HCG vs HMG

HCG

Human chorionic gonadotropin — a placental hormone that mimics LH and tells the testes to keep making testosterone and sperm. The most clinically established HPG-axis tool in this catalogue.

Best for

Best for driving testosterone and, in women, as an ovulation trigger — HCG carries LH-like activity.

HMG

Human menopausal gonadotropin — extracted from postmenopausal urine and containing both LH and FSH activity. The FSH supply that HCG can't provide.

Best for

Best when spermatogenesis or follicle development is the goal; HMG adds FSH activity.

HCG

HCG is FDA-approved for male hypogonadism and ovulation induction, with decades of clinical use and a deep literature on dosing, fertility outcomes, and TRT-adjunct protocols. The 2013 review (Coviello et al. and others) consolidated the use case for HCG monotherapy and combined HCG+testosterone protocols. This is one of the few entries in this catalogue where the regulatory framework and the off-label community use largely overlap.

HMG

HMG is approved for assisted reproduction and for male infertility associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. The male-fertility use case is supported by a long literature base, including the 2009 review on HMG in male infertility (Liu et al.) and decades of WHO-sponsored work. Approved status reflects the fertility indication specifically — using HMG for testosterone optimisation or HPG-axis recovery outside fertility goals is off-label.