The drug doesn’t make you lose fat from your skin or your arms and legs — it only targets the fat deep inside your belly, which is the kind that’s most dangerous.

The drug shrinks the fat around the torso and makes the waist smaller, but doesn’t change the fat on the arms, legs, or just under the skin — meaning it targets only the dangerous internal fat.

Tesamorelin only targets dangerous belly fat in HIV patients, leaving other fat stores like arms and legs unchanged.

A daily injection called tesamorelin helps HIV patients with a big belly lose nearly 11% of their dangerous internal belly fat in six months, while those getting a fake shot don’t lose any.

If HIV patients keep taking the injection for a full year, they lose even more belly fat inside their abdomen—about 18% total.

A hormone treatment called tesamorelin doesn't change the fat under the skin in people with HIV who have excess belly fat after six months of treatment.