No vials for sale  ·  Just the research  ·  Solana Beach, California
Sunset over the Pacific at Solana Beach
Field guide · 20 posts

Most peptides have almost no human data

What each compound actually is, what the research found, and the part the product page leaves out.

Start reading Free, no signup Updated monthly

Latest posts

20 posts
Metabolic & weight Extensive semaglutide The most thoroughly studied peptide in consumer circulation, and the one where the gap between the trial dose and the internet dose is widest. Read → Metabolic & weight Extensive tirzepatide Adds a second incretin receptor to the same basic idea, and the extra pathway shows up clearly in the trial results. Read → Metabolic & weight Moderate retatrutide The most talked-about unapproved peptide in the world, on the strength of a mid-stage trial and very little else. Read → Growth hormone pathway Substantial tesamorelin The best-evidenced compound in the growth hormone category, approved for a population almost nobody buying it belongs to. Read → Growth hormone pathway Preclinical ipamorelin A clean-looking molecule on paper that pharmaceutical development quietly abandoned, now one of the most-sold peptides on the internet. Read → Growth hormone pathway Preclinical cjc-1295 Two different molecules share this name, which is the first thing to understand and the thing most vendors leave out. Read → Skin & cosmetic Moderate ghk-cu The one peptide with respectable human data behind it — all of which was generated by putting it on skin, not into it. Read → Skin & cosmetic Moderate matrixyl A workhorse cosmetic peptide that does something modest and measurable, which in this field counts as a strong record. Read → Skin & cosmetic Limited argireline Marketed as topical botulinum toxin, which is a comparison the underlying pharmacology does not really support. Read → Repair & recovery Preclinical bpc-157 Fifteen years of striking rodent results and not one completed published human trial. Read → Repair & recovery Preclinical tb-500 Sold as though it were thymosin beta-4. Read → Repair & recovery Preclinical kpv A three-amino-acid fragment with a coherent anti-inflammatory rationale and almost no human research to show for it. Read → Longevity & frontier Preclinical epitalon Telomerase claims resting almost entirely on one research lineage that nobody else has managed to replicate. Read → Longevity & frontier Preclinical mots-c Genuinely novel biology — a peptide encoded in mitochondrial DNA — attached to claims that run far ahead of it. Read → Longevity & frontier Preclinical melanotan ii The compound in this catalogue with the clearest record of causing harm, and it is not close. Read → Guides Guide reading a certificate of analysis Purity, identity and quantity are three separate tests. 6 minRead → Guides Guide “research use only” is a category, not a grade Three words doing an enormous amount of legal work and none at all of the quality work most buyers assume. 5 minRead → Guides Guide what fda category 2 actually means In 2023 a batch of the most popular peptides landed on a list most buyers have never heard of. 5 minRead → Guides Guide lyophilised powder doesn't last forever Freeze-dried peptide is remarkably stable. 6 minRead → Guides Guide half the catalogue isn't peptides NAD+, methylene blue, and a rotating cast of others show up on peptide sites for one reason: that's where the buyers are. 4 minRead →
How we write these

Four rules, no exceptions

  • Sources, in order

    Regulatory filings and approved labels first, then registered trials with published results, then peer-reviewed literature. Vendor materials are never a source.

  • Route counts

    Evidence for one route of administration does not carry to another. A compound with topical human data gets described on those terms, never credited for injection.

  • How we're funded

    Some links here earn a commission when you buy through them. That never affects a compound's evidence rating or a single word of what we write about it.

  • Corrections in public

    When we get something wrong we fix it with a dated note on the page, rather than quietly editing the text and moving on.

Read the full method →

The Solanatide brief

One email a month, worth opening

New write-ups, rewritten explainers, and the occasional correction. For people who want the mechanism, not the marketing.

Roughly monthly · unsubscribe in one click