Peptides/Recovery and injury
BPC-157
Also sold as Body Protection Compound 157, Pentadecapeptide BPC 157
The most talked-about healing peptide online. Thirty years of promising rat studies, and not one completed human trial to show for it.
At a glance
What people use it for
- Tendon, ligament and muscle injuries that will not settle
- Gut problems and stomach irritation from painkillers
- Faster recovery between hard training sessions
How it is taken
Sold as a powder for injection near the injury site, and as capsules that almost certainly do not survive the stomach.
Evidence
No human trials
Good to know
- No completed human efficacy trial exists, so unknown effects are genuinely unknown
- Banned in sport under the World Anti-Doping Agency's non-approved substances category
- US regulators placed it in the category of substances raising significant safety concerns
- Unregulated supply means the vial may not contain what the label claims
BPC-157 is a chain of fifteen amino acids based on a fragment of a protein found in human stomach fluid. If you have heard about peptides from a gym, a podcast or a physio, this is probably the one you heard about.
What people take it for
Injuries that have stopped improving. Tendons and ligaments especially, because those heal slowly and frustratingly, and conventional medicine often has little to offer beyond rest. People also take it for gut irritation, and to shorten recovery between heavy training weeks.
The stories people tell about it are genuinely enthusiastic, and that is worth taking seriously.
What the evidence shows
In rats, quite a lot. Faster healing of tendon, muscle and gut tissue, protection against stomach damage from anti-inflammatories, and effects on new blood vessel growth. The proposed mechanism centres on angiogenesis.
In humans, effectively nothing. There is an old phase 1 safety study and some unfinished work on inflammatory bowel disease. Searches for a completed, published, controlled trial with efficacy results come back close to empty.
There is also a structural catch worth knowing. Most of that rat literature comes from a single research group, so a hundred papers represents far less independent confirmation than the number suggests.
What to know before
The legal position surprises people. In 2023 the US Food and Drug Administration placed BPC-157 in the category of bulk substances raising significant safety risks, which stopped compounding pharmacies using it. It is not approved as a medicine anywhere.
Anyone drug-tested in sport should treat it as a positive result waiting to happen.
Last reviewed .