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BPC-157 10 mg
Peptide Library · Profile
BPC-157 10 mg
A 15-amino-acid gastric peptide with one of the broadest preclinical literatures in this field and one of the thinnest human ones. Here is exactly where that line falls.
Molecular weight1,419.5Da, free base
Plasma half-life< 30 minIV, rat and dog
Published human RCTs0completed and reported
WADA statusS0prohibited at all times
The short version
Plain English first. Everything below this section is the same material with the sources, the numbers and the caveats attached.
What it is
A 15-amino-acid peptide found in stomach fluid, sold for tendon, gut and joint repair.
What has actually been measured
One of the broadest animal literatures in this whole field — hundreds of rodent studies on tendon, gut lining and blood vessels. That work is real and it is not nothing.
What has not been measured
People. There are zero completed and reported randomised human trials. Everything anyone says about what it does in a person is extrapolated from rats.
What most people get wrong
Two things. That a peptide the body already makes must therefore be safe to inject — that does not follow. And that it is fine in sport: it is prohibited at all times under WADA’s catch-all for unapproved substances.
What BPC-157 is
BPC-157 is a synthetic 15-amino-acid peptide corresponding to residues 1–15 of Body Protection Compound, a protein originally isolated from human gastric juice. It is not a growth factor and shares no sequence homology with one. It is best understood as a small, unusually stable cytoprotective peptide whose entire reputation rests on an exceptionally broad but narrowly sourced preclinical literature.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Sequence | GEPPPGKPADDAGLV |
| Length | 15 residues (pentadecapeptide) |
| Molecular formula | C62H98N16O22 |
| Molecular weight | ≈ 1,419.5 g/mol (free base) |
| CAS number | 137525-51-0 |
| Development codes | PL 14736 · PL-10 · PLD-116 · PCO-02 |
| Origin | Fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice |
| Notable property | Remains intact in human gastric juice for more than 24 hours |
Commercial material is supplied as the acetate or trifluoroacetate salt. Stated vial mass may refer to gross salt mass rather than net peptide — see reading a COA.
How it works
VEGFR2 activation, without raising VEGF
The best-characterised vascular mechanism is upregulation and activation of VEGFR2 (KDR). Hsieh and colleagues showed in a rat hind-limb ischaemia model and in human umbilical vein endothelial cells that BPC-157 increases VEGFR2 expression, drives its internalisation and phosphorylation, and activates the downstream VEGFR2–Akt–eNOS axis. Critically, VEGF-A itself was not increased — the peptide appears to sensitise the receptor rather than raise ligand supply.[1] This receptor-biased action is the usual explanation for why it does not produce the oedema and hypotension that limit exogenous VEGF — and it is also the basis of the unresolved tumour-angiogenesis question in the safety section below.
Bidirectional modulation of the nitric oxide system
BPC-157 counteracts the effects of NOS inhibition (L-NAME) and of NOS over-stimulation (L-arginine) — a homeostatic rather than a simply stimulatory profile. The endothelial mechanism was resolved in isolated rat aorta, where BPC-157 produced concentration-dependent vasodilation (28–48% relaxation at 10–100 µg/mL) abolished by L-NAME and by haemoglobin. Mechanistically it phosphorylated Src, caveolin-1 and eNOS within 30–60 minutes and reduced Cav-1/eNOS binding, releasing eNOS from its inhibitory caveolar tether.[2]
FAK–paxillin migration and growth hormone receptor upregulation
In tendon the mechanism is about cell motility rather than proliferation alone. BPC-157 accelerated tendon explant outgrowth and increased fibroblast spreading and migration dose-dependently, via activation of the FAK–paxillin pathway with F-actin reorganisation at focal adhesions.[3] Separately, at 0.1–0.5 µg/mL it upregulates growth hormone receptor mRNA and protein in tendon fibroblasts — roughly sevenfold by day 3 — and amplifies JAK2 phosphorylation on subsequent GH exposure.[4] The integrated model is that resident fibroblasts become both more migratory and more GH-responsive, which alongside VEGFR2-driven neovascularisation supports the collagen deposition reported across tendon, ligament, muscle and bone models.
