Is enclomiphene the same as clomiphene?

It is half of it. The CLOMID label states: "Clomiphene citrate is a mixture of two geometric isomers [cis (zuclomiphene) and trans (enclomiphene)] containing between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer." Enclomiphene is that trans-isomer on its own, which means a 50 mg clomiphene tablet already contains 25 to 35 mg of enclomiphene — a range, because the label gives a range and does not fix the proportion more tightly. The pitch for the isolated isomer is that it leaves behind the cis half, which the same label describes as the more oestrogenic of the two and as still detectable "for longer than a month" after a single dose.

Is enclomiphene FDA-approved?

No, and it never has been. Checked on 2026-09-20 against a DailyMed database published 18 September 2026: queries for "enclomiphene" and for "enclomiphene citrate" return zero Structured Product Labels. A Drugs@FDA query for products whose active ingredient is ENCLOMIPHENE returns "No matches found". Repros Therapeutics filed a New Drug Application for enclomiphene in secondary hypogonadism and received a Complete Response Letter dated 1 December 2015; the additional phase III work the FDA asked for was never done. Both of those checks are checks of United States registers — we did not search any other country's register and make no claim about one.

Is clomiphene FDA-approved for men?

No. Clomiphene is genuinely approved, which is the part people get wrong in the other direction — but the indication is "the treatment of ovulatory dysfunction in women desiring pregnancy", and every patient group the label lists is a woman being treated to achieve a pregnancy. Nine clomiphene citrate applications exist in Drugs@FDA and not one carries a male indication. The label does not merely omit men; it addresses them: "There are no adequate or well-controlled studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of clomiphene citrate in the treatment of male infertility. In addition, testicular tumors and gynecomastia have been reported in males using clomiphene." Prescribing it to a man is lawful off-label practice and is not a use the FDA has evaluated.

What dose of enclomiphene should I take?

No regulator has ever set one, so there is no answer to give and this page does not invent one. What can be reported is what named studies administered. Wiehle et al. (BJU Int 2013, PMID 23875626) randomised 48 men with secondary hypogonadism to 6.25 mg, 12.5 mg, 25 mg of enclomiphene citrate daily or to transdermal testosterone, over 6 weeks. Kim et al. (BJU Int 2016, PMID 26496621) ran two phase III studies over 16 weeks evaluating "two doses of enclomiphene citrate" — the published abstract does not say which two, so this page does not guess. Those are arms of experiments. They are not a starting dose, a maintenance dose or a titration schedule, none of which exists for a drug with no approval.

Why does a 50 mg clomiphene tablet not have a fixed amount of enclomiphene in it?

Because the label specifies the isomer ratio as a range and not as a figure: "containing between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer." That makes the trans (enclomiphene) fraction anywhere from 50% to 70%, or 25 to 35 mg per 50 mg tablet. It is a specification an approved product is manufactured to, not sloppiness — but it does mean that "how much enclomiphene am I getting from clomiphene" has a ten-milligram-wide answer, which is a fair part of the pharmacological case for the isolated isomer. It is also why this page prints the range rather than a midpoint: a midpoint would be a number the label does not contain.

Do the guidelines recommend either of them for low testosterone?

Neither is recommended, and only one of them is discussed. The Endocrine Society's 2018 testosterone guideline carries a single technical remark: "Clomiphene citrate has been used empirically in men with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism; however, neither its efficacy nor its safety has been demonstrated in randomized trials." The AUA is more permissive in statement 27 — "Clinicians may use aromatase inhibitors, human chorionic gonadotropin, selective estrogen receptor modulators, or a combination thereof in men with testosterone deficiency desiring to maintain fertility. (Conditional Recommendation; Evidence Level: Grade C)" — and its discussion then draws the line that matters: "Clinicians should understand that of these agents, only hCG has been approved by the FDA for use in males." Enclomiphene appears in neither document. It is not that the guidelines rejected it; it is that the statements were written about approved drugs being used off-label, and enclomiphene is not an approved drug.

What is actually in a compounded enclomiphene capsule?

