The Food and Drug Administration is set to consider on July 23 and 24 whether to let pharmacies compound a group of peptides, a regulatory shift that could hand telehealth clinics and compounding pharmacies a new injectable product line after the GLP-1 boom.
Peptides, short chains of amino acids, have moved from bodybuilding and biohacking circles into a much broader wellness market. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US secretary of health and human services, told Joe Rogan earlier this year that the government planned to ease limits on peptide production. The FDA meeting would revisit a 2023 Biden administration decision that blocked certain peptides from being compounded.
Compounding is the pharmacy practice of making customized drugs or drug mixtures, rather than dispensing a mass-manufactured product. That distinction matters because many of the peptides being pitched online do not have the safety and efficacy record of FDA-approved medicines. FDA career scientists have recommended against the reclassification, according to agency materials cited by WIRED.
Industry figures told WIRED they expect the FDA to approve the change anyway, partly because the review committee includes people who have promoted peptides. That expectation has already changed behavior inside the telehealth and compounding business, where waiting for the regulator to finish speaking is apparently optional as a planning exercise.
Myra Ahmad, chief executive of Mochi Health, told WIRED the GLP-1-focused telehealth company is preparing pharmacies and pricing in case the rules change. Hims & Hers Health bought a peptide manufacturing facility in February 2025 and is developing clinical protocols for peptides, chief medical officer Anant Vinjamoori told WIRED. Vinjamoori is scheduled to speak to the FDA committee.
Olympia Pharmaceuticals has also been preparing formulas in anticipation of a favorable decision, president Joshua Fritzler told WIRED. RxConnexion, a marketing and technology platform for pharmacies, said some of its compounding pharmacy clients are already testing peptides expected to draw demand.
One of the names showing up is BPC-157, promoted by boosters as a healing compound and sometimes bundled into the so-called Wolverine stack. Cameron Bravo, a research scientist at Sapho Bio, told WIRED his company has tested BPC-157 and MOTS-c, another peptide marketed by enthusiasts as “exercise in a vial.” Sapho Bio tests client formulas for contamination and sealing problems. Bravo said some pharmacies are spending about $100,000 on products before the regulatory process is complete.
A favorable committee vote would not instantly legalize sales. Gerard Olson, recently director of research at LegitScript, told WIRED the FDA would still need to propose rules and run a public comment process.
Some providers are not waiting for the broader market to settle. Amanecia Health, a concierge practice with clinics in Texas and Virginia and a telehealth operation, has begun prescribing BPC-157 to a small number of patients, founder Ann Czarnik told WIRED. Czarnik, an emergency medicine physician, said patients are told the products are not FDA-approved drugs and said she cannot yet advertise that she prescribes them.
The gray market is already doing brisk trade. Peptides under FDA discussion, along with many others, can be bought from online vendors that label products as research-grade and not for human use. Fritzler said Olympia is not participating in that market and called it illegal for the company to sell those products now.
Thomas Millman, who runs the Florida research-use peptide seller OnTop Labs, told WIRED that many people are trying to start peptide companies. His company sells products including Melanotan II, marketed as a tanning peptide and scheduled for an FDA reclassification discussion in 2027. The Skin Cancer Foundation recently warned about Melanotan II, citing case reports tied to increased melanoma risk.
For patients, the near-term result is a familiar internet-healthcare mess: regulatory uncertainty, eager sellers, social media demand, and products whose marketing is running ahead of the evidence.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
