BPC-157
Published research and evidence base
BPC-157 is a synthetic pentadecapeptide derived from a fragment of a protein found in gastric juice. The evidence base is overwhelmingly preclinical: several hundred rodent studies report accelerated healing of tendon, ligament, muscle and gastrointestinal tissue, with mechanisms attributed to angiogenesis, VEGFR2 signalling and nitric oxide system modulation. Human data are limited to a small number of uncontrolled pilot studies and retrospective case series from a single private clinic, plus one ex vivo study on surgically discarded human arterial tissue. No completed randomised controlled trial and no approved formulation exist, and 2025-2026 systematic reviews in orthopaedic journals explicitly characterise the human evidence as insufficient.
- Studies cited
- 15
- Published 2023+
- 8
- Newest paper
- 2026
- Last reviewed
- Aug 2026
Recurring themes in the literature
- tendon and ligament healing
- muscle transection and myotendinous junction repair
- angiogenesis and VEGFR2 signalling
- nitric oxide system modulation
- gut barrier and cytoprotection
- ischemia-reperfusion injury
- regulatory and anti-doping status
Compound identifiers
- CAS
- 137525-51-0
- PubChem
- 9941957
Recommended by an FDA advisory committee.
On 23–24 July 2026 the FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee considered BPC-157 for the 503A Bulks List and recommended its addition on a reported vote of 8–6 with one abstention. Heard on the first day of the meeting alongside KPV, TB-500 and MOTS-C, and recommended on a divided vote.
This is not an approval. The committee advises; it does not decide. The recommendation is not binding, the FDA has not completed the rulemaking that would formally change anything, and inclusion on the 503A Bulks List is not equivalent to FDA approval of a drug. The list also governs pharmacy compounding for patients, which is a separate activity from research-use-only supply.
What the July 2026 advisory vote actually did sets out the process, the other compounds heard, and the four things the vote is routinely misreported as meaning.
What BPC-157 is, chemically.
- Molecular formula
- C62H98N16O22
- Molecular weight
- 1419.5 g/mol
- CAS number
- 137525-51-0
- PubChem CID
- 9941957
These figures come from the PubChem record for this compound and describe the free base. Lyophilised peptide is normally supplied as an acetate or trifluoroacetate salt and carries residual water, so the mass of powder in a vial is not the same quantity as the molecular weight above would suggest. Chromatographic purity on a certificate of analysis does not resolve that difference either — how to read a certificate of analysis explains why.
15 published studies.
Ordered by strength of study design, then by recency. Every entry links to its source record so the finding can be checked against the paper rather than taken on our word.
- 01Systematic review2025
Emerging Use of BPC-157 in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine: A Systematic Review
Vasireddi N, et al. · HSS J · systematic review of the BPC-157 literature from an orthopaedic sports medicine perspective
The authors synthesised preclinical evidence for healing of fractures, tendon ruptures, ligament tears and muscle injuries, and noted that BPC-157 lacks FDA approval and is banned in professional sport despite increasing clinical and athlete use.
- 02Human clinical2025
Safety of Intravenous Infusion of BPC157 in Humans: A Pilot Study
Lee E, et al. · Altern Ther Health Med · uncontrolled open-label pilot; 2 adults, intravenous BPC-157 10 mg on day 1 and 20 mg on day 2 in 250 cc saline over 1 hour
Infusions of up to 20 mg produced no measurable changes in cardiac, liver, kidney, thyroid or blood glucose biomarkers and no reported side effects in the two participants. The authors stated that larger studies are needed to confirm safety.
- 03Human clinical2024
Effect of BPC-157 on Symptoms in Patients with Interstitial Cystitis: A Pilot Study
Lee E, et al. · Altern Ther Health Med · uncontrolled open-label pilot; 12 women aged 39-76 who had not responded to pentosan polysulfate, single cystoscopic injection of 10 mg BPC-157 around the inflamed bladder area
Ten of twelve patients reported complete resolution of symptoms on the Global Response Assessment questionnaire and the remaining two reported approximately 80 percent improvement, with no reported adverse events. The study had no control group and no blinding.
