# NAD IV Therapy: What the Research Shows About Infused NAD+ > NAD IV therapy mapped from the research: infused NAD+ is a compounded, non-FDA-approved wellness therapy with the weakest controlled evidence, rapid plasma clearance, and a Class I recall on record. The infusion route as the published literature describes it — compounded, not FDA-approved, rapidly cleared, and thinly studied. ## The short version NAD IV therapy is the most heavily marketed and least proven corner of this entire subject. An NAD infusion delivers NAD+ (the cell's fuel-handling coenzyme) directly into a vein in a wellness setting. It is compounded — mixed to order rather than manufactured as an FDA-approved drug — and the controlled evidence behind it is the thinnest of any route. Two facts anchor the honest picture: infused NAD+ is cleared from the blood within about two hours, and a compounded NAD+ injection has been recalled by the FDA for contamination. This page maps what studies show; it is not a clinic, not a prescription, and nothing here is for sale. ## What IV NAD therapy is — and is not IV NAD therapy is an intravenous infusion of NAD+ used in wellness and clinical-adjacent settings, with reported protocols of roughly 250-1000 mg per session delivered over several hours. What it is *not* is an FDA-approved treatment. Injectable and intravenous NAD+ is compounded — prepared by a pharmacy rather than manufactured and approved as a drug — and it has no approved indication. The 'prescribed' framing that surrounds this category in marketing does not correspond to an approved NAD+ medicine or a settled prescribing pathway; this page treats the route strictly as published research context. The strongest human NAD+ evidence remains the oral-precursor trials covered under [what the human trials found](/research), not the infusion route. ## Why infused NAD+ clears so fast The pharmacokinetics are the most important thing to understand about IV NAD+, because they constrain everything else. A pilot pharmacokinetic study found that infused NAD+ is rapidly cleared from plasma, with near-complete removal within roughly the first two hours of infusion. Mechanistically, extracellular NAD is not simply absorbed whole: an in vitro study of human cells showed surface enzymes degrade extracellular NAD to nicotinamide, NMN and purine fragments, with adenosine the principal product actually taken up by cells and converted to intracellular ATP [12]. In other words, much of what is infused is broken down outside the cell before it can act as NAD+ — which is part of why the route is biologically uncertain, not just clinically understudied. ## The evidence base — and the recall on the record Controlled evidence for IV NAD+ is minimal. The route rests largely on pilot and retrospective data rather than randomized trials, which is why reviews that examined NAD+ supplementation broadly concluded human efficacy for hard clinical endpoints remains preliminary even for the better-studied oral precursors [7][13]. On top of thin efficacy data sits a concrete safety signal: the FDA has issued a Class I recall — its most serious category — of a compounded NAD+ injection over elevated bacterial endotoxin. Infusion-related effects such as flushing, nausea and chest or abdominal discomfort can also occur if an infusion is run too fast. Taken together, the published record describes IV NAD+ as an unapproved compounded therapy with documented quality risks and weak efficacy data — the [NAD+ safety and side effects](/nad-safety) page covers the broader tolerability terrain. ## What is an NAD injection? An NAD injection or IV is a compounded (not FDA-approved) infusion of NAD+ used in wellness settings, with reported protocols around 250-1000 mg per session. Controlled evidence is limited; infused NAD+ is rapidly cleared from plasma, and a compounded NAD+ injectable has been subject to an FDA Class I endotoxin recall. ## Does NAD IV actually work? For the outcomes people hope for, controlled evidence is thin: IV NAD+ rests on minimal randomized data and infused NAD+ clears rapidly from plasma. The most rigorous human evidence is for oral precursors raising blood NAD+, with mixed functional results [7]. This is a literature summary, not an endorsement of IV therapy. ## Is an NAD+ shot worth it? The research cannot answer 'worth it'. IV and injectable NAD+ have the weakest controlled evidence of any route, mostly pilot or retrospective data, and reviews conclude human efficacy for clinical endpoints remains preliminary even for the better-studied oral precursors [13]. We summarize what studies measured, not whether to buy anything. ## When should you inject NAD+? The literature does not establish optimal timing for injectable NAD+; pharmacokinetic work shows infused NAD+ is nearly fully cleared from plasma within roughly two hours. No human dosing or timing instruction is given here — this is a research digest, and injectable NAD+ is a compounded, unapproved therapy. --- A dusk-drawn atlas of the NAD+ literature — the coenzyme charted apart from the NMN and NR precursors that rebuild it, the oral trials kept off the rapidly-cleared IV route, and the contested NMN status marked at the frontier; no clinic surveys behind this map and nothing here is dosed, compounded, prescribed, or sold.