What is IV glutathione therapy, and what does the evidence show?

What the skin studies found

The 2016 controlled study of IV glutathione

A controlled study of IV glutathione for skin lightening that we found (PubMed, Europe PMC, ClinicalTrials.gov and one 2026 review, searched October 1, 2026) followed 32 women given twice-weekly IV injections of a product that also contained vitamin C and collagen, for six weeks.[1][2] The result did not differ significantly from saline injections, and by six months only one of the 16 treated women kept any lightening.[1] Eight of the 25 women given the injections stopped because of abnormal liver tests, and one of the 25 stopped after a severe allergic reaction.[1] The study did not describe how the women were assigned to the injection group or the saline group, so it was not clearly a fully randomized trial.[1] A 2026 review describes a 2011 IV pilot with no control group (Katipunan and Villafuerte, in the Philippines): 21 adults were given 600 mg of IV glutathione weekly for 10 weeks, and the review's table records a significant reduction in melanin index during treatment, with the limits of no control group, a small sample and short follow-up. We read the review's description, not the pilot itself.[2] These findings are about glutathione given by IV; glutathione taken by mouth or applied to the skin has been tested separately, in different, small studies, with different results.

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection, for any use, including skin lightening (checked September 27, 2026).

Glutathione taken by mouth or applied to the skin

In a small 4-week trial, 60 healthy medical students taking glutathione capsules by mouth had a lower skin-melanin measurement than a placebo group at two of six body sites tested.[3] In a separate small trial, applying an oxidized-glutathione cream to the skin for 10 weeks lowered a skin-melanin measurement compared with a placebo cream.[4] Three of the five oral or topical skin-lightening trials we read were funded by, or had authors affiliated with, a company that makes glutathione or glutathione-containing ingredients.[4][5][6][7][8] A 2019 systematic review of four skin-lightening studies called the overall evidence for glutathione's skin-whitening effect "inconclusive," because of study quality and inconsistent results.[9] These results are for glutathione taken by mouth or applied to the skin; they do not apply to IV use, which has been tested separately and found no significant benefit.

IV glutathione vs. glutathione taken by mouth

In searches of PubMed, Europe PMC and ClinicalTrials.gov on October 1, 2026, we found no trial that directly compared IV glutathione with oral glutathione on any health or skin outcome. In a small 1991 study of 10 healthy volunteers, glutathione given by IV had a half-life in the blood of about 14 minutes.[10] In a separate small study, a single 3-gram dose of glutathione taken by mouth did not significantly raise blood glutathione levels in 7 healthy volunteers, because digestive and liver enzymes break it down before it reaches the blood.[11]

Other claims clinics make

In searches of PubMed, Europe PMC and ClinicalTrials.gov on October 1, 2026, we found no controlled trial, among the studies we could read, that measured whether IV glutathione removes toxins or heavy metals from the body, other than two small trials in people receiving platinum chemotherapy. Two small reports describe changes in urine mercury or cadmium during treatment that included IV glutathione: a 2006 series of 6 people with no comparison group (Muran 2006), and a 2011 report of one person (Gil 2011), of which we read only the abstract.[12][13] Both treatments also included chelating drugs, which are medicines that bind metals. The 2006 series cannot separate what glutathione did from what the other treatments did, and the 2011 abstract gives no cadmium figure for glutathione on its own.[12][13]

We read only the abstract of the 2011 report. It describes one 54-year-old person with long-term cadmium poisoning who was given, in 3-day phases, saline alone, the chelating drug calcium EDTA alone, calcium EDTA with IV glutathione, and glutathione alone.[13] According to the abstract, more cadmium left in the urine during the phase with both drugs than during the saline phase.[13] The abstract gives no urine cadmium figure for the phase with calcium EDTA alone or the phase with glutathione alone, and it does not say who funded the work.[13]

Two small controlled trials in people having platinum chemotherapy for cancer measured how platinum from the drug moved through the body when glutathione was given just before it.[14][15] In one, of 12 people given cisplatin (Leone 1992), glutathione was given by IV, and the amount of platinum passed in urine and the other measures did not differ significantly with or without it; the averages for urine platinum were higher with glutathione, and the authors said a larger study was planned.[14] In the other, of 27 people given oxaliplatin (Milla 2009), the abstract does not say by what route glutathione was given; most measures did not differ significantly, and the platinum level in blood plasma over time was lower with glutathione.[15] We read only the abstracts, which do not say who funded the trials. These results are about a chemotherapy drug in people with cancer, and they do not show that IV glutathione clears metals in other people.