- 04Human clinical2021
Intra-Articular Injection of BPC 157 for Multiple Types of Knee Pain
Lee E, Padgett B · Altern Ther Health Med · retrospective single-clinic chart review 2019-2020; 17 patients receiving intra-articular BPC 157 alone or combined with thymosin beta-4, 16 reached by telephone follow-up
Patients self-rated pain before injection and the degree and duration of relief afterwards. No validated instruments for function, stiffness, quality of life or activities of daily living were used, and there was no control group.
- 05Animal in vivo2026
Effects of BPC-157 and TB-500 on Achilles tendon healing in rats: A histopathological and biomechanical study
Biçer O, et al. · Jt Dis Relat Surg · rat Achilles tendon transection and repair; 32 male Sprague-Dawley rats, 4 groups of 8 (control, BPC-157 10 ug/kg/day, TB-500 60 ug/kg/day, combination), intraperitoneal, 4 weeks
Both peptides were associated with improved histopathological scores and extracellular matrix organisation at four weeks, and the TB-500 group additionally showed a significantly higher maximum load to failure. Combined BPC-157 and TB-500 treatment did not confer additional benefit over either agent alone.
- 06Animal in vivo2026
Protective effects of BPC 157 in rats with experimentally induced lower extremity ischemia-reperfusion injury
Yildirim AK, et al. · Sci Rep · rat hind-limb ischemia-reperfusion by abdominal aortic clamping (45 min ischemia, 2 h reperfusion); 24 male Wistar albino rats in 4 groups of 6
BPC 157 administration was associated with reduced markers of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis in the reperfused limb tissue compared with untreated ischemia-reperfusion controls.
- 07Animal in vivo2025
Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 as Therapy After Surgical Detachment of the Quadriceps Muscle from Its Attachments for Muscle-to-Bone Reattachment in Rats
Matek D, et al. · Pharmaceutics · rat model of complete (rectus) and partial (vastus) quadriceps muscle detachment from bone; per-oral BPC 157 at 10 ug/kg and 10 ng/kg daily, assessed to day 28
Per-oral BPC 157 was reported to produce muscle-to-bone reattachment and restoration of function after both complete and partial quadriceps detachment, compared with non-healing in untreated animals.
- 08Animal in vivo2022
Pharmacokinetics, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of body-protective compound 157, a potential drug for treating various wounds, in rats and dogs
He L, et al. · Front Pharmacol · rats and dogs; single intravenous dose, single intramuscular doses at three ascending levels, and repeated intramuscular administration
The study characterised elimination half-life, tissue distribution, metabolism and excretion of BPC157 in two species, providing the pharmacokinetic groundwork the compound otherwise lacks.
- 09Animal in vivo2021
Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 as a Therapy for the Disable Myotendinous Junctions in Rats
Japjec M, et al. · Biomedicines · rat quadriceps tendon dissected from the quadriceps muscle, a myotendinous junction defect that does not heal spontaneously; BPC 157 10 ug/kg and 10 ng/kg intraperitoneally and per-orally
Treated animals showed improved macroscopic, microscopic, biomechanical and functional outcomes at the myotendinous junction, accompanied by changes in eNOS and COX-2 mRNA levels and in oxidative stress and nitric oxide levels.
- 10Animal in vivo2017
Therapeutic potential of pro-angiogenic BPC157 is associated with VEGFR2 activation and up-regulation
Hsieh MJ, et al. · J Mol Med (Berl) · chick chorioallantoic membrane assay, endothelial tube formation assay, and rat hind-limb ischemia with laser Doppler flow measurement
BPC 157 increased vessel density in vivo and in vitro and accelerated recovery of blood flow in ischemic rat hind limb. The pro-angiogenic effect was associated with VEGFR2 activation and upregulation.