Whatever the compounding pharmacy put in it, at a strength the prescriber specified, with a beyond-use date the pharmacy set. The FDA states that compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, meaning the agency does not verify their safety, effectiveness or quality before they are dispensed. That is the position even at its best — a licensed pharmacy filling a valid prescription. Product bought from an online seller without a prescription is outside that entirely: nobody has verified its identity, its strength or its purity. If you are taking it, the strength on the label is the pharmacy's claim rather than a reviewed specification, and it is worth asking your prescriber what monitoring they intend, because no label supplies any.

Head to head

Enclomiphene vs Clomiphene

Enclomiphene is not a rival to clomiphene. It is one of the two isomers clomiphene is made of — and in the United States the mixture is approved, for women, while the isolated half is approved for nothing.

Reviewed September 2026

The short answer

These are not two competing drugs. The CLOMID label defines the relationship itself: "Clomiphene citrate is a mixture of two geometric isomers [cis (zuclomiphene) and trans (enclomiphene)] containing between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer." Enclomiphene is that trans-isomer, separated out. Anyone taking clomiphene is already taking enclomiphene.

How much of it? The label gives a range rather than a number, so the honest answer is a range: a 50 mg clomiphene tablet contains 25 to 35 mg of enclomiphene, and the label does not fix the proportion more tightly than that. That imprecision is itself part of the argument for the isolated isomer — and it is an argument, not an approval.

The pharmacological case is on the same label. "Subsequent single-dose studies in normal volunteers showed that zuclomiphene (cis) has a longer half-life than enclomiphene (trans). Detectable levels of zuclomiphene persisted for longer than a month in these subjects." The label also notes that "some data suggest that zuclomiphene has greater estrogenic activity than enclomiphene." Dropping the more oestrogenic half that lingers for a month is a coherent idea. It has not produced an approved product.

The regulatory positions could hardly be further apart, and neither is what people assume. Clomiphene IS approved in the US — for "the treatment of ovulatory dysfunction in women desiring pregnancy", with 9 applications in Drugs@FDA and not one male indication among them. Enclomiphene has never been approved for anything: a Drugs@FDA query for products whose active ingredient is ENCLOMIPHENE returns no matches, and DailyMed returns zero Structured Product Labels. Both statements are about the US registers we checked, DailyMed and Drugs@FDA, and we make no claim about any other country.

Enclomiphene

Androxal (trial name; never approved)

The trans-isomer of clomiphene, on its own. No US approval for any indication, no Structured Product Label, and no application in Drugs@FDA.

Dosing protocol →

Clomiphene citrate

Clomid · Milophene · Serophene

A 50 mg oral tablet containing both isomers. FDA-approved for the treatment of ovulatory dysfunction in women desiring pregnancy. No male indication.

Dosing protocol →

Side by side

Every row carries how well supported it is. A claim that only reflects common practice is labelled as such rather than presented as fact.

