended by two-year rodent carcinogenicity findings, with no human endurance trial ever run to weigh against it.
Full Cardarine evidence reviewOstarine
Enobosarm, MK-2866, GTx-024
Reliably adds lean body mass and just as reliably fails to improve physical function — the two phase 3 POWER trials found both, which is why no regulator has ever approved it.
Full Ostarine evidence reviewCardarine vs Ostarine: head to head
- FDA status / approved use
Cardarine
Investigational drug discontinued in development; not approved anywhere; sold as a research chemicalOstarine
Never approved in any country; not a legal supplement ingredient; sold as a research chemical- Marketed for
Cardarine
Endurance and 'exercise in a pill', fat loss, HDL/triglyceridesOstarine
Muscle growth, recomposition, muscle preservation while cutting or on a GLP-1- Outcome areas
Cardarine
Exercise performance / endurance; Cardiovascular; Weight loss / appetiteOstarine
Muscle / strength / lean mass- Evidence grade
Cardarine
Preclinical / minimalOstarine
Clinical data- How it works
Cardarine
Activates PPARδ, a nuclear lipid-sensing receptor that switches on fat-burning genes; not a SARMOstarine
Binds the androgen receptor, acting strongly in muscle and bone, weakly in prostate- Route and dosing
Cardarine
Daily doses of 2.5 to 10 mg in human trialsOstarine
Oral, 3 mg daily in phase 3 trials- Headline human result
Cardarine
Up to +16.9% HDL cholesterol and −16.9% triglycerides over 12 weeks in 268 patients; endurance never tested in humansOstarine
Beat placebo on lean body mass but not physical function in two phase 3 trials of 651 lung cancer patients- Strongest evidence
Cardarine
Olson 2012 phase 2, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. Little or no controlled human outcome data for the marketed useCardarine evidence reviewPubMed 22814748Ostarine
POWER phase 3 program, Lancet Oncol 2013Ostarine evidence reviewPubMed 23499390- Key safety signal
Cardarine
Caused cancer in rats and mice after 104 weeks of dosing, which ended its developmentOstarine
Case reports of cholestatic liver injury; suppresses testosterone and lowers HDL cholesterol- How it is obtained
Cardarine
Sold gray-market as a research chemical; no approved human productOstarine
Sold gray-market as a research chemical; no approved human product
| Cardarine | Ostarine | |
|---|---|---|
| FDA status / approved use | Investigational drug discontinued in development; not approved anywhere; sold as a research chemical | Never approved in any country; not a legal supplement ingredient; sold as a research chemical |
| Marketed for | Endurance and 'exercise in a pill', fat loss, HDL/triglycerides | Muscle growth, recomposition, muscle preservation while cutting or on a GLP-1 |
| Outcome areas | Exercise performance / endurance; Cardiovascular; Weight loss / appetite | Muscle / strength / lean mass |
| Evidence grade | Preclinical / minimal | Clinical data |
| How it works | Activates PPARδ, a nuclear lipid-sensing receptor that switches on fat-burning genes; not a SARM | Binds the androgen receptor, acting strongly in muscle and bone, weakly in prostate |
| Route and dosing | Daily doses of 2.5 to 10 mg in human trials | Oral, 3 mg daily in phase 3 trials |
| Headline human result | Up to +16.9% HDL cholesterol and −16.9% triglycerides over 12 weeks in 268 patients; endurance never tested in humans | Beat placebo on lean body mass but not physical function in two phase 3 trials of 651 lung cancer patients |
| Strongest evidence | Olson 2012 phase 2, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. Little or no controlled human outcome data for the marketed useCardarine evidence reviewPubMed 22814748 | POWER phase 3 program, Lancet Oncol 2013Ostarine evidence reviewPubMed 23499390 |
| Key safety signal | Caused cancer in rats and mice after 104 weeks of dosing, which ended its development | Case reports of cholestatic liver injury; suppresses testosterone and lowers HDL cholesterol |
| How it is obtained | Sold gray-market as a research chemical; no approved human product | Sold gray-market as a research chemical; no approved human product |
marks a row where the two differ. “Not established” marks a cell the available evidence does not answer. Evidence grades come from our evidence matrix, which grades each molecule on the human data for the use it is marketed for.
- Clinical data:
- Tested in humans — but investigational, discontinued, or proven only on a surrogate marker (not the marketed outcome).
- Preclinical / minimal:
- Evidence is largely animal, in-vitro, or anecdotal. Little or no controlled human outcome data for the marketed use.