The same searches returned older papers that we could not read, including four published from 1968 to 2003 in Japanese, German or Chinese that are about poisoning or about mercury or copper leaving the body, judging by their titles.[16][17][18][19] The databases hold no abstract for these four and we have not read them, so we cannot say what they tested or found.

One 1992 controlled trial from a university department in Florence, Italy, gave IV glutathione to 24 people in a 30-day alcohol detoxification program and compared them with 12 people given only the sedative chlordiazepoxide. It measured red blood cell glutathione, a liver enzyme in blood and a urine marker called glucaric acid. None of these directly measures a toxin or metal leaving the body, and the abstract, the only part we read, does not say who funded the work.[20]

Glutathione is one of the body's main antioxidants and works inside cells; that inside-the-cell role is not evidence that an IV infusion removes toxins from a person.

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection (checked September 27, 2026).

In searches of PubMed, Europe PMC and ClinicalTrials.gov on October 1, 2026, we found no study in people showing that IV glutathione slows aging, extends life or lowers a measure of biological age. One small trial registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT07475546, sponsored by a company that the registry classes as industry, 30 participants planned, aged 60 to 80, randomized and open label) gives glutathione as a skin patch, in one arm that combines it with several other treatments, and lists change in biological age among its secondary outcomes. The record gives April 2026 as the estimated completion date, and it had posted no results when we checked on October 1, 2026. It does not test IV glutathione.[21]

As of October 1, 2026, a ClinicalTrials.gov search (glutathione as an intervention, with death, survival, aging or lifespan words anywhere in the record) also returned registered trials in which glutathione, or the related compound oxidized glutathione, is given together with other drugs, and trials in which glutathione is added to a fluid used to perfuse a donor organ or to process donated blood. They include trials in people with cancer or liver disease and in people having a liver transplant; some list survival or deaths among their outcomes, some have posted results, and none of the records this search returned tests glutathione, given by IV on its own, for aging or lifespan.

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection, for any use, including anti-aging or longevity (checked September 27, 2026).

Other research: Parkinson's disease and chemotherapy

Parkinson's disease

In a small four-week placebo-controlled pilot trial of 21 people with Parkinson's disease whose symptoms were not fully controlled by their medication, IV glutathione did not significantly improve symptom scores compared with placebo.[22] The trial's own authors wrote that their preliminary results suggest "the possibility of a mild symptomatic effect, but this remains to be evaluated in a larger study."[22]

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection (checked September 27, 2026).

IV glutathione was well tolerated in that trial, with no safety concerns identified and no withdrawals for side effects in either group.[22]

In a separate trial of a glutathione nasal spray in 45 people with Parkinson's disease, the higher-dose group improved over three months, but so did the placebo group, and the researchers found the nasal spray was not better than placebo.[23] Glutathione given by IV and glutathione given as a nasal spray are different products tested in different trials, and a result for one is not evidence for the other.

Chemotherapy-related nerve damage

Small trials of people receiving cisplatin chemotherapy for cancer reported fewer nerve-damage symptoms when IV glutathione was also given, compared with placebo. A Cochrane systematic review of seven trials, including 387 people receiving platinum-based chemotherapy, judged the evidence for IV glutathione preventing nerve damage insufficient when measured with objective, quantitative nerve tests.[24] In a large trial of 185 people receiving paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy, 94 given IV glutathione and 91 given placebo, the researchers found no significant difference in nerve damage between the two groups and concluded that the results do not support using glutathione to prevent this kind of nerve damage.[25] The American Society of Clinical Oncology, the main US group of cancer doctors, says that based on the evidence it reviewed, no drug is recommended to prevent nerve damage from chemotherapy.[26] These chemotherapy results are about people being treated for cancer, not about healthy people at IV clinics.

Potential benefits

Evidence levels in this table follow our grading key: Established means consistent results from randomized trials or a systematic review of them, or that a guideline or expert body says something; Emerging means some controlled human evidence that falls short of that, such as small or short trials, mixed results or trials funded by a maker; Experimental means no controlled human evidence for the claim, only sources such as case reports, case series, or laboratory and animal studies; Evidence against means controlled trials tested the claim on its main result and did not find it; and "no support found" means the searches named in that row found no study that supports the claim.

In this table, Not published means the searches named in the same row found no published study for that cell.

