Testosterone Ester Comparison Chart

Each column is one approved product, not one molecule. Testosterone enanthate appears twice on purpose: the 200 mg/mL vial and the XYOSTED autoinjector are the same ester with opposite instructions — intramuscular against subcutaneous, every two to four weeks against weekly, drawn against sealed. Nothing in one column transfers to the other.

The half-life table is the reason this sheet exists, and it is deliberately lopsided. One label states a figure for the ester; three do not. Where a label states nothing this sheet prints “Not stated” rather than the number every other ester chart prints, because that number could not be traced to a label or to a primary human pharmacokinetic source we could re-check. An admitted gap is more useful than a confident invention.

There is no propionate column. The only DailyMed SPL for testosterone propionate is SYNOVEX H, a Zoetis cattle implant filed under a New Animal Drug Application and typed as an animal drug label. No US human propionate label exists, so there is no dose, interval, concentration or half-life to compare.

Read the interval rows literally. Both oil vials are labelled at two to four weeks, and the enanthate label adds that injections more frequently than every two weeks are rarely indicated. Weekly and twice-weekly splitting of those vials is routine clinical practice and is not what those labels describe. The only product labelled weekly is XYOSTED, and it is a sealed autoinjector rather than a vial.

What each approved label states

Four products, four documents. Every cell is from the current SPL for that product — nothing is carried across from a neighbouring column.

There is no testosterone propionate column because there is no US human propionate label. The only DailyMed SPL matching that drug name is SYNOVEX H (testosterone propionate and estradiol benzoate) implant, Zoetis Inc., approval NADA 011427, document type “OTC ANIMAL DRUG LABEL” — a growth implant for cattle. DailyMed lists one further approved enanthate vial (Eugia US, ANDA 212659) and 33 cypionate listings; the columns above use the reference label for each product because the dosing text is common across them.

Ester half-life — one sourced figure, three refusals

The column every other ester chart fills completely. Read what each label states, and what it does not.

The figure you will not find on this sheet is 4.5 days for enanthate. It is on every competing ester chart and it is on no label we fetched — the two approved enanthate vials (Hikma ANDA 091120 and Eugia ANDA 212659) carry identical pharmacokinetics sections with no ester half-life, and XYOSTED carries none at all. We could not trace it to a primary human pharmacokinetic source we could cite and re-check, so it is omitted rather than repeated. A half-life you cannot source is worse than a blank on a page about how often to inject.

Each labelled regimen, converted to milligrams a week

The only form in which four different intervals compare. Every weekly figure is computed from the label’s own dose and interval, not looked up.

A weekly equivalent is arithmetic, not a schedule — nothing here suggests dividing an AVEED dose into weekly injections, and its label gives a single fixed dose with no titration. Note where the four products land: the oil vials span 12.5 to 200 mg a week across their labelled window, XYOSTED sits at 50 to 100, and AVEED’s ten-week regimen works out at roughly 75. The volumes marked over a 1 mL barrel will not fit an insulin syringe and need a luer-lock barrel numbered in millilitres.

What the label requires around the injection itself

This is where the four products differ most, and it is the part a dose table cannot show.

The AVEED row is not a caution, it is a condition of supply. The label states that following each injection, patients are observed in the healthcare setting for 30 minutes to allow treatment of serious pulmonary oil microembolism reactions or anaphylaxis, and that because of those risks AVEED is available only through a restricted programme under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy. Those reactions can follow any injection including the first, which is why the requirement does not lapse after the first few.

Same milligrams, different volume — the two strengths you draw from

For the oil vials only. These figures are the same ones /charts/testosterone-dosage-chart prints, because both pages call the same function.

Greyed figures exceed 100 marks and will not fit an insulin barrel. One mark is 2 mg at 200 mg/mL and 1 mg at 100 mg/mL, so the same prescription is twice the volume from the weaker vial — reading the barrel without reading the label is how a dose comes out double. The other two labelled concentrations are not on this table because neither is drawn by the patient: XYOSTED is a sealed 0.5 mL autoinjector at 100, 150 or 200 mg/mL by arithmetic, and AVEED’s 250 mg/mL is withdrawn by a clinician through an 18-gauge needle in a certified setting.

Frequently asked questions

What is the half-life of testosterone enanthate?