Our verdict
The correction is the whole page: cardarine is not a SARM. Ostarine (enobosarm) is an actual selective androgen receptor modulator, taken through two phase 3 trials in 651 lung-cancer patients where it beat placebo on lean body mass in both and on physical function in neither; cardarine is a PPARδ agonist with no androgen-receptor activity at all, which means it neither suppresses the testosterone axis nor builds muscle through it. Its development ended for a reason that has no SARM analog — GlaxoSmithKline discontinued the program after two-year rodent carcinogenicity studies linked the drug to widespread tumor development — and no human trial has ever measured endurance, VO₂ max or time-trial performance on cardarine at any dose; its only real human result is a lipid one, up to 16.9% higher HDL cholesterol and 16.9% lower triglycerides over twelve weeks in 268 patients, which is also the longest human exposure on record. Neither is approved anywhere, they sit in different sections of the WADA Prohibited List, and the famous mouse that ran 44% further without training was on AICAR, a different drug in the same paper.
Cardarine fits if
Cardarine is the one to read if you want to see how a compound gets shelved alongside drugs it shares no mechanism with, and why the reason it is not a medicine is a carcinogenicity finding rather than a failed efficacy trial.
Ostarine fits if
Ostarine is the one to read if the androgen-receptor question is what you actually meant, since it is the SARM taken furthest into phase 3 and the clearest demonstration that lean mass and physical function come apart.
Cardarine vs Ostarine: common questions
- Is either Cardarine or Ostarine FDA-approved?
- No. Cardarine is an investigational drug discontinued in development; not approved anywhere; sold as a research chemical. Ostarine has never been approved in any country; not a legal supplement ingredient; sold as a research chemical.
- Which has stronger human evidence, Cardarine or Ostarine?
- Ostarine. It has human clinical data (key source: POWER phase 3 program, Lancet Oncol 2013), while Cardarine has only preclinical or minimal evidence (key source: Olson 2012 phase 2, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol).
- What are the main safety concerns with Cardarine and Ostarine?
- Cardarine caused cancer in rats and mice after 104 weeks of dosing, which ended its development. For Ostarine, watch for case reports of cholestatic liver injury; suppresses testosterone and lowers HDL cholesterol.
Key studies behind each
Cardarine
- Oliver WR Jr, Shenk JL, Snaith MR, et al. (2001). A selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta agonist promotes reverse cholesterol transport. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. PubMed 11309497
- Narkar VA, Downes M, Yu RT, et al. (2008). AMPK and PPARdelta agonists are exercise mimetics. Cell. PubMed 18674809
- Li S, Laher I. (2015). Exercise Pills: At the Starting Line. Trends Pharmacol Sci. PubMed 26439443
- Sprecher DL, Massien C, Pearce G, et al. (2007). Triglyceride:high-density lipoprotein cholesterol effects in healthy subjects administered a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor delta agonist. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. PubMed 17110604
Ostarine
- Dias JP, Dobs AS. (2026). Will Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators Ever Reach The Clinic? J Clin Endocrinol Metab. PubMed 41670367
- Dalton JT, Barnette KG, Bohl CE, Hancock ML, et al. (2011). The selective androgen receptor modulator GTx-024 (enobosarm) improves lean body mass and physical function in healthy elderly men and postmenopausal women: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. PubMed 22031847
- Dobs AS, Boccia RV, Croot CC, Gabrail NY, et al. (2013). Effects of enobosarm on muscle wasting and physical function in patients with cancer: a double-blind, randomised controlled phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. PubMed 23499390
- Crawford J, Prado CM, Johnston MA, Gralla RJ, et al. (2016). Study Design and Rationale for the Phase 3 Clinical Development Program of Enobosarm, a Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator, for the Prevention and Treatment of Muscle Wasting in Cancer Patients (POWER Trials). Curr Oncol Rep. PubMed 27138015
The full evidence reviews
- Cardarine (GW-501516): the evidence, and why the drug was abandoned
It is not a SARM — it is a PPARδ agonist. The rodent endurance data is real but narrower than quoted, the human data is entirely about lipids, and GlaxoSmithKline stopped the program after two-year rodent studies produced tumors.
Updated August 2026
- Ostarine (enobosarm): the clinical drug behind the black-market compound
Ostarine is enobosarm — a real SARM with two completed phase 3 trials. They found the same thing twice: lean body mass went up, physical function did not. That dissociation, not the bodybuilding folklore, is what you need to know.
Updated August 2026