Maintenance Dose

A maintenance dose is the dose level intended to sustain a therapeutic effect once the target plasma concentration has been reached — either via a loading phase or by running the maintenance dose long enough to accumulate to steady state.

In peptide research, the maintenance phase is typically the longest portion of a protocol. For semaglutide and tirzepatide, maintenance is reached after a multi-week titration; for sermorelin and ipamorelin, the maintenance dose is essentially what is run from day one, since their half-lives are short enough that steady-state is irrelevant.

The concept also applies after a cycle: some protocols run a low ‘maintenance’ dose between cycles to preserve receptor tone, while others insist on a complete washout to allow receptor sensitivity to fully restore.