Neurotransmitter and gut-barrier effects
Rodent work reports normalising, bidirectional modulation of dopaminergic signalling — countering both receptor blockade and over-stimulation — plus altered serotonin synthesis in specific brain regions, and restoration of intestinal epithelial barrier integrity. Sikiric's group frames these together as a brain–gut axis effect.[8]
A caveat that belongs with all of the above
The overwhelming majority of this preclinical work originates from a single research group in Zagreb. Independent replication is thin, and none of the neurotransmitter or gut–brain axis findings have been reproduced in humans.
Pharmacokinetics
One formal ADME study exists, in rats and dogs.[5]
| Parameter | Rat | Dog |
|---|---|---|
| Elimination t½ (IV) | 15.2 min | 5.27 min |
| Elimination t½ (IM) | 7.9–29.7 min | 20–29.3 min |
| Absolute bioavailability (IM) | 14–19% | 45–51% |
| Tmax (IM) | ≈ 3 min | 6.3–8.7 min |
| Doses studied | 20 / 100 / 500 µg/kg | 6 / 30 / 150 µg/kg |
Distribution is highest in kidney, liver and stomach, lowest in brain and fat. The peptide is rapidly hydrolysed to fragments and then free amino acids. Recovery was approximately 15.9% in urine and 9.1% in bile.
Two honest gaps
Subcutaneous bioavailability has never been measured in any species — the figures above are intramuscular, and subcutaneous is the dominant route in practice. And although gastric stability beyond 24 hours is well documented, absolute oral bioavailability has never been quantified. Any specific oral %F figure you find online is unsourced. There is also an unexplained PK/PD disconnect: effects in animal models persist far beyond a sub-30-minute plasma half-life.
What the evidence actually shows
This is the section most reference pages skip. A 2025 systematic review in HSS Journal screened 36 studies of BPC-157 in sports medicine and found 35 preclinical and 1 clinical, concluding there was no clinical safety data beyond a single retrospective series.[11]
| Study | Design | n | Route & amount | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT02637284 | Phase I, healthy volunteers | 42 planned | Oral 1, 3 or 6 mg single; 3 mg t.i.d. × 2 wk | Registered 2015. No results ever posted. |
| Ruenzi 2005 | Phase II RCT, ulcerative colitis | n/s | PL 14736 enema, dose not published | Conference abstract only; never published in full |
| Lee & Padgett 2021 | Retrospective case series, knee pain | 16 | Intra-articular 4 mg | 14/16 reported pain relief. Uncontrolled, unblinded, no placebo.[13] |
| Lee & Burgess 2025 | IV safety pilot | 2 | 10 mg then 20 mg IV over 1 h | No measurable biomarker change; tolerated.[14] |
There is no completed, published, peer-reviewed randomised controlled trial of BPC-157 in humans. Total human exposure across every published report is roughly 30 people.
The preclinical dosing that does exist
The canonical regimen used across dozens of rat studies is remarkably narrow: 10 µg/kg and 10 ng/kg once daily intraperitoneally, demonstrating effect across a thousand-fold range, plus 0.16 µg/mL/rat/day in drinking water. Toxicology found no toxic dose — rats at 20 mg/kg and dogs at 10 mg/kg showed no test-related adverse effects, with no genotoxicity and no embryo-fetal toxicity.[6]
Why we don't scale that to a human number
Straight allometric conversion of 10 µg/kg gives roughly 1.6 µg/kg human-equivalent — about 110 µg for a 70 kg adult. That is arithmetic, not guidance: no dose-finding trial exists, no regulatory body endorses the conversion, and the amounts commonly reported in practice are several times higher. We show you the calculation so you can see how little it establishes.
Reconstitution — 10 mg vial
Bacteriostatic water (0.9% benzyl alcohol) is the standard diluent for a vial drawn from repeatedly. U-100 insulin syringe: 100 units = 1 mL, so 1 unit = 0.01 mL.
| BAC water | Concentration | Per unit | 250 mcg | 500 mcg | 1,000 mcg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mL | 10 mg/mL | 100 mcg | 2.5 u | 5 u | 10 u |
| 2 mL ★ | 5 mg/mL | 50 mcg | 5 u | 10 u | 20 u |
| 3 mL | 3.33 mg/mL | 33.3 mcg | 7.5 u | 15 u | 30 u |
| 5 mL | 2 mg/mL | 20 mcg | 12.5 u | 25 u | 50 u |
★ 2 mL is the most practical choice for a 10 mg vial. At 50 mcg per unit, 250 mcg is exactly 5 units and 500 mcg is exactly 10 — whole numbers on the barrel, which removes a whole category of measurement error. Work any other volume in the calculator.
