Experimental peptides have become darlings among influencers, chiropractors, and doctors focused on longevity, antiaging, or “body optimization,” even though the FDA hasn’t approved them for safety or effectiveness. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other leaders of the Make America Healthy Again movement have pushed to make unproven peptides more accessible — and they’ve gained traction.
On Oct. 14, a temporary “access policy” appeared on a White House docket, proposing to allow licensed pharmacies to make and sell certain unapproved peptides to people. Scientists at the FDA had advised against the measure at a meeting in July, warning that the drugs hadn’t been adequately vetted in clinical trials.
A panel that advises the FDA disagreed, however, voting to loosen restrictions. Many of the panel members are new appointees with financial stakes in the peptide industry. In an email, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard said that every committee member satisfies the FDA’s ethics requirements.
“I voted ‘yes’ for patient safety, the greater good, and medical freedom,” Haleem Mohammed, one of the new committee members, said at the FDA meeting. He’s the chief medical officer of a men’s clinic that sells peptides, Gameday Men’s Health.
To make good decisions, consumers need to rely on accurate information, but much of the hype around peptides is misleading. KFF Health News flags four misleading phrases commonly used by those promoting peptides — and one truth.
Red Flag: Peptides aren’t drugs.
Gary Brecka, a co-chair of the MAHA Action committee, says peptides aren’t drugs in this episode of his podcast. He talks about using them to “help regulate cortisol, improve circulation, all kinds of things.” When peptides are used to treat, prevent, or cure conditions, or to affect the body’s function, they are, by definition, drugs.
“Peptide” is a general term for substances that are smaller than proteins but made of the same building blocks. Humans make many peptides, including insulin. Insulin is a drug when people inject it to regulate blood sugar.
“Most of the drugs we have had some antecedent in nature,” said Jacob Sherkow, a professor of law specializing in biotechnology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Heroin is natural. No one in their right mind would call it not a drug.”
Brecka did not respond to requests for comment, but Chris Woodward, a public relations representative for him, said in an email that the health issues discussed on Brecka’s podcast do not constitute medical advice.
Red Flag: Peptides are safe because they’re natural.
Peptide promoters have suggested that peptides are safe because they’re natural. This clip of Brecka’s discussion with Brigham Buhler, a co-author of The Peptide Revolution and owner of a compounding pharmacy that sells peptides, is an example. Some influencers go further, saying that peptides are safe because they’re made by the human body. Buhler did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s murky territory. One of the most popular experimental peptides, BPC-157, was developed by Croatian scientists who isolated what they called “body protective compound” from gastric juices in the stomach lining. However, researchers have been unable to find a trace of BPC in the human genome, meaning it’s not made by humans, said Katrin Svensson, a peptide scientist at Stanford University. Researchers in Taiwan suggest the peptide is produced by stomach microbes, according to Undark magazine.
Even if BPC-157 and other peptides exist in nature, Svensson said, “natural things can be toxic.” People have died from taking too much insulin, for example. And drugs considered safe can still make people feel ill. To learn about safety, and whether the benefits of a drug offset the side effects, researchers conduct placebo-controlled trials. These reveal problems that might not be obvious in the short term, such as liver damage, as well as underlying conditions that could turn minor issues into something serious.
The FDA is considering lowering restrictions on BPC-157 and five other experimental peptides that have not undergone high-quality clinical trials and are not FDA-approved. “I am excited about peptides too,” said Svensson, whose lab studies several peptides that she hopes to develop into drugs. “But,” she added, “you need to show they’re not harmful.”
Red Flag: These peptides treat illnesses and heal injuries.
Kris Wusterhausen, one of the new appointees to the FDA advisory panel, has said that the experimental peptide BPC-157 “can reduce [acid] reflux disease” and treat “neurologic disorders.” He’s the founder of an antiaging company that sells the peptide and advertises “clinically guided peptide treatments.” He did not respond to requests for comment.
Such claims are common among peptide promoters who say that various experimental peptides treat muscle injuries, covid, inflammatory bowel disease, and more. But vanishingly few clinical trials have been conducted.
A summary of a small clinical trial testing BPC-157 as a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease was published in 2005, but it lacked critical details about how the study was conducted. FDA scientists who reviewed the summary called it “inadequate.”
Another small study concluded that BPC-157 relieved knee pain for 14 of the 16 patients involved, but it lacked a control group, meaning the participants might have felt better because of other factors, or their pain simply resolved over time.
In a 2025 review of research on BPC-157 as a treatment for musculoskeletal injuries, researchers warned that it should be “approached with caution” because of a lack of evidence. Flynn McGuire, a physical rehabilitation doctor at the University of Utah and an author of the review, said anecdotes about people having miraculous recoveries are even less reliable.
He has told patients he won’t prescribe BPC-157 until quality studies are conducted. “People want new things quickly,” he said, “but medicine and science just don’t work fast.”
Peptide enthusiasts also tout laboratory studies, such as a particular peptide stimulating blood vessel growth. Such research is critical, but it doesn’t speak to safety, efficacy, or off-target effects in people, like fueling cancerous growths. Human biology is complicated, which is why most substances that show promise in early experiments fail in clinical trials.
Red Flag: Peptides can’t be patented.
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