Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG)

Research-reported dosing

Doses as studied, one row per regimen. Different trials used different regimens; they are listed separately rather than averaged.

Where sources disagree

• hCG has no single dose. The labelled regimens range from 500 USP units three times weekly (cryptorchidism and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism) to a single 5,000–10,000 USP unit injection (ovulation induction). The labels present them as regimens "advocated by various authorities" and leave the choice to the indication, the patient's age and weight, and the physician's preference, so quoting one figure without naming the indication is not meaningful.
• All three current US labels — Pregnyl, Novarel and the Fresenius Kabi product — state in their Indications section that hCG has not been demonstrated to be effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity, and that there is no substantial evidence it increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction. Their Clinical Pharmacology sections add that hCG has no known effect on fat mobilisation, appetite or sense of hunger, or body fat distribution. The FDA consumer update "Avoid Dangerous HCG Diet Products" advises consumers to avoid hCG weight-loss products sold as oral drops, pellets and sprays, and states that hCG is not approved for weight loss or for use without a prescription.
• Several DailyMed listings named for hCG — diet drops, sprays and "fat release" liquids — carry the marketing category "unapproved homeopathic", and P.G. 600 is a veterinary product approved under an animal drug application. None of them is an approved human hCG product, and none contributes dosing here.
• hCG is widely used alongside testosterone therapy to preserve testicular function. That is not a labelled indication. The closest published evidence is Coviello et al. (2005): 29 healthy men on testosterone enanthate 200 mg weekly, in whom 250 IU every other day kept intratesticular testosterone near baseline and 500 IU raised it above baseline. The study lasted 3 weeks and its endpoint was intratesticular testosterone; the authors leave the threshold needed to maintain spermatogenesis to future studies, so it does not establish a long-term regimen or a fertility outcome.
• The US urinary hCG labels specify intramuscular use only. Subcutaneous injection has been compared with intramuscular injection in small studies with mixed results: self-administered subcutaneous hCG produced testosterone levels comparable to intramuscular in men with hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (Jones et al., 1994); serum and follicular hCG were higher after subcutaneous injection at an IVF trigger (Stelling et al., 2003); but in a crossover study of 24 women, peak concentration and AUC were higher after intramuscular injection, and lower in obese than non-obese women by either route (Chan et al., Hum Reprod 2003). The Ovidrel label also describes a controlled IVF study in which urinary hCG was given subcutaneously as the comparator.
• The US labels dose urinary hCG in USP units, while the research literature uses IU; Novarel's own reconstitution table labels its 10,000 USP unit vial as 10,000 IU. Recombinant hCG (choriogonadotropin alfa, Ovidrel) is a different product dosed by mass: 250 mcg subcutaneously, one day after the last dose of the follicle-stimulating agent, for assisted reproduction and ovulation induction. Its label reports that 250 mcg was clinically and statistically equivalent to urinary hCG in controlled infertility studies, but gives no general conversion between micrograms and units, so the two dose scales are not interchangeable.
• On 23 March 2020 approved hCG applications were deemed biologics licences under the BPCI Act, and the three labels above are now marketed under BLAs. The FDA's notice to compounders states that from that date these transitioning biological products are not eligible for the section 503A and 503B compounding exemptions, and names human chorionic gonadotropin among the affected bulk substances.
• The labels differ on how long a reconstituted vial may be kept: refrigerated and used within 30 days for Novarel, and within 60 days for Pregnyl and the Fresenius Kabi product.

Reconstitution

Common research vial sizes: 5,000 USP units, 10,000 USP units.

These figures are arithmetic only — they convert a vial and a volume into a concentration. They are not a recommendation to take any dose.