Peptide briefs

Sold alongside peptides as a fat-loss compound, though it is a small molecule, not a peptide. It blocks the enzyme NNMT and reduces obesity in mice. No human efficacy or safety data has been published.

A modified fragment of human growth hormone, built to trigger fat burning without growth hormone's other effects. Sold today for fat loss and joint repair; its pivotal obesity trial failed to establish meaningful weight loss and development was discontinued.

The most-searched peptide for tendon, ligament and gut healing. Consistent, striking results across many animal studies; no completed human trial yet.

A long-acting amylin analog from Novo Nordisk, tested mostly in combination with semaglutide as CagriSema. The combination produced over 20% weight loss in a 3,417-person Phase 3 trial; on its own, cagrilintide performed less well than semaglutide alone. It is investigational and not approved.

A growth-hormone-releasing hormone analog, usually stacked with ipamorelin. It raises growth hormone and IGF-1 durably in human study, though the muscle and anti-aging uses it is sold for have no human evidence. Clinical development was abandoned after a participant death.

A nine-amino-acid peptide isolated from rabbit blood in 1977 and named for what it was hoped to do. Human sleep studies exist but total fewer than 40 patients across four decades and contradict each other, and a 2006 review notes its gene, protein and receptor have never been isolated.

A four-amino-acid Russian peptide sold for longevity and telomere lengthening. It activates telomerase in cultured human cells and extends lifespan in mice; the human longevity data is small, non-randomized, and largely drawn from a related pineal extract rather than this peptide.

A copper-binding tripeptide with decades of skin science behind it. The topical form has real human data for wrinkles, skin firmness and hair growth; the injectable form biohackers use has no controlled human evidence and cannot be legally compounded.

A placental hormone, FDA-approved by prescription since long before the modern peptide scene, that triggers ovulation in fertility treatment and raises testosterone by acting on the testes. Its own FDA label states in capital letters that it does not work for obesity.

An engineered variant of IGF-1 designed to evade the binding proteins that normally restrain it. It is a laboratory reagent: we could find no human clinical study of it, and the animal record is mixed — it increased growth in rats but reduced it in pigs.

A pentapeptide that triggers short-term growth-hormone release, sold for muscle growth, fat loss, recovery and anti-aging. Its only human efficacy trials were for a gut condition, and they failed.

The hormone that switches on puberty — people who cannot respond to it never enter puberty at all. Real randomized trials at Imperial College have tested it as an IVF trigger and for low sexual desire in men, using intravenous infusion. Nothing about it is approved, and the version sold online is the shorter fragment the trials moved away from.

A three-amino-acid fragment of alpha-MSH with genuinely good anti-inflammatory data in mouse colitis — delivered orally, through a gut transporter. No human study of it exists, and the research it rests on works by a route almost nobody buying it uses.

A once-weekly injectable that activates both the GLP-1 and glucagon receptors, approved in China in 2025 for weight management and type 2 diabetes. Two published Phase 3 trials found 14% weight loss at 6 mg and 16.7% at 9 mg. It is not approved anywhere outside China.

An alpha-MSH analog used to tan skin and raise libido, sold gray-market as an injection or nasal spray. Small studies show it does both. It is unapproved and unregulated, and case reports link it to changing moles, melanoma and acute toxicity.

A peptide your own mitochondria make, which rises with exercise. Strong mouse data for metabolism and insulin sensitivity, plus human biomarker studies; efficacy trials in people are only now beginning.

An essential cellular coenzyme, sold directly or as the precursors NMN and NR to slow aging and raise energy. Supplements reliably raise NAD+ blood levels; human trials have mostly not shown the downstream health benefits.

A nine-amino-acid pituitary hormone that is FDA-approved, and genuinely essential, as an intravenous drug in labor and postpartum bleeding. As the nasal spray sold for bonding, trust and connection, it has failed most of the trials that tested it.

A three-amino-acid peptide bioregulator from a single Russian research group, sold for sleep and brain health. The evidence is almost entirely animal and cell studies — no human sleep trial exists.

A melanocortin receptor agonist that acts on the brain rather than blood flow. FDA-approved as Vyleesi for low sexual desire (HSDD) in premenopausal women, where two Phase 3 trials show a real but modest effect; its marketed use in men traces to early-stage trials that were discontinued.

An investigational Eli Lilly injectable that activates three gut and metabolic hormone receptors at once. It has produced the largest weight loss yet recorded in obesity trials, and is available only to clinical-trial participants.

A Russian anxiolytic peptide derived from the immune molecule tuftsin, prescribed in Russia for anxiety. The human trials are genuine but small, mostly Russian, and unreplicated to Western standards.

The FDA-approved GLP-1 behind Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, with large-trial evidence for major weight loss and reduced cardiovascular risk. That evidence covers the prescribed, regulated drug — not the compounded or 'research-grade' semaglutide sold online.

A Russian neuropeptide based on a fragment of the hormone ACTH, used clinically there for stroke recovery and cognitive disorders. It has real human data and a strong neuroprotective mechanism; the trials are mostly small, Russian, and often not randomized.

A GHRH analog that prompts the pituitary to make its own growth hormone. Once FDA-approved as Geref before being withdrawn for commercial rather than safety reasons, it is now compounded and sold off-label for anti-aging, where the human evidence is real but small.

A mitochondria-targeting peptide that binds cardiolipin in the cell's energy machinery. Newly FDA-approved as Forzinity for the ultra-rare Barth syndrome; its larger trials in more common conditions, including primary mitochondrial myopathy, largely failed.

An investigational Boehringer Ingelheim injectable that activates both the glucagon and GLP-1 receptors. A 387-person Phase 2 trial produced up to 14.9% weight loss over 46 weeks. Phase 3 is underway; it is not approved and not available outside trials.

A synthetic seven-amino-acid fragment sold for injury recovery. The substantial human research is on the full thymosin beta-4 protein, not on this fragment.

The FDA-approved GHRH analog Egrifta, shown in trials to shrink excess visceral abdominal fat — approved only for HIV-associated lipodystrophy. Its off-label use for general fat loss and anti-aging in healthy people is unstudied, and it raises blood sugar.

A 28-amino-acid immune-modulating peptide, approved as Zadaxin for hepatitis B in dozens of countries though not in the US. It has a large real clinical record; its biggest test, in sepsis, recently failed to reduce mortality.

The FDA-approved dual GIP/GLP-1 'twincretin' behind Mounjaro and Zepbound. It produces the largest weight loss of any approved obesity drug and beat semaglutide head-to-head. That evidence belongs to the prescribed drug, not the 'research-grade' version sold online.