Peptides Archives - The Niche

Potentially highly-conflicted PCAC meets this week on pop peptides, but no waivers

July 21, 2026 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

So-called wellness peptides are even more in the spotlight this week as the pharmacy compounding advisory committee or PCAC launches a series of meetings to evaluate restoration of compounding of these unproven peptide drugs. This committee is supposed to take FDA staff guidance into consideration as it decides what to recommend to the agency. Typically […]

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RFK Jr. fills key ad com PCAC with regenerative clinic & peptide folks, may undercut FDA scientists

July 1, 2026 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 4 Comments

Recently, I predicted that RFK Jr. may stack the key pharmacy compounding committee, called PCAC, with fans of unproven peptides. Kennedy wants the unproven “pop peptides”, as I call them, to be unleashed. If the PCAC advises allowing pop peptide compounding, it gives Kennedy more leverage to overrule FDA scientists. You might recall there are

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The FDA & compounding pharmacy telehealth connections on pop peptides

June 10, 2026 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

FDA warnings, pop peptide, compounding marketing

One of the questions I get asked most often about pop peptides is why they are so popular. What puts the “pop” in pop peptides? Peptide mania After all, these peptides like Ipamorelin, BPC-157, and so on don’t have clinical trial data to support the uses for which they are being marketed. That makes them

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Landmark federal indictment for pop peptides alleged ‘scheme’ even as RFK Jr. may soon un-ban some

April 9, 2026 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

It’s been a whirlwind of news about pop peptides like BPC-157 and now one of the first indictments related to marketing of these unproven drugs at a clinic. While RFK Jr. may want to unleash previously banned peptides on the public, it hasn’t happened yet. Those still selling these unproven peptides anyway have had to

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RFK Jr. tells Joe Rogan he’s used peptides & will un-ban them soon: why it’s a terrible idea

March 12, 2026 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

RFK Jr. might be the biggest peptides fan of all. Or it could be the compounding pharmacy industry or Joe Rogan. For a few years, compounders were profiting from marketing the most popular of these unproven peptide drugs (what I call “pop peptides”). The FDA put a halt to that in 2023. The agency at

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GOP lawmakers ask RFK Jr. to make FDA unleash risky peptides like BPC-157

December 18, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 5 Comments

RFK Jr. posted last year about wanting to weaken FDA oversight of both stem cells and peptides. What we mean by peptides here is a class of unproven and non-FDA-approved drugs sold by wellness influencers. Compounding pharmacies have made such wellness peptides available in the past before the FDA rightly became more restrictive about their

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More red flags on peptides even as softening of FDA oversight could happen soon under RFK Jr.

November 12, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 7 Comments

Last year, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. claimed in a post that the FDA was suppressing things like peptides and stem cells. I started hearing about “peptides” earlier, about 2-3 years ago. Some were saying that specific peptides were even better than stem cells, which is a big red flag. The term “peptides” in this context

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RFK Jr. & claimed regenerative peptides like BPC-157

February 20, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 9 Comments

Peptides like BPC-157 and other related regenerative compounds have surged in popularity, but scientific evidence and regulatory oversight remain limited. This article examines the science and policy on BPC-157. Overall, there aren’t many data out there from strong clinical trials. Even so, RFK Jr. claimed that the FDA was suppressing useful peptides. He mentioned this

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