Research
Peptide research, explained without the sales pitch
27 articles on what the evidence actually shows for compounded peptides, GLP-1s and the research-vial market — separate from any single provider's marketing.
All research articles
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Approved, off-label, unapproved, compounded
Four words describe four different legal states, and sales copy treats them as one. The most common swap is calling a compounded peptide an off-label prescription, which is a phrase that needs an approved drug to mean anything.
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BPC-157: what the evidence shows
BPC-157 is the most searched compound in this market and one of the least tested in people. The rodent literature is large and genuinely interesting. The human record is four registered studies with no results posted and a regulator that could not find a single study giving it by the routes it is sold in.
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CJC-1295 and ipamorelin, explained
The two compounds raise growth hormone through different receptors, and that part is real pharmacology. But the version of CJC-1295 most commonly sold is not the version that went through human trials, and the pairing itself has never been tested for the results it is sold on.
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Epitalon: what the evidence shows
Search Epitalon and you will find five controlled trials. Open them and every one studies a different substance: a pineal gland extract called Epithalamin, not the four-amino-acid synthetic sold under the Epitalon name. Split the two search terms and the trial count for Epitalon is zero.
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GHK-Cu: what it is and what is actually known
GHK-Cu has a large and genuinely interesting laboratory literature behind it. Almost none of it was produced by injecting the compound into people, which is the way it is now being sold.
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Glutathione injections: what is known
Glutathione is a real molecule doing real work inside every cell you have. None of that is evidence that injecting more of it lightens skin, clears toxins or raises energy, and the human trials that would settle those claims have not been done.
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How compounded peptides are actually made
Almost every peptide sold through telehealth comes from a compounding pharmacy rather than a drug manufacturer. There are two kinds of compounding pharmacy, they are held to different standards, and knowing which one made your vial starts with the provider naming it.
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How the FDA bulk substances lists work
A compounding pharmacy cannot use just any powder. Federal law limits it to substances that clear one of three gates, and the lists that decide which peptides qualify are still being built, one nomination at a time.
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How this site grades the evidence
Every compound here carries one of three words describing the published human evidence behind the way it is sold. The word belongs to the compound and never to the seller, and the table below is generated from the same map the boards read.
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How to read a certificate of analysis
A certificate of analysis is a test report on one batch, written by whoever made it. Most of the ones circulating in this market test purity and nothing else, which leaves out every measurement that matters for something you inject.
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How to read a peptide price
Two providers can advertise the same treatment at prices that look far apart and cost the same, or look identical and differ by half. The headline number is rarely the comparable one, and knowing which unit you are being quoted is most of the work.
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How to read a study cited on a peptide page
A citation under a product claim is doing one of two jobs: supporting it, or decorating it. Six checks separate them, and each one takes under a minute on the abstract alone.
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How to read an FDA warning letter
A warning letter is an allegation and an invitation to respond. FDA calls it informal and advisory, and says it is not final agency action, which is a long way from the verdict it is usually read as.
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KPV: what the evidence shows
KPV is sold as the working end of an anti-inflammatory hormone. The laboratory work FDA reviewed says it does not bind the receptors that hormone acts through. Nobody has published a study giving it to a person, and the products on sale are injectables and capsules while regulators were shown a topical cream.
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MOTS-c: what the evidence shows
MOTS-c is a peptide your mitochondria already make, and the human research on it is real. Almost all of that research measures how much of it your own body releases. Studies that inject it into people and report an outcome are a different thing, and until 2026 there were none.
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NAD+ injections, IV drips and oral precursors: what actually differs
The three delivery routes are not three strengths of the same product. The oral precursors are the ones with real human pharmacology behind them, and the intravenous drip that costs the most has the least published support for the results it is sold on.
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Peptide half-life and the dosing schedule
Half-life is the clock inside a dosing schedule. Across approved peptide drugs it runs from under two minutes to about a week, and that spread is mostly engineering rather than biology.
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Peptide storage and the cold chain
The storage numbers circulating for peptides come from chemical supplier data sheets, not from drug labels, and they differ enormously between compounds. Understanding what those temperatures protect against explains a shipping charge, a short use window, and part of what you are paying per milligram.
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PT-141: what the research actually covers
Bremelanotide is a real FDA-approved drug with randomized trial evidence behind one narrow indication in one population. Almost nothing sold as PT-141 is that product, for that indication, in that population.
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Research use only: what that label means
A vial labeled for research use only is being sold as a laboratory chemical, not as a medicine. That single sentence carries the whole difference, because everything a prescription supply chain does to guarantee what is in a vial has been left out.
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Semax: what the evidence shows
Semax is a registered medicine in Russia and a research chemical in the United States. That is not a contradiction, and it is the reason its evidence base is so hard to read from here. Most of the human record is in a language a US regulator could not formally consider.
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Sermorelin: what the evidence actually shows
Sermorelin genuinely moves the growth hormone axis, which is why it was once an approved diagnostic agent. But the trials that would show it changes how a healthy adult looks, sleeps, recovers or ages have not been done.
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TB-500 and thymosin beta-4 are not the same molecule
Sellers cite thymosin beta-4 trials on a TB-500 product page. Thymosin beta-4 is a protein of 43 amino acids that has been through phase 1 and phase 2 human trials. TB-500 is a seven-amino-acid fragment of it, and the trial evidence does not transfer.
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Tesamorelin: what the evidence covers
Tesamorelin is one of the few compounds in this market with an FDA-approved product behind it. The approval covers a narrow problem in a specific group of patients, and that is usually not the reason it is being offered.
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What a peptide telehealth intake actually asks
The intake form is the appointment. It decides whether you are eligible, which clinician sees you, what you will be charged and what you have agreed to, and most of it happens before anyone reads a word you wrote.
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What a registered clinical trial tells you
An NCT number on a product page proves that someone filled in a form. Registration records what a study intends to do, and it is written by the sponsor rather than checked by anyone.
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What "peptide therapy" actually means
Peptide therapy is a marketing category rather than a medical one. The word covers everything from insulin to a vial labeled not for human consumption, which is why the phrase tells you almost nothing about what you are being sold.