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Peptide Insider

Synthetic pentadecapeptide

BPC-157

Also known as Body Protection Compound 157 · PL 14736 · PL-10 · Pentadecapeptide BPC 157

Clinical ResearchPRECLINICALFDA approved: No

BPC-157 is a synthetic chain of fifteen amino acids corresponding to a partial sequence of body protection compound, a protein identified in human gastric juice. It has been studied for more than three decades, overwhelmingly in rodent models of tissue injury, where a single research group in Croatia has produced the large majority of the published literature. It reached early-phase human trials in the 2000s under the development code PL 14736 as a candidate therapy for inflammatory bowel disease, but that programme did not continue to registration and no detailed human efficacy results were published in the peer-reviewed literature. Today it circulates widely as a research chemical, and the gap between how confidently it is discussed online and what has actually been demonstrated in people is one of the widest in this field.

Written by Peptide Insider Editorial TeamPublished Last reviewed

The Insider Summary

What it is
A synthetic fifteen-amino-acid peptide based on a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice. It does not occur in nature in this form.
Why researchers are interested
Rodent studies from the 1990s onward report accelerated healing across an unusually broad range of injury models — gut, tendon, ligament, muscle, bone and nerve — with a consistently reported mechanism involving blood-vessel formation and nitric-oxide signalling.
Evidence
Preclinical. The animal literature is large but concentrated in a small number of affiliated research groups. Early-phase human trials were conducted for inflammatory bowel disease; detailed efficacy results were never published.
Regulatory status
Not approved by the FDA for any indication. FDA lists BPC-157 among substances nominated for compounding under section 503A whose nominations were subsequently withdrawn, so it is not available as a compounded preparation from bulk substance.
Bottom line
BPC-157 has a genuinely interesting preclinical record and almost no published human evidence. Both halves of that sentence matter. Anyone describing it as a proven healing agent is extrapolating from rats; anyone dismissing the preclinical work entirely is ignoring three decades of published animal data. The honest position is that the central question — whether any of this translates to humans — has not been answered.

Quick reference

Compound
Peptide fragment
Research areas
Tissue & Recovery ResearchGastrointestinal Research
Evidence level
PRECLINICAL
Research status
Clinical Research
FDA approved
No
Human clinical evidence
Limited
Sequence
Gly-Glu-Pro-Pro-Pro-Gly-Lys-Pro-Ala-Asp-Asp-Ala-Gly-Leu-Val
Last reviewed
17 September 2026

What is BPC-157?

BPC-157 is a laboratory-synthesised peptide of fifteen amino acids. Its sequence corresponds to a portion of "body protection compound", a larger protein first isolated from human gastric juice by researchers investigating why the stomach lining resists its own acid.

Two features explain why it attracted sustained attention. First, the parent protein sits in an environment — gastric juice — where most peptides degrade within minutes, and the synthetic fragment was reported to remain stable in human gastric juice for hours [1]. Second, the reported effects in animal models were not confined to the gut: the same compound was reported to accelerate healing in tendon, ligament, muscle, bone and nerve injury models.

That breadth is simultaneously the most interesting and the most suspicious thing about the compound. A single agent reported to accelerate healing in almost every tissue examined is either an unusually fundamental signalling molecule or an artefact of how the research was conducted. Distinguishing between those two possibilities requires independent replication, which the literature does not yet contain in sufficient quantity.

What is BPC-157 being studied for?

Gastrointestinal injury and inflammatory bowel disease. This is the original and most developed research line. Animal studies examined gastric ulceration, intestinal anastomosis healing, short bowel syndrome and colocutaneous fistula formation [2]. This work led to the only human development programme the compound has had: PL 14736, investigated as a candidate therapy for inflammatory bowel disease.

Tendon, ligament and muscle injury. A substantial body of rodent work reports accelerated recovery of transected or crushed tendon, ligament and muscle. This is the research most often cited in consumer discussion of the compound, and it is entirely preclinical.

Vascular and organ protection. Later papers extend the "cytoprotection" framing to models of organ injury involving compromised blood flow.

Researchers have investigated these areas; animal studies suggest effects on healing rate in the models used. Neither of those statements supports a conclusion about what happens in people, and this site will not present them as if they did.

How does BPC-157 work?

The mechanism most consistently reported in the preclinical literature involves promotion of angiogenesis — the formation of new blood vessels — with upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) signalling, and interaction with the nitric oxide system. Several papers also report effects on growth hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts and on the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems in the central nervous system. These are proposed mechanisms derived from animal and cell work, not established human pharmacology: no human pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic profile has been published in the peer-reviewed literature.

Research and clinical evidence

The table below grades the published record separately for each research area, because a compound can be well studied in one context and entirely unstudied in another. Grades follow the Peptide Insider evidence taxonomy.

Evidence level by research area
Research areaEvidence levelWhat the published record shows
Gastrointestinal injury and inflammatory bowel diseasePRECLINICALExtensive rodent work plus an early-phase human programme (PL 14736) whose efficacy results were not published in detail. A 2012 review by the principal research group described the compound as having reached clinical phase II.
Tendon, ligament and muscle repairPRECLINICALMultiple rodent injury models report accelerated functional and histological recovery. No controlled human trials have been published.
Neuroprotection and central nervous system effectsPRECLINICALAnimal work reports effects on dopaminergic and serotonergic systems and on outcomes in CNS injury models. Early-stage and largely single-group.

Human clinical studies

Studies conducted in people. These carry the most weight, and their absence is itself a finding.

