Compound monograph
BPC-157
Also known as: Body Protection Compound-157, PL 14736
§1 Definition
BPC-157 is a synthetic 15-amino-acid peptide derived from a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice. It is not FDA-approved for any use and has not been tested in a randomized human clinical trial — evidence for its proposed tissue-healing effects comes almost entirely from animal studies, with only one small retrospective human case series published.
Educational purposes only, not medical advice. Dosing figures below are documented ranges from cited literature, not a recommendation for any individual. Consult a qualified provider before administering anything.
§2 Evidence tier and regulatory status
Evidence tier
4 — Preclinical / research-use-only
No published human clinical trial data. Evidence, where it exists, is preclinical (animal or in vitro).
Not FDA-approved for any use; sold only as a research chemical, not for human consumption. FDA nominated BPC-157 to its list of bulk drug substances presenting significant safety risks for compounding (Category 2), citing insufficient safety data; that nomination was later withdrawn and BPC-157 was removed from the Category 2 list around April 2026. FDA's own staff recommended against adding BPC-157 to the 503A Positive Bulk Drug Substances list at the July 23-24, 2026 Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) meeting, citing a lack of human injectable safety/efficacy data; the committee itself voted 8-6 in favor of listing it anyway. No final rule has been issued as of this writing, and neither the Category 2 removal nor the committee vote constitutes FDA approval or confirms future compounding legality — the FDA still makes the final decision on whether to formally add it to the list.
§3 Documented dosing
No standardized human dosing range has been established in any published clinical study. Animal studies use a wide range of doses that do not translate to a human-equivalent range, and the one published human case series did not report a standardized dose in the sources reviewed — no range is given here rather than approximating one.
§4 Reconstitution math
No BPC-157-specific published reconstitution protocol exists. General lyophilized-peptide reconstitution practice is commonly applied by research users, but this is not backed by a compound-specific clinical or regulatory source.
- Concentration
- 5000 mcg/mL
- Draw volume
- 0.05 mL
- Syringe units
- 5.0
- Doses per vial
- 40
§5 What the research shows
| Trial | Phase | n | Duration | Endpoint | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myotendinous junction healing (rat model) | Preclinical (animal) | 48 | 42 days (assessed at 7, 14, 28, and 42 days; 6 rats per group per timepoint across control and treated groups) | Motor/walking function and histological healing of surgically disabled myotendinous junctions | BPC-157-treated rats showed improved functional recovery and better-preserved muscle/tendon junction morphology compared to controls across the studied timepoints. | [4] |
| Intra-articular knee pain (retrospective case series) | Retrospective human case series | 16 | 1-year chart review (2019-2020) | Patient-reported knee pain relief after intra-articular BPC-157 injection, alone or combined with thymosin beta-4 | 14 of 16 patients (87.5%) reported pain relief overall. In the subgroup of 12 patients who received BPC-157 alone, 11 (91.6%) reported significant improvement. No serious adverse events were reported. This is the only published human clinical data on BPC-157 identified in this research. | [5] |
| Systematic review of BPC-157 in orthopedic sports medicine | Systematic review (36 studies) | 36 | Literature published 1993-2024 | Comprehensive synthesis of published BPC-157 evidence for musculoskeletal applications | Of 36 identified studies, 35 were preclinical (animal or in vitro) and only 1 was a human clinical study (the retrospective case series above) — the review concluded the evidence base is almost entirely preclinical, with essentially no controlled human trial data. | [6] |
§6 Safety and reported adverse effects
No published adverse-effect data located.
No systematic human adverse-effect incidence data has been published for BPC-157. The one retrospective case series (n=16) reported no serious adverse events, but was not designed or powered to measure incidence rates — this reflects an absence of data, not a documented safety profile.
Contraindications
- No published data located — no human clinical trials have established contraindications for BPC-157.
Known interactions
- No published data located — no human clinical trials have established drug interactions for BPC-157.
§7 Storage and handling
- Lyophilized
- No published data located.
- Reconstituted
- No published data located.
§8 Sourcing considerations
- Since BPC-157 is not FDA-approved for any use and is sold only as a research chemical, verify the seller provides a Certificate of Analysis from an independent, named third-party lab — not just in-house testing.
- Check for batch-specific testing rather than a generic product-line certificate, since purity and identity can vary between batches.
- FDA has previously identified concerns about peptide-related impurities and API characterization for compounded BPC-157 — ask what identity/purity method was used (e.g. HPLC, mass spectrometry).
§9 FAQ
What is BPC-157?
A synthetic 15-amino-acid peptide derived from a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice, studied mostly in animals for tissue-healing effects. It is not FDA-approved and has no published human randomized controlled trials.
Is BPC-157 FDA approved?
No. It is sold only as a research chemical. FDA nominated it to a list of substances presenting significant safety risks for compounding, later withdrew that nomination (around April 2026). FDA's own staff then recommended against adding it to a different compounding list in July 2026, citing a lack of human safety data, but the advisory committee voted 8-6 in favor of listing it anyway. No final rule has been issued, and none of this constitutes FDA approval.
Does BPC-157 work?
Animal studies report tissue-healing effects (tendon, muscle, gut) across dozens of studies, but only one small retrospective human case series (n=16) has been published, with no randomized controlled human trials. Whether it works in humans, at what dose, and how safely is not established the way an FDA-approved drug's efficacy would be.
What is the BPC-157 dosage?
No standardized human dose has been established in any published clinical study — see the dosing note above rather than treating any specific number circulating online as documented.
Is BPC-157 safe?
No systematic human safety or adverse-effect data has been published. The single retrospective case series reported no serious adverse events in 16 patients, but wasn't designed to measure incidence rates.
What is BPC-157 used for in research?
Preclinical studies have examined tendon, muscle, ligament, and gut healing. See the trials table above for the specific studies located.
Is BPC-157 banned?
It is not FDA-approved, and the published systematic review notes it is prohibited in some professional sports contexts. Whether it is legal to purchase or possess in a given jurisdiction is a separate legal question this page does not resolve — verify current status directly with the relevant regulator.
How long does BPC-157 stay in your system?
In animal studies (rat, dog), the reported half-life is under 30 minutes across tested routes of administration. No human half-life has been published.
§10 Sources
- [1] Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding That May Present Significant Safety Risks (BPC-157 nomination). U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026. FDA. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/certain-bulk-drug-substances-use-compounding-may-present-significant-safety-risks
- [2] FDA Briefing Document — Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) Meeting. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026. FDA. https://www.fda.gov/media/193343/download
- [3] Pharmacokinetics, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion of Body-Protective Compound 157, a Potential Drug for Treating Various Wounds, in Rats and Dogs. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2022. Peer-reviewed. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9794587/
- [4] Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 as a Therapy for the Disable Myotendinous Junctions in Rats. Biomedicines, 2021. Peer-reviewed. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8615275/
- [5] Intra-Articular Injection of BPC 157 for Multiple Types of Knee Pain. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2021. Peer-reviewed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34324435/
- [6] Emerging Use of BPC-157 in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine: A Systematic Review. HSS Journal, 2025. Peer-reviewed. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12313605/