Dimension	Enclomiphene	Clomiphene citrate	Basis
Chemical relationship	The trans-isomer, isolated	A mixture of the trans- and cis-isomers	labelCLOMID label, verbatim: "Clomiphene citrate is a mixture of two geometric isomers [cis (zuclomiphene) and trans (enclomiphene)] containing between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer." The comparison is between a mixture and one of its own components, which is why nothing here reads like a comparison of two drug classes.
Enclomiphene in a 50 mg tablet	All of it, whatever the compounded capsule states	25 to 35 mg	labelComputed from the label's own "between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer": the trans fraction is 50% to 70% of a 50 mg tablet. It is a range because the label states a range, and no tighter figure is given here. The enclomiphene side has no labelled strength of any kind, so what is in a compounded capsule is whatever the pharmacy put there.
US approval status	Never approved, for any indication	Approved — for ovulation induction in women	labelChecked 2026-09-20. Drugs@FDA holds 9 clomiphene citrate applications and 0 enclomiphene applications; a query for products whose active ingredient is ENCLOMIPHENE returns "No matches found". Both registers checked are US registers. No claim is made about approvals elsewhere.
Is there a label at all?	No — 0 Structured Product Labels on DailyMed	Yes — 16 records returned, 15 of them tablet labels	labelDailyMed queries for "enclomiphene" and for "enclomiphene citrate" both return zero, against a database published 18 September 2026. Of the 16 clomiphene records, one is not a medicine at all — "X (CLOMIPHENE CITRATE) POWDER", marketing category BULK INGREDIENT, typed "bulk ingredient for animal drug compounding". A count of SPLs is not a count of approved drugs; read the marketing category first.
Approved indication	None	"the treatment of ovulatory dysfunction in women desiring pregnancy"	labelQuoted verbatim from the indications section. The listed patients — polycystic ovary syndrome, amenorrhea-galactorrhea syndrome, psychogenic amenorrhea, post-oral-contraceptive amenorrhea and certain secondary amenorrhea — are all women being treated to achieve a pregnancy. There is no male indication on any US clomiphene label.
Labelled dose	None exists	50 mg daily for 5 days, in a woman, timed to a cycle	labelVerbatim: "Treatment of the selected patient should begin with a low dose, 50 mg daily (1 tablet) for 5 days", with a second course of 100 mg daily for five days if ovulation does not follow, and "Increasing the dosage or duration of therapy beyond 100 mg/day for 5 days is not recommended." The label also caps treatment at "about six cycles". None of that schedule was designed for a man, and this page does not translate it into one.
What the label says about men	Nothing — there is no label	It addresses male use, and not favourably	labelVerbatim, from the indications section: "There are no adequate or well-controlled studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of clomiphene citrate in the treatment of male infertility. In addition, testicular tumors and gynecomastia have been reported in males using clomiphene. The cause and effect relationship between reports of testicular tumors and the administration of clomiphene citrate is not known." That is the closest thing to labelled male guidance that exists for either compound.
How long each isomer lasts	The shorter-lived of the two	Contains the one that persists for over a month	labelCLOMID label, verbatim: "Subsequent single-dose studies in normal volunteers showed that zuclomiphene (cis) has a longer half-life than enclomiphene (trans). Detectable levels of zuclomiphene persisted for longer than a month in these subjects." The label gives no numeric half-life for either isomer, so none is given here. This is the pharmacological argument for the isolated trans-isomer, stated by the parent drug's own label.
Oestrogenic activity	The less oestrogenic half	Contains both	labelVerbatim: "The two clomiphene isomers have been found to have mixed estrogenic and antiestrogenic effects, which may vary from one species to another. Some data suggest that zuclomiphene has greater estrogenic activity than enclomiphene." Note "some data suggest" — the label is hedging, and this page hedges with it rather than upgrading the claim.
Trial evidence in men	Two randomised trial programmes, both against testosterone	The label says there are no adequate studies in male infertility	literatureWiehle et al., BJU Int 2013 (PMID 23875626): a phase II, randomised, single-blind study in 48 men with secondary hypogonadism comparing 6.25, 12.5, 25 mg of enclomiphene citrate daily against transdermal testosterone. Kim et al., BJU Int 2016 (PMID 26496621): two parallel phase III studies, ZA-304 and ZA-305, over 16 weeks, reporting that enclomiphene "maintained sperm concentration in the normal range… while there was a marked reduction in spermatogenesis in the testosterone gel group". Those are trial arms, not a regimen. The unapproved compound is the one with the trials.
What happened to the application	Complete Response Letter, 1 December 2015; never resubmitted	CLOMID approved 1 February 1967; both originator NDAs are now discontinued	literatureRepros Therapeutics announced that "the FDA stated that, based on recent scientific developments, the design of enclomiphene Phase 3 studies is no longer adequate to demonstrate clinical benefit and recommended that Repros conduct an additional Phase 3 study or studies to support approval in the target population", adding concerns "regarding study entry criteria, titration and bioanalytical method validation". Those studies were never run. On the other side, Drugs@FDA records the original CLOMID submission (NDA016131, ORIG-1) with a status date of 1 February 1967; CLOMID and SEROPHENE (NDA018361) are both now listed as Discontinued, each carrying a "Federal Register determination that product was not discontinued or withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons", and the 7 marketed products are generics.
What the guidelines say	Neither guideline mentions it	Named by both, cautiously	guidelineThe Endocrine Society's 2018 testosterone guideline carries one technical remark: "Clomiphene citrate has been used empirically in men with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism; however, neither its efficacy nor its safety has been demonstrated in randomized trials." The AUA's statement 27 is more permissive — "Clinicians may use aromatase inhibitors, human chorionic gonadotropin, selective estrogen receptor modulators, or a combination thereof in men with testosterone deficiency desiring to maintain fertility. (Conditional Recommendation; Evidence Level: Grade C)" — and then adds the line that frames the whole class: "Clinicians should understand that of these agents, only hCG has been approved by the FDA for use in males." Enclomiphene is not in the group those statements address, because they were written about approved drugs used off-label and enclomiphene is not approved at all.
Where the product comes from	A compounding pharmacy, at a strength the prescriber chose	A licensed generic manufacturer, at a labelled 50 mg	literatureEvery enclomiphene capsule in the United States is compounded, and the FDA states that compounded drugs are not FDA-approved and are not reviewed for safety, effectiveness or quality before they are dispensed. Product bought online without a prescription is outside even that: its identity, strength and purity are unverified by anyone.
Monitoring and contraindications	Whatever your prescriber writes down	A liver contraindication and a visual-symptoms warning, on the label	labelVerbatim: "Clomiphene citrate therapy is contraindicated in patients with liver disease or a history of liver dysfunction." The label also carries a dedicated Visual Symptoms warning. Both are class effects and both are worth asking about if you are prescribed the isolated isomer, where no label states them — but drawing them across is an inference, and it is marked as one here.