PL 14736 (BPC 157) in inflammatory bowel disease — early-phase clinical programme[1]

2012
Design
Described by the principal investigators as having reached clinical phase II. Trial-level design details and efficacy outcomes were not published in the peer-reviewed literature.
Population
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease
Subjects
Not published

FindingsThe research group reported an absence of toxicity and no side effects in trials, and characterised the compound as having reached phase II for inflammatory bowel disease. No efficacy data from these trials are available in the published literature.

LimitationsThis is the single most important limitation on the page: safety statements and phase attainment come from the developers, not from an independent published trial report. Without design, endpoints, sample size or results, the programme cannot be evaluated, and the absence of publication after development ceased is itself informative.

Animal studies

Findings in animal models. Historically, most results at this stage do not reproduce in humans.

Colocutaneous fistula healing in rats and the role of the nitric oxide system[2]

2008
Design
Controlled rodent fistula model with nitric-oxide pathway manipulation
Population
Rats

FindingsReported closure of colocutaneous fistulas and improved healing relative to controls, with effects modified by L-NAME and L-arginine, supporting a nitric-oxide-mediated mechanism.

LimitationsRodent model; conducted by the same research group that has produced most of the BPC-157 literature. Fistula healing in rats does not predict outcomes in human disease.

FDA and regulatory status

BPC-157 is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for any use. It is not an approved drug, and it is not a dietary ingredient lawfully marketed in supplements.

FDA maintains a public list of bulk drug substances nominated for use in compounding under section 503A of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, sorted into categories. As of the agency's most recent update to that page, BPC-157 appears among substances whose nominations were withdrawn [3]. The practical effect is that BPC-157 is not available as a compounded preparation made from bulk substance under 503A.

Material sold online is generally labelled "for research use only". That label is a statement about how the seller intends the product to be used; it does not make the compound approved, does not establish that it is safe, and does not change what may lawfully be marketed for human use.

Safety and known risks

Risks are separated into what is documented, what is plausible but unestablished, and what has not been studied. The third column is usually the longest one for an unapproved compound, and it is not a reassurance.

Known risks

Documented in regulatory labelling or published trial safety data.

None identified in the sources reviewed.

Potential risks

Plausible on mechanism or drug-class grounds, but not established for this compound.

  • Angiogenesis — new blood vessel formation — is the mechanism most consistently reported for this compound. Agents that promote it are routinely evaluated for whether they could also support the blood supply of existing tumours. This question has not been resolved for BPC-157.
  • Material sold as a research chemical is not manufactured to pharmaceutical standards. Identity, purity, sterility and endotoxin content are not guaranteed, and contamination is a documented problem across the grey research-chemical market generally.

Unknown or insufficiently studied

Questions the published record does not currently answer.

  • No published human pharmacokinetic data: absorption, distribution, metabolism, half-life and elimination in people are not characterised in the literature.
  • No published long-term human safety data of any kind.
  • No published data on interactions with medicines.
  • Effects in pregnancy, in people with cancer, and in people with cardiovascular disease are entirely unstudied.

Frequently asked questions

Is BPC-157 FDA approved?
No. BPC-157 is not approved by the FDA for any indication. It is also not available as a compounded preparation made from bulk substance under section 503A — FDA lists it among substances whose nominations for that list were withdrawn.[3]
Have there been human trials of BPC-157?
Early-phase human trials were conducted in the 2000s under the development code PL 14736 for inflammatory bowel disease, and the principal research group described the compound as having reached phase II. Detailed design and efficacy results from those trials were never published in the peer-reviewed literature, and the programme did not continue to registration. That means there is no published human efficacy evidence to evaluate.[1]
Why is so much of the BPC-157 research in rats?
Because that is where the programme stopped. Animal injury models are the normal first step in evaluating a candidate compound, and BPC-157 has been studied in many of them. What did not follow was the second step: adequately powered, independently conducted human trials. A large animal literature is not a substitute for a small human one.
Is BPC-157 banned in sport?
Athletes subject to anti-doping rules should check the current World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List directly rather than relying on any third-party summary, including this one — the list is revised annually and enforcement depends on the governing body involved.

Continue reading

Comparison

BPC-157 vs TB-500

Two research compounds discussed interchangeably for tissue repair. Their mechanisms, their evidence bases and their regulatory positions are not the same.

Peptide Science

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Regulation

What Does “Research Use Only” Mean?

The phrase appears on nearly every research peptide sold online. It is a statement by the seller about intended use — not a regulatory designation, and not a safety assessment.

Regulation

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References

Peptide Insider cites primary sources wherever they exist — regulatory documents, trial registrations and peer-reviewed literature — in preference to secondary summaries.

  1. 1.
    Sikiric P, Seiwerth S, Rucman R, et al.. Focus on Ulcerative Colitis: Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 2012;19(1):126–132.
    Peer-reviewedDOI: 10.2174/092986712803414015PMID: 22300085

    Review by the principal research group; the source for the statement that the compound reached clinical phase II for inflammatory bowel disease.

  2. 2.
    Klicek R, Sever M, Radic B, et al.. Pentadecapeptide BPC 157, in clinical trials as a therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (PL14736), is effective in the healing of colocutaneous fistulas in rats: role of the nitric oxide-system. Journal of Pharmacological Sciences, 2008;108(1):7–17.
    Peer-reviewedDOI: 10.1254/jphs.FP00721
  3. 3.
    U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding That May Present Significant Safety Risks. FDA, 2026;Page last updated 22 April 2026.
    Regulatory

    BPC-157 appears among substances whose 503A nominations were withdrawn.