Is IV glutathione FDA-approved?

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection. FDA's compounding lists (updated May 14, 2026 and March 21, 2025) treat glutathione as a substance that is not part of an approved drug.

Compounded glutathione products, including IV infusions and injections, are not FDA-approved. FDA states: 'Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved. This means that FDA does not verify the safety, effectiveness or quality of compounded drugs before they are marketed.' As of FDA's lists updated May 14, 2026 and March 21, 2025, glutathione is on FDA's lists of substances under evaluation for use in compounding by pharmacies and by outsourcing facilities, and these listings are not an FDA approval of any compounded product.

Glutathione is on FDA's list of substances still under evaluation for use in compounding by pharmacies (503A Category 1, as of May 14, 2026). This is not an FDA approval, and it is not a finding that glutathione is safe or effective.

Glutathione is on FDA's list of substances still under evaluation for use in compounding by outsourcing facilities (503B Category 1, as of March 21, 2025). This is not an FDA approval, and it is not a finding that glutathione is safe or effective.

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection, for any use, including skin lightening, anti-aging or longevity (checked September 27, 2026).

We could not confirm whether a prescription is required for glutathione given by IV or injection from FDA sources as of September 27, 2026.

Regulatory status checked September 27, 2026. Sources: www.fda.gov/…/download; www.fda.gov/…/download; www.fda.gov/…/download; www.fda.gov/…/fda-reminds-compounders-not-use-dietary-supplement-grade-glutathione-injectables; www.fda.gov/…/compounding-and-fda-questions-and-answers

What are the side effects and risks of IV glutathione?

Eight of the 25 women given IV glutathione injections in the 2016 controlled skin-lightening study stopped because of abnormal liver tests, and one of the 25 stopped after a severe allergic reaction.[1] In the same study, women given the injections also reported warmth during the injection, abdominal cramps, a sinking feeling in the chest, diarrhea, tingling, dizziness or vomiting; none of these were reported in the saline group.[1]

A published case report describes a 33-year-old woman who developed a severe skin reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome after an intravenous vitamin infusion that contained glutathione along with vitamin C and vitamin D; the report does not show that glutathione alone caused the reaction.[27] A separate published case report describes a woman who developed shock and a high fever after a high-dose intravenous glutathione-containing infusion marketed for skin lightening; the cause was not established, and the woman was also self-injecting tirzepatide, an unrelated injectable medicine, at the time.[28]

In a small trial, 8 adults with mild asthma who breathed in a glutathione mist had significant narrowing of their airways and reported cough or shortness of breath; a standard asthma inhaler used beforehand prevented this effect. This describes an inhaled product, not an IV infusion.[29]

Anyone with a medical condition, or taking other medicines, should ask a licensed clinician before trying IV glutathione.

In a notice titled 'FDA reminds compounders not to use dietary supplement grade glutathione for injectables' (dated August 27, 2026), FDA said it is aware of reports of 'at least 30 patients who experienced adverse events following the administration of intravenous (IV) glutathione alone or in combination with other ingredients.' FDA said the reported adverse events 'included fever, chills, pain, dizziness, signs of shock and sepsis-like symptoms, with some resulting in hospitalizations.' FDA said the glutathione the compounding pharmacies used 'was labeled as dietary supplement grade, which is not an appropriate ingredient to make injectable drugs.'

FDA notice

Talk to a licensed clinician about whether IV glutathione is appropriate for you.

If you have severe symptoms, call 911 or seek emergency care. Report side effects to FDA MedWatch.

Provider directory

Both links below open the IV therapy category of the provider directory.

In a notice titled 'FDA reminds compounders not to use dietary supplement grade glutathione for injectables' (dated August 27, 2026), FDA said it is aware of reports of 'at least 30 patients who experienced adverse events following the administration of intravenous (IV) glutathione alone or in combination with other ingredients.' FDA said the reported adverse events 'included fever, chills, pain, dizziness, signs of shock and sepsis-like symptoms, with some resulting in hospitalizations.' FDA said the glutathione the compounding pharmacies used 'was labeled as dietary supplement grade, which is not an appropriate ingredient to make injectable drugs.'

FDA notice

Compounded glutathione is not FDA-approved. See FDA's statement.

We did not find an FDA-approved glutathione drug product given by IV or injection (checked September 27, 2026).

You can connect with a licensed provider to ask about an evaluation.

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A licensed clinician decides whether treatment is appropriate. Treatment is not guaranteed.