label: Stated on the FDA label
guideline: Clinical practice guideline
literature: Published literature
practice: Common practice, not documented

Which one

Choose Enclomiphene if

Your prescriber has a specific reason to want the trans-isomer alone, and can say what it is. The published argument is the one on the CLOMID label: the cis-isomer is the more oestrogenic of the two and is still detectable a month later.
Fertility preservation is the point and you have read the trials rather than a marketing page. Kim 2016 is the strongest result the compound has, and it is about sperm concentration rather than about how you feel.
You accept, explicitly, that you are taking a preparation no regulator has reviewed, at a strength a compounding pharmacy chose, with no labelled monitoring schedule and no labelled stopping rule.

Choose Clomiphene citrate if

You want a product a manufacturer is accountable for. Clomiphene is an approved medicine with a labelled strength, labelled contraindications and a named application number, even though your use of it would be off-label.
You want the option both major guidelines have actually written about. The Endocrine Society and the AUA each address clomiphene by name; neither mentions enclomiphene.
Cost and access matter. A 50 mg generic tablet from a licensed manufacturer is cheap and widely stocked; compounded enclomiphene is neither, and its price is set by the platform selling it.

The comparison people expect — the refined new drug against the crude old one — is not the comparison on the table. Clomiphene is approved, for ovulation induction in women, and every male use of it is off-label; enclomiphene has no US approval at all, so calling its male use off-label understates the position. Both facts are scoped to the two US registers we searched, DailyMed and Drugs@FDA, and nothing here is a claim about any other country. The one agent in this conversation with an approved male indication is neither of them: the AUA notes that of the drugs used this way, "only hCG has been approved by the FDA for use in males."

