Peptide Evidence Index

BPC-157

Evidence last reviewed: September 2026

Quick answers

What is it?: BPC-157 is a synthetic 15-amino-acid chain (a pentadecapeptide) based on a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice. The synthetic version sold online is not something the body produces, and it is not an approved medicine.
Why are people interested in it?: It's marketed for tendon, muscle and gut healing on the strength of a large animal literature, so people considering it want to know whether any of that translates to humans.
What has actually been studied?: Almost entirely rat studies from one Croatian research group on tendon, