Let's dig in.

Studied since the 1970s. Small clinical trials of topical GHK-Cu report firmer skin, fewer fine lines, and faster wound healing. FDA currently allows licensed pharmacies to compound the topical form.

Most of those trials are small, short, and run by the companies selling it. Effects are modest, not dramatic. The injectable version has almost no human data.

In April 2026 FDA pulled injectable GHK-Cu from its compounding lists. There is no legal pathway to inject it today, whatever a clinic tells you. We only do topical.

Real but modest benefit. Topical GHK-Cu is a reasonable bet for skin.
Walk away from anyone offering to inject it.

The only treatment on this page that is FDA-approved. Two Phase 3 trials, about 1,200 women, showed real gains in desire and less distress about it. Taken only when you want it, not daily.

The gain is modest: roughly a third of a point on a six-point desire scale versus placebo. About 40% of users get nausea. Approved for premenopausal women only; men's data is a handful of small, old studies.

Nearly one in five trial participants quit because of side effects. Repeated use can darken patches of skin, sometimes permanently. It briefly raises blood pressure, so it's off the table if yours is uncontrolled.

Legitimate evidence here. Works for some, but does make many nauseous.
Oh, and it's only approved for women (yay!)

DSIP was isolated from sleeping rabbits in 1977 and a few small human trials in the 1980s found some people fell asleep faster. The idea of a natural sleep peptide is real science, not marketing.

Those trials were tiny and contradicted each other; a 2006 review called DSIP "a still unresolved riddle." Epitalon's human studies come almost entirely from one Russian lab and have never been replicated.

In July 2026 an FDA advisory panel voted 6–7 against DSIP, so it still can't be compounded. Epitalon passed 7–4, and since Oct 28 pharmacies may compound it under an interim HHS policy. That's permission, not proof. We won't sell a sleep treatment on this evidence.

A good idea with virtually no evidence behind it.
Epitalon is now legal to compound. That doesn't make it work.

Semax and Selank have been prescription drugs in Russia for decades, with published trials in stroke recovery and anxiety. MOTS-c made old mice run like young ones and improved their blood sugar.

Almost none of that research meets Western trial standards, and "focus" in healthy people has barely been tested. MOTS-c has one small human safety study; everything else is rodents.

FDA's own scientists recommended against Semax and MOTS-c, citing missing safety data. An advisory panel narrowly overruled them (8–5 and 7–5). Since Oct 28, 2026, pharmacies may compound both under an interim HHS policy. Selank wasn't on the list, so anyone selling it is still selling a gray-market product.

Promising in animals and in Russia (lucky mice). Semax and MOTS-c are now legal to compound; the human evidence hasn't caught up.

Hundreds of animal studies. In rats, BPC-157 heals stomach ulcers, gut lining, and tendons with striking consistency, and it comes from a protein found in human gastric juice.

A 2025 systematic review found exactly one human study: 12 people, no placebo, and it was about knees, not guts. KPV has never been tested in a human at all.

Human safety is, in the reviewers' words, "unknown." FDA's scientists opposed both; an advisory panel voted 8–6 to allow them anyway. Since Oct 28 pharmacies may compound BPC-157 and KPV under an interim HHS policy, with sourcing and side-effect reporting rules.

Rats love it, humans have barely been tested. Legal to compound as of Oct 28. The evidence is the same as it was on Oct 27.

Thymosin beta-4, the full protein TB-500 is cut from, has real human trials: eye drops for dry eye and corneal healing reached Phase 3, and a small Phase 2 trial tested it on slow-healing leg ulcers.

Those trials used the full protein, mostly as eye drops or gels, not the TB-500 fragment people inject. The fragment itself has almost no human data, and an FDA reviewer questioned what form patients actually receive.

FDA's scientists recommended against it; an advisory panel voted 8–6 to allow it anyway, and since Oct 28 pharmacies may compound it under an interim HHS policy. It's banned in tested sports (WADA), so competitive athletes should skip it.

The parent protein has real science. The thing sold as TB-500 mostly doesn't.
Legal to compound; proof still pending.