No US label states one, and this sheet will not invent one. The Hikma testosterone enanthate label contains the phrase “half-life” exactly twice, and neither instance is about the ester: one says the free testosterone concentration determines its half-life, and the other is “There are considerable variations of the half-life of testosterone as reported in the literature, ranging from 10 to 100 minutes.” — that is unesterified hormone, measured in minutes, and it is a different quantity from the depot behaviour people mean when they ask. The second approved enanthate vial carries the identical text and XYOSTED contains no half-life statement at all. The widely repeated 4.5 days appears on none of them and could not be traced to a primary source we could cite, so it is absent here. What the label does say about duration is qualitative: esters in oil are absorbed slowly from the lipid phase, which is why enanthate can be given at intervals of two to four weeks.

What is the half-life of testosterone cypionate?

This is the one the label answers outright. DEPO-Testosterone, under CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY: “The half-life of testosterone cypionate when injected intramuscularly is approximately eight days.” That figure is the reason its labelled interval is two to four weeks, and it is the reason a fortnightly injection produces a much larger peak-to-trough swing than the same monthly milligrams split across four weekly ones. It is also the only ester half-life on any of the four labels compared here, which is why the column on this sheet has one entry and three blanks rather than four tidy numbers.

Is there an FDA-approved testosterone propionate?

Not for humans. Searching DailyMed’s SPL index for the drug name “testosterone propionate” returns exactly one record, and it is SYNOVEX H — a testosterone propionate and estradiol benzoate implant from Zoetis, approved under NADA 011427 and typed as an OTC animal drug label. It is a growth implant for cattle. Because there is no US human propionate label there is no labelled dose, no labelled interval, no labelled concentration and no labelled half-life, so propionate has no column on this sheet. Anything you read comparing propionate’s numbers with cypionate’s is comparing a sourced figure with an unsourced one.

Which testosterone ester needs the most frequent injections?

On the labels, none of them is frequent. Both oil vials are labelled at 50 to 400 mg every two to four weeks, and the enanthate label adds that injections more frequently than every two weeks are rarely indicated. XYOSTED is once a week — 75 mg to start, adjusted in 25 mg steps — and AVEED is 750 mg, repeated at four weeks, then every ten weeks, which is five injections a year. Converted to weekly milligrams those regimens land at 12.5 to 200 for the vials, 50 to 100 for XYOSTED and 75 for AVEED. Twice-weekly injection of a vial is common clinical practice and is not on any of these labels.

Why does AVEED have to be injected at a clinic?

Because the label restricts the setting, not merely the technique. AVEED opens with a boxed warning about serious pulmonary oil microembolism reactions and anaphylaxis that can occur during or immediately after an injection, including after the first dose. Following each injection, patients are observed in the healthcare setting for 30 minutes so that those reactions can be treated. The label also states that because of those risks AVEED is available only through a restricted programme under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, which certifies both the prescriber and the setting. A 750 mg depot of castor-oil solution is not a dose you take home, and none of the other three products carries anything comparable.

Is cypionate or enanthate better?

The labels give you very little to choose between on dose: both state 50 to 400 mg every two to four weeks for replacement in the hypogonadal male, both specify deep intramuscular injection, and both come as an oil solution. Cypionate is supplied at 100 and 200 mg/mL, enanthate only at 200 mg/mL in a 5 mL vial. The difference most likely to matter is the oil rather than the ester: cypionate is cottonseed oil with benzyl benzoate and benzyl alcohol, enanthate is sesame oil with chlorobutanol, so an allergy rules out one or the other. The half-life difference everyone cites is not a difference this sheet can show you — one figure is labelled and the other is not stated at all.

How many syringe units is a 200 mg testosterone injection?

At 200 mg/mL it is 1 mL, which is 100 marks on a U-100 insulin barrel. At 100 mg/mL the same 200 mg is 2 mL and 200 marks — the full barrel, with nothing to spare. One mark is worth 2 mg at 200 mg/mL and 1 mg at 100 mg/mL, so the concentration printed on your own vial is the whole answer. These are the same figures /charts/testosterone-dosage-chart and /tools/testosterone-dose-calculator give, because all three pages compute them with one shared function.

Does the same ester always mean the same instructions?