Reported protocol conventions
Commonly reported — not clinically established
Everything in this section comes from vendor literature, dosing-reference sites and community practice. None of it derives from a human dose-finding study. No regulator, professional body or peer-reviewed trial supports these figures. They are documented here because they are what people actually search for, not because they carry evidential weight. Nothing here is a direction to administer anything to any person.
| Convention | Commonly reported |
|---|---|
| Typical amount | 250–500 mcg per administration |
| Total daily range seen | ≈ 200–1,000 mcg/day |
| Frequency | Once or twice daily — split dosing is rationalised on the short half-life |
| Cycle length | 4–6 weeks typical; 8–12 weeks reported for slow-remodelling tissue |
| Between cycles | 2–4 weeks |
| Route | Subcutaneous predominates; oral used for gut-focused work at higher amounts |
| Vial duration | 10 mg ≈ 20 days at 500 mcg/day, ≈ 40 days at 250 mcg/day |
A worked reference schedule
Reconstituted at 2 mL (50 mcg per unit), the gradual pattern commonly described looks like this:
| Phase | Per administration | Units (U-100) | Volume | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | 250 mcg | 5 u | 0.05 mL | 250 mcg × 1 |
| Weeks 3–4 | 250 mcg | 5 u | 0.05 mL | 500 mcg (2 × 250) |
| Weeks 5–8 | 250–500 mcg | 5–10 u | 0.05–0.10 mL | 500–1,000 mcg |
Note the near-site question: community convention favours injecting subcutaneously close to the area of interest, on a local-concentration rationale. The animal literature reports systemic efficacy from remote administration — intraperitoneal, oral, even drinking water — so the preclinical evidence does not require local delivery, and no head-to-head comparison exists in humans.
Supplies for a cycle
| Item | 4 weeks | 6 weeks | 8 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| BPC-157 10 mg vials (at 500 mcg/day) | 1–2 | 2 | 3 |
| U-100 insulin syringes | 28 | 42 | 56 |
| Bacteriostatic water (10 mL) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Alcohol swabs | 56 | 84 | 112 |
Two swabs per administration — one for the vial stopper, one for the site. Note that a reconstituted vial is commonly considered good for about 28 days, so an 8-week schedule means reconstituting twice regardless of how much peptide is left.
Storage
| State | Temperature | Reported stability |
|---|---|---|
| Lyophilised | −20 °C, dark and dry | Years |
| Lyophilised | 2–8 °C | Months |
| Reconstituted, bacteriostatic water | 2–8 °C, shelf not door, protected from light | ≈ 28 days |
| Reconstituted, sterile water | 2–8 °C | 24–48 hours |
Do not freeze reconstituted solution — freeze–thaw cycling drives aggregation and loss of potency with no visible change. Freezing applies to the dry cake only.
These shelf-life figures are handling conventions, not stability data. No published forced-degradation or long-term stability study of reconstituted BPC-157 exists.
Reported benefits, side effects and open questions
Reported in animals
- Tendon, ligament, muscle and bone healing — improved biomechanical and functional outcomes in transected Achilles and quadriceps models
- Gastric and intestinal ulcer healing; protection against NSAID-, alcohol- and stress-induced injury
- Reversal of increased intestinal permeability; healing of anastomoses and fistulas
- Angiogenesis and improved perfusion in ischaemia models
- Neuroprotection in traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and demyelination models
- Blood-pressure modulation in both directions
Reported in humans
Only three things, all low-evidence: knee pain relief after intra-articular injection (retrospective, n=16, uncontrolled); interstitial cystitis symptom relief (pilot, n=12); and tolerability of single IV infusions up to 20 mg (n=2). Everything else attributed to BPC-157 in humans is extrapolation from rodents.