- 11Animal in vivo2010
Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (PL 14736) improves ligament healing in the rat
Cerovecki T, et al. · J Orthop Res · rat medial collateral ligament transection followed 90 days, with intraperitoneal, per-oral (drinking water) and topical peptide administration given without a carrier
BPC 157 improved medial collateral ligament healing across all three routes of administration over 90 days after surgical transection.
- 12Animal in vivo2006
Effective therapy of transected quadriceps muscle in rat: Gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157
Staresinic M, et al. · J Orthop Res · complete transverse transection of rat quadriceps muscle 1.0 cm proximal to the patella, with systemic BPC 157 given without a carrier
Systemic BPC 157 induced healing of the completely transected quadriceps muscle and maintained that healing with functional restoration, whereas the untreated defect persisted. This is one of the foundational muscle-injury papers.
- 13In vitro2026
Endothelium-Dependent Nitric Oxide-Mediated Vasorelaxant Effects of BPC 157 in Human Internal Mammary Artery
Yildirim AK, et al. · J Clin Med · ex vivo human internal mammary artery rings from elective CABG surgery; n=12 segments, endothelium-intact and denuded, with and without L-NAME
BPC 157 produced a concentration-dependent reduction in phenylephrine-induced contraction, significantly greater in endothelium-intact rings. NOS inhibition with L-NAME attenuated the relaxation and largely abolished the endothelium-dependent advantage.
- 14In vitro2011
The promoting effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on tendon healing involves tendon outgrowth, cell survival, and cell migration
Chang CH, et al. · J Appl Physiol (1985) · rat tendon explant outgrowth cultures and isolated tendon fibroblasts cultured with or without BPC 157
BPC 157 significantly accelerated the outgrowth of tendon fibroblasts from explants and increased fibroblast survival and migration. This is one of the foundational mechanistic papers for the tendon-healing claim.
- 15Review2026
Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance
Mendias CL, et al. · Sports Med · narrative review covering AOD-9604, BPC-157, CJC-1295, FS-344, GHK-Cu, ipamorelin, MOTS-C, sermorelin, SS-31, tesamorelin, Tb4 and TB-500
The review reported that many unapproved peptides show favourable tissue repair and metabolic outcomes in animal models, but that rigorous human safety data are scarce. It also discussed the placebo effect and social media amplification as mediators of perceived peptide efficacy.
What this evidence does not establish.
There is no completed randomised, placebo-controlled human trial of BPC-157 for any indication, no established human dose, and no long-term human safety data; the only human reports are two uncontrolled pilot studies and one retrospective chart review, all from the same private clinic. Much of the preclinical corpus originates from a small number of closely affiliated research groups, which limits independent replication.
Common questions about the research.
- What is BPC-157?
BPC-157 is a synthetic 15-amino-acid peptide fragment derived from a protective protein found in human gastric juice. It is one of the most widely studied compounds in preclinical tissue-repair research.
- How does BPC-157 differ from TB-500?
Both appear in tissue-repair research, but they are unrelated molecules. BPC-157 is a gastric-juice-derived pentadecapeptide studied for tendon, ligament, and gut models; TB-500 is a synthetic fragment of thymosin beta-4 studied for actin regulation and cell migration. The two are frequently co-studied, which is why combined vials exist.
- How long does BPC-157 stay in the body?
The only published pharmacokinetic characterisation of BPC-157 is a 2022 study in rats and dogs, which measured elimination half-life, tissue distribution, metabolism and excretion after a single intravenous dose, single intramuscular doses at three ascending levels, and repeated intramuscular administration. No equivalent human pharmacokinetic study has been published. The human record consists of two uncontrolled pilot studies and one retrospective chart review, none of which characterised the peptide's disposition.
Available from our catalog
For research purposes only. Not for human consumption, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of any condition. Nothing on this page is medical advice, and no study summarised here should be read as a recommendation.