No, and testosterone enanthate is the proof. The 200 mg/mL vial is labelled for intramuscular injection deep into the gluteal muscle every two to four weeks, drawn by the person giving it. XYOSTED is the same ester in a sealed 0.5 mL autoinjector, labelled for subcutaneous injection in the abdomen only, once a week, at 50, 75 or 100 mg, with its label explicitly telling you to avoid intramuscular or intravascular injection. Same molecule, opposite route, different interval, different device. Reading about “testosterone enanthate” without knowing which product is meant leaves you with instructions that may be exactly backwards.

Sources

1. [1]FDA label — DEPO-Testosterone (testosterone cypionate injection, USP), Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC. DailyMed SPL cfbb53d4-b868-4a28-8436-f9112eb01c39, approval block ANDA 085635, SPL version 26, effective 2026-08-21. Source of “The half-life of testosterone cypionate when injected intramuscularly is approximately eight days.”, “For replacement in the hypogonadal male, 50 - 400 mg should be administered every two to four weeks.”, the intramuscular-only and deep-gluteal directions, the cottonseed-oil composition and the 100 and 200 mg/mL presentations
2. [2]FDA label — Testosterone Enanthate Injection, USP 200 mg/mL, Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. DailyMed SPL e89d6458-428c-4256-97a3-f1fa851293c1, approval block ANDA 091120, SPL version 10, effective 2026-05-08. Source of “Male hypogonadism: As replacement therapy, i.e., for eunuchism, the suggested dosage is 50 to 400 mg every 2 to 4 weeks.”, “Injections more frequently than every two weeks are rarely indicated.”, the sesame-oil and chlorobutanol composition, the 5 mL multiple-dose vial, and the absence of any ester half-life — its only half-life sentence being “There are considerable variations of the half-life of testosterone as reported in the literature, ranging from 10 to 100 minutes.”
3. [3]FDA label — Testosterone Enanthate Injection, solution, Eugia US LLC. DailyMed SPL 82a98132-9d5f-40a5-8c4f-f52f2a5de60e, approval block ANDA 212659, SPL version 5, effective 2026-06-12. Fetched as a second, independent enanthate label to confirm the refusal: it carries the identical pharmacokinetics text and likewise states no ester half-life
4. [4]FDA label — XYOSTED (testosterone enanthate) injection, for subcutaneous use, Antares Pharma, Inc. DailyMed SPL 8a3d204c-be26-49e0-8599-0ac12a272e81, approval block NDA 209863, SPL version 16, effective 2025-07-01. Source of “The starting dose of XYOSTED is 75 mg, administered subcutaneously in the abdominal region once a week.”, “A trough concentration between 350 ng/dL and 650 ng/dL generally provides testosterone exposures in the normal range during the entire dosing interval.”, the three 0.5 mL strengths, the median Tmax of 11.9 hours with steady state by week 6, the “Boxed Warnings, Blood Pressure Increases Removed 03/2025” change record, and the fact that the document contains no half-life statement at all
5. [5]FDA label — AVEED (testosterone undecanoate) injection, for intramuscular use, Endo USA, Inc. DailyMed SPL f80f025b-17d8-40af-8739-20ce07902045, approval block NDA 022219, SPL version 45, effective 2025-07-15. Source of the boxed warning, “Following each injection of AVEED, observe patients in the healthcare setting for 30 minutes in order to provide appropriate medical treatment in the event of serious POME reactions or anaphylaxis”, “Because of the risks of serious POME reactions and anaphylaxis, AVEED is available only through a restricted program under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) called the AVEED REMS Program”, “The recommended dose of AVEED is 3 mL (750 mg) injected intramuscularly, followed by 3 mL (750 mg) injected after 4 weeks, then 3 mL (750 mg) injected every 10 weeks thereafter.” and the 750 mg/3 mL single-use presentation
6. [6]DailyMed SPL — SYNOVEX H (testosterone propionate and estradiol benzoate) implant, Zoetis Inc. Set id 5cdef530-023e-4d34-8e97-77f143b0068f, approval block NADA 011427, document type “OTC ANIMAL DRUG LABEL”. The only record DailyMed returns for the drug name “testosterone propionate”, and the evidence that no US human propionate label exists to compare
7. [7]Bhasin S, et al. Testosterone Therapy in Men With Hypogonadism: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2018;103(5):1715–1744