Frequently asked questions

Is enclomiphene the same as clomiphene?: It is half of it. The CLOMID label states: "Clomiphene citrate is a mixture of two geometric isomers [cis (zuclomiphene) and trans (enclomiphene)] containing between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer." Enclomiphene is that trans-isomer on its own, which means a 50 mg clomiphene tablet already contains 25 to 35 mg of enclomiphene — a range, because the label gives a range and does not fix the proportion more tightly. The pitch for the isolated isomer is that it leaves behind the cis half, which the same label describes as the more oestrogenic of the two and as still detectable "for longer than a month" after a single dose.
Is enclomiphene FDA-approved?: No, and it never has been. Checked on 2026-09-20 against a DailyMed database published 18 September 2026: queries for "enclomiphene" and for "enclomiphene citrate" return zero Structured Product Labels. A Drugs@FDA query for products whose active ingredient is ENCLOMIPHENE returns "No matches found". Repros Therapeutics filed a New Drug Application for enclomiphene in secondary hypogonadism and received a Complete Response Letter dated 1 December 2015; the additional phase III work the FDA asked for was never done. Both of those checks are checks of United States registers — we did not search any other country's register and make no claim about one.
Is clomiphene FDA-approved for men?: No. Clomiphene is genuinely approved, which is the part people get wrong in the other direction — but the indication is "the treatment of ovulatory dysfunction in women desiring pregnancy", and every patient group the label lists is a woman being treated to achieve a pregnancy. Nine clomiphene citrate applications exist in Drugs@FDA and not one carries a male indication. The label does not merely omit men; it addresses them: "There are no adequate or well-controlled studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of clomiphene citrate in the treatment of male infertility. In addition, testicular tumors and gynecomastia have been reported in males using clomiphene." Prescribing it to a man is lawful off-label practice and is not a use the FDA has evaluated.
What dose of enclomiphene should I take?: No regulator has ever set one, so there is no answer to give and this page does not invent one. What can be reported is what named studies administered. Wiehle et al. (BJU Int 2013, PMID 23875626) randomised 48 men with secondary hypogonadism to 6.25 mg, 12.5 mg, 25 mg of enclomiphene citrate daily or to transdermal testosterone, over 6 weeks. Kim et al. (BJU Int 2016, PMID 26496621) ran two phase III studies over 16 weeks evaluating "two doses of enclomiphene citrate" — the published abstract does not say which two, so this page does not guess. Those are arms of experiments. They are not a starting dose, a maintenance dose or a titration schedule, none of which exists for a drug with no approval.
Why does a 50 mg clomiphene tablet not have a fixed amount of enclomiphene in it?: Because the label specifies the isomer ratio as a range and not as a figure: "containing between 30% and 50% of the cis-isomer." That makes the trans (enclomiphene) fraction anywhere from 50% to 70%, or 25 to 35 mg per 50 mg tablet. It is a specification an approved product is manufactured to, not sloppiness — but it does mean that "how much enclomiphene am I getting from clomiphene" has a ten-milligram-wide answer, which is a fair part of the pharmacological case for the isolated isomer. It is also why this page prints the range rather than a midpoint: a midpoint would be a number the label does not contain.
Do the guidelines recommend either of them for low testosterone?: Neither is recommended, and only one of them is discussed. The Endocrine Society's 2018 testosterone guideline carries a single technical remark: "Clomiphene citrate has been used empirically in men with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism; however, neither its efficacy nor its safety has been demonstrated in randomized trials." The AUA is more permissive in statement 27 — "Clinicians may use aromatase inhibitors, human chorionic gonadotropin, selective estrogen receptor modulators, or a combination thereof in men with testosterone deficiency desiring to maintain fertility. (Conditional Recommendation; Evidence Level: Grade C)" — and its discussion then draws the line that matters: "Clinicians should understand that of these agents, only hCG has been approved by the FDA for use in males." Enclomiphene appears in neither document. It is not that the guidelines rejected it; it is that the statements were written about approved drugs being used off-label, and enclomiphene is not an approved drug.
What is actually in a compounded enclomiphene capsule?: Whatever the compounding pharmacy put in it, at a strength the prescriber specified, with a beyond-use date the pharmacy set. The FDA states that compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, meaning the agency does not verify their safety, effectiveness or quality before they are dispensed. That is the position even at its best — a licensed pharmacy filling a valid prescription. Product bought from an online seller without a prescription is outside that entirely: nobody has verified its identity, its strength or its purity. If you are taking it, the strength on the label is the pharmacy's claim rather than a reviewed specification, and it is worth asking your prescriber what monitoring they intend, because no label supplies any.

Sources

Next steps

Compare online TRT providersWhich platforms write enclomiphene, which write clomiphene, and what each of them charges.TRT — how it works and what it costsDiagnosis, the labelled options, monitoring, and where the SERMs actually fit.

Other comparisons

Educational reference, not medical advice. Which medication suits you is a decision for your prescriber.