Peptide reference
BPC-157
Body Protection Compound 157 ·Body Protective Compound 157 ·PL 14736 ·Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 ·PCO-02
What cited sources report about BPC-157
BPC-157 is a synthetic 15-amino-acid fragment of a larger protein the original investigators isolated from human gastric juice and named “Body Protection Compound.” The peptide is currently under review by the FDA Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC), with a public meeting scheduled for July 23, 2026. As of the cited literature, BPC-157 has no FDA-approved indication and no marketing authorization in any major jurisdiction. The summaries below report what individual cited sources state; this page does not assert claims beyond what those sources report.
Józwiak et al. (2025) — Pharmaceuticals (Basel)
A 2025 literature and patent review by researchers at the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Medical Academy and the Medical University of Gdansk surveyed preclinical reports of BPC 157 across tissue-injury, inflammatory bowel disease, and CNS models. The authors noted that BPC 157 was temporarily included on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list in 2022 and, as of the review, is not currently listed as banned by WADA. They observed that no global regulator has approved the peptide for medical use.
However, it has not been approved for use in standard medicine by the FDA and other global regulatory authorities due to the absence of sufficient and comprehensive clinical studies confirming its health benefits in humans.
McGuire et al. (2025) — Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine
A scoping narrative review from the University of Utah Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation catalogued the preclinical evidence base and reported that only three pilot human studies of BPC-157 have been published — covering intraarticular knee pain, interstitial cystitis, and an intravenous safety/pharmacokinetics protocol. The authors observed that no adverse events were reported in those small studies, but concluded that rigorous large-scale trials are lacking and that BPC-157 should be regarded as investigational.
Only three pilot studies have examined BPC-157 in humans, including its use for intraarticular knee pain, interstitial cystitis, and intravenous safety/pharmacokinetics. No adverse effects were reported, but rigorous, large-scale trials are lacking.
Gwyer, Wragg, and Wilson (2019) — Cell and Tissue Research
A review from the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine and Loughborough University surveyed published BPC 157 literature relevant to tendon, ligament, and skeletal-muscle healing. The authors observed that the studies they identified reported consistent positive healing signals, but they noted that the overwhelming majority of work to date had been performed in small rodent models, that only a handful of research groups had published in-depth investigations, and that human efficacy remained unconfirmed.
However, to date, the majority of studies have been performed on small rodent models and the efficacy of BPC 157 is yet to be confirmed in humans.
PharmaCotherapia d.o.o. (2015) — ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02637284
A registered Phase I, randomized, placebo-controlled, quadruple-masked pilot study of orally administered PCO-02 (active ingredient BPC-157) in 42 healthy volunteers, sponsored by PharmaCotherapia d.o.o. and run at Hospital Ángeles Tijuana. The protocol describes a single-dose Phase 1a (1, 3, or 6 tablets of 1 mg) followed by a Phase 1b regimen of 3 mg three times daily for 14 days. The record’s status field was last updated in 2015 to “active, not recruiting”; no results have been posted on ClinicalTrials.gov as of this writing.
Phase I clinical trial in healthy volunteers to study safety and pharmacokinetics of BPC-157, a pentadecapeptide from gastric source.
PubChem CID 9941957 — National Center for Biotechnology Information
The PubChem compound record for BPC 157 lists molecular formula C62H98N16O22 and molecular weight 1419.5 g/mol, consistent with a 15-residue peptide of sequence Gly-Glu-Pro-Pro-Pro-Gly-Lys-Pro-Ala-Asp-Asp-Ala-Gly-Leu-Val. The record aggregates synonyms — including the development name PL 14736 — and links out to the supporting chemical and patent literature.
Coverage notes
Published BPC-157 literature is dominated by preclinical (rodent and in-vitro) studies, with the Sikiric laboratory at the University of Zagreb authoring a large fraction of the corpus — a concentration that recent independent reviewers (Gwyer 2019, McGuire 2025) have flagged. Independent human trial data is limited to the three pilot studies referenced by McGuire et al. (2025) and the unpublished Phase I record at NCT02637284. No FDA-approved indication exists and no FDA briefing document is publicly indexed under the FDA’s PCAC archive at the time this page was compiled; this page will be updated when the July 2026 PCAC briefing materials are released.