Oxandrolone is an oral anabolic steroid, a 17-alpha-methylated derivative of dihydrotestosterone. It was sold in the US as Oxandrin tablets.
Also known as: Oxandrin, Anavar.
Oxandrin came as 2.5 mg and 10 mg tablets. US approval of these tablets has been withdrawn (see below).
Oxandrolone is no longer FDA approved. In June 2023 FDA withdrew approval of the Oxandrin application and four generic oxandrolone applications at the companies' request, and in September 2023 it determined that Oxandrin 2.5 mg and 10 mg tablets were withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness, so FDA will not approve new generics.
The former label indicated oxandrolone as an add-on to promote weight gain after weight loss from extensive surgery, chronic infection or severe trauma, to offset protein loss from long-term corticosteroids, and for bone pain from osteoporosis. It gave an adult daily dose of 2.5 to 20 mg split into 2 to 4 doses, for 2 to 4 weeks at a time.
Anabolic steroids are Schedule III controlled substances in the US. Use without a prescription is illegal, and the labels warn about liver damage (including peliosis hepatis and liver tumors), cholesterol changes and suppression of the body's own testosterone and sperm production. The label also warns that oxandrolone strongly increases the effect of warfarin: in a study of healthy people, the warfarin dose had to be cut by about 80 to 85%.
The former Oxandrin label reports a mean elimination half-life of 10.4 hours in younger volunteers and 13.3 hours in elderly volunteers; Dose Track uses 10.4 hours, the figure for younger adults. The label gives no time to peak, so we do not list one.
Numbers shown are the values Dose Track uses, listed only where they agree with the source above. Half-life varies from person to person and with injection site.