What is hMG made from?

It is purified from the urine of postmenopausal donors — a biological preparation rather than a synthesised molecule, which is why composition varies between products and purification grades.

How is hMG different from recombinant FSH?

hMG carries both FSH and LH activity; recombinant FSH supplies FSH alone. That difference is what the long-running comparative trial literature was designed to test.

Is hMG better than recombinant FSH?

The meta-analyses disagree, and the disagreement is about trial selection and outcome choice rather than a single decisive study. Treating it as settled in either direction misrepresents the literature.

Is hMG an approved medicine?

Yes, a long-established prescription medicine in fertility treatment. Material supplied here as a research reagent is not that authorised product.

Why is hMG used alongside hCG?

Because they do different things: hMG supplies FSH and LH activity to drive follicular development or spermatogenesis, while hCG provides sustained LH-receptor stimulation. Protocols use them for distinct roles.

Research guides

HMG (menotropins): what the research says

A urine-derived preparation carrying both FSH and LH activity. What the long-running head-to-head trials against recombinant FSH actually found.

Available in the catalogue

Supplied as research material. Sizes and pricing are on the product page. Availability is not a statement about what a compound does.

HMG
Hormonal & Reproductive

HMG is unusual in this catalogue twice over: it is a biological preparation purified from human urine rather than a synthesised molecule, and it has been the subject of a long, genuinely contested comparison with a recombinant alternative.

What the preparation is

Human menopausal gonadotropin — menotropins — purified from the urine of postmenopausal donors, containing follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone activity in roughly equal measure. Because it is a purified preparation rather than a single molecule, composition varies between products and between grades of purification. That is a meaningful difference from everything synthesised elsewhere in this catalogue.

Both activities at once

It supplies FSH and LH activity together, acting directly on the gonads rather than through the pituitary. FSH drives follicular development and spermatogenesis; LH activity drives steroid production. Combining both is exactly what distinguishes it from recombinant single-hormone preparations, and it is the variable the comparative trials were designed to isolate.

The comparison that has not fully settled

Meta-analyses comparing hMG with recombinant FSH in assisted reproduction have been published repeatedly since the 2000s, and they have not all agreed. Some reported a difference in live birth rates favouring hMG, others did not, and the disagreement turned on trial selection, on which outcome was treated as primary, and on the fact that the preparations being compared were not constant over the period the trials span.

A Cochrane review remains the standing systematic assessment. The honest summary is that this is a live methodological argument in the fertility literature, not a settled result in either direction — which is more interesting, and more useful, than a claim that one preparation is better.

What studies reported

Each entry states what a study examined and the model it used. Nothing below describes an outcome for a person.

Everything below is drawn from published research, and each entry names the model the study used. Approval status varies by compound and by country, and nothing described here is supplied as a medicine or for use in a person.

Al-Inany et al. (2008)Reproductive BioMedicine Online · 16(1):81–8
Pooled randomised comparisons of human menopausal gonadotrophins against recombinant FSH, reporting on efficacy and safety across the trials available at the time.
human, meta-analysis of randomised trials Source
Jee et al. (2010)Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation · 70(2):132–7
Compared highly purified hMG against recombinant FSH in IVF and ICSI cycles, examining clinical efficacy across the pooled trials.
human, meta-analysis of randomised trials Source
Berkhout et al. (2026)Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 7(7):CD005354
Systematic comparison of recombinant FSH against other recombinant and urinary gonadotropins for ovarian stimulation in assisted reproductive technology cycles.
human, systematic review of randomised trials Source

Adverse and null findings reported

No dedicated safety study has been published for this compound. That is not a finding that none exists — it means the question has not been asked in print, and the gaps below say so.

What the research does not establish

An absence cannot be cited, so these are stated plainly. They are the part of the picture that silence would otherwise hide.

The `adverse` list is empty because hMG is an authorised prescription medicine and its adverse effect profile — including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, the risk the clinical protocols are built around managing — is stated in full on its regulatory label rather than here.
The entire randomised literature is in assisted reproduction and in the treatment of diagnosed infertility. Nothing published supports reading it across to any other use.
Because it is a purified biological preparation, composition varies by product and by purification grade. A trial of one preparation is weaker evidence about another than the shared name suggests.
The comparison against recombinant FSH has not converged across meta-analyses, and the disagreement is methodological. Any single pooled estimate quoted without that context overstates how settled the question is.
It is supplied here as a laboratory reagent, which is not the authorised medicine the clinical evidence was generated with.

Common questions

What is hMG made from?: It is purified from the urine of postmenopausal donors — a biological preparation rather than a synthesised molecule, which is why composition varies between products and purification grades.
How is hMG different from recombinant FSH?: hMG carries both FSH and LH activity; recombinant FSH supplies FSH alone. That difference is what the long-running comparative trial literature was designed to test.
Is hMG better than recombinant FSH?: The meta-analyses disagree, and the disagreement is about trial selection and outcome choice rather than a single decisive study. Treating it as settled in either direction misrepresents the literature.
Is hMG an approved medicine?: Yes, a long-established prescription medicine in fertility treatment. Material supplied here as a research reagent is not that authorised product.
Why is hMG used alongside hCG?: Because they do different things: hMG supplies FSH and LH activity to drive follicular development or spermatogenesis, while hCG provides sustained LH-receptor stimulation. Protocols use them for distinct roles.

Compounds covered

The reference page for each compound this article discusses.

HCG chorionic gonadotropin: what the research says
A long-established fertility medicine, and a literature that is almost entirely about treating diagnosed endocrine deficiency. Not about weight loss.
Oxytocin: what the research says
A settled obstetric medicine with a behavioural literature that became one of psychology's clearest replication problems. Both halves belong together.
How to store research peptides
Lyophilised peptides at -20°C, reconstituted at 2–8°C, ambient in transit. Why the dry cake tolerates shipping, and what actually degrades a vial.

About this article

Everything reported here comes from published research, and each finding names the model the study used — cell culture, rat, or human. Findings in one model do not transfer to another, most of the work described is preclinical, and none of it is a claim that a compound is safe or effective for any purpose. Nothing on this page describes doses, routes of administration, or use in a person.

Approval status varies by compound and by country. A few of the substances described are the active ingredient of medicines authorised in the EU; most have no marketing authorisation anywhere and have never been assessed by a regulator. Neither is supplied as a medicine here. All material supplied by ASSAY is sold for in-vitro laboratory research only, and is not a drug, food, cosmetic or medical device, and not for human or veterinary use.

All guides