Safety findings
Formal preclinical toxicology showed no test-related effects on single-dose study in mice, rats, rabbits and dogs; repeated dosing well tolerated, with only a transient reversible creatinine decrease in dogs at higher amounts. No genotoxicity, no embryo-fetal toxicity.[6] Across the three small human pilots (combined n ≈ 30) no adverse events were reported — but none was blinded or placebo-controlled and none had long-term follow-up.
Reported side effects, by how often they come up
| Frequency | Reported effect | Source of the report |
|---|---|---|
| Commonly reported | Injection-site reaction — redness, transient stinging | Anecdotal, no denominator |
| Occasionally reported | Itching, headache, mild fatigue in the first week | Anecdotal, no denominator |
| Uncommonly reported | Anxiety, anhedonia, low mood | Anecdotal; notable because it is mechanistically plausible given the dopaminergic modulation described above |
| Observed in animal toxicology | Transient, reversible creatinine decrease in dogs at high repeated doses; mild local irritation | Xu et al. 2020[6] |
| Not observed | Genotoxicity · embryo-fetal toxicity · any toxic dose up to 20 mg/kg in rats and 10 mg/kg in dogs | Xu et al. 2020[6] |
The first three rows are uncontrolled self-reports circulating in community sources. They have no denominator, no comparison group and no causal attribution — we list them because omitting them would be worse, not because they are data.
Reported timeline
No controlled human study has measured time to effect, so there is nothing here we can cite. What community reports describe, for whatever that is worth, is a 2–4 week window before any change is noticed and 4–6 weeks as a typical full course. Treat that as folklore with a consistent shape, not as a finding.
The open questions, stated plainly
- Tumour angiogenesis. The core mechanism is pro-angiogenic via VEGFR2. Whether that supports vascularisation of an occult or existing tumour in humans is unresolved and untested. Recent reviews flag it explicitly.[12]
- Long-term safety. Zero human data beyond two weeks of continuous exposure.
- Immunogenicity. Specifically raised by FDA in its 2023 assessment.
- Product quality. Purity, actual peptide content versus salt mass, and endotoxin are unverified in unregulated material. Arguably the largest practical risk, and entirely independent of the molecule's pharmacology — which is why we publish an HPLC certificate for every lot.
- Single-group evidence base. Most of the preclinical work is from one laboratory.
Regulatory and anti-doping status
Anti-doping — prohibited
BPC-157 was added to the WADA Prohibited List effective 1 January 2022 under section S0, Non-Approved Substances — prohibited at all times, in and out of competition, with no practical therapeutic-use-exemption pathway.[17] It also appears on the U.S. Department of Defense prohibited dietary supplement ingredients list.
FDA — the status most reference pages have wrong
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 29 Sep 2023 | FDA placed BPC-157 in Category 2 of the interim §503A bulk drug substances list — "raise significant safety risks" — citing immunogenicity risk and peptide-related impurity complexity. |
| 15 Apr 2026 | HHS confirmed removal of twelve peptides including BPC-157 from Category 2, the original nominations having been withdrawn. |
| 23–24 Jul 2026 | The Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 8–6 with 1 abstention to recommend adding BPC-157 to the §503A Bulks List. |
Current position: BPC-157 is no longer in Category 2, but removal is not the same as Category 1 status. It awaits formal rulemaking before it could be lawfully compounded, and it remains an unapproved drug — not approved for any indication, not lawfully marketable as a dietary supplement, and not lawfully sold for human use. Any page stating flatly that FDA classifies BPC-157 as Category 2 is describing the 2023–2026 position, not the current one.
Frequently asked
Will BPC-157 cause a failed drug test?
For any athlete under the WADA Code, yes — it has been prohibited at all times since 1 January 2022 under S0. It is also banned for US military personnel. It does not appear on standard employment drug panels, which do not screen for peptides.
How long does it take to work?
No human efficacy data answers this. Community reports commonly describe 2–4 weeks and typical reported cycles run 4–6 weeks, but those are anecdotes, not trial endpoints. No controlled human study has ever measured time to effect.
Oral or injectable?
Unresolved. BPC-157 is unusually stable in gastric juice, which is why oral dosing was tested at all, and the only registered human Phase I trial used oral 1 mg tablets. But oral bioavailability has never been quantified. Subcutaneous is the more common convention and the better-characterised route — though even there, the published bioavailability figures are intramuscular, not subcutaneous.
Does it cause cancer?
Unknown, and honestly so. There is no evidence it initiates cancer and no carcinogenicity study has been done. The concern is different: because its central mechanism is VEGFR2-driven angiogenesis, it is biologically plausible that it could support vascularisation of an existing or occult tumour. Several 2025–2026 reviews flag this as unresolved.
Why 2 mL of bacteriostatic water rather than 1 or 5?
Because it makes the arithmetic land on whole numbers. At 2 mL a 10 mg vial gives 50 mcg per unit, so 250 mcg is 5 units and 500 mcg is 10 units. At 1 mL a 250 mcg draw is 2.5 units — small enough that a half-unit misread is a 20% error. Nothing about the peptide changes; only the readability of the measurement.
Is it legal to buy?
It is legally sold as a research chemical labelled not for human consumption. It is not an approved drug and cannot lawfully be sold as a supplement or for human use in Canada or the United States. Everything Sentient Biogenix supplies is for laboratory research use only.
References
Every citation below was verified to resolve at time of publication. Where a widely repeated claim has no primary source, we say so in the text rather than citing something that does not support it.
- Therapeutic potential of pro-angiogenic BPC157 is associated with VEGFR2 activation and up-regulation
Hsieh MJ et al. · Journal of Molecular Medicine · 2017;95(3):323–333 · View source - Modulatory effects of BPC 157 on vasomotor tone and the activation of Src–Caveolin-1–eNOS pathway
Hsieh MJ et al. · Scientific Reports · 2020;10:17078 · View source - The promoting effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on tendon healing involves tendon outgrowth, cell survival and cell migration
Chang CH et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2011 · PMID 21030672 · View source - Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 enhances the growth hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts
Chang CH et al. · Molecules · 2014;19(11):19066–19077 · View source - Pharmacokinetics, distribution, metabolism and excretion of body-protective compound 157 in rats and dogs
He L et al. · Frontiers in Pharmacology · 2022;13:1026182 · View source - Preclinical safety evaluation of body protective compound-157
Xu C et al. · Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology · 2020;114:104665 · PMID 32334036 · View source - Gastric pentadecapeptide body protection compound BPC 157 and its role in accelerating musculoskeletal soft tissue healing
Gwyer D, Wragg NM, Wilson SL · Cell and Tissue Research · 2019;377:153–159 · View source - Stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 may recover brain–gut axis and gut–brain axis function
Sikiric P et al. · Pharmaceuticals · 2023;16(5):676 · View source - BPC 157 and standard angiogenic growth factors
Seiwerth S et al. · Current Pharmaceutical Design · 2018;24(18):1972–1989 · PMID 29998800 · View source - Multifunctionality and possible medical application of the BPC 157 peptide — literature and patent review
Józwiak M et al. · Pharmaceuticals · 2025;18(2):185 · View source - Emerging use of BPC-157 in orthopaedic sports medicine: a systematic review
Vasireddi N et al. · HSS Journal · 2025;21(4):485–495 · PMID 40756949 · View source - Regeneration or risk? A narrative review of BPC-157 for musculoskeletal healing
McGuire FP et al. · Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine · 2025;18:611–619 · View source - Intra-articular injection of BPC 157 for multiple types of knee pain
Lee E, Padgett B · Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine · 2021;27(4):8–13 · PMID 34324435 · View source - Safety of intravenous infusion of BPC157 in humans: a pilot study
Lee E, Burgess K · Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine · 2025;31(5) · PMID 40131143 · View source - Phase I pilot study in healthy volunteers to assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of PCO-02
PharmaCotherapia d.o.o. · ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02637284 · View source - Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks
U.S. Food and Drug Administration · View source - BPC-157: experimental peptide creates risk for athletes
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency · View source
For laboratory research use only. Not for human or veterinary use. Nothing on this page is dosing guidance, and no figure here should be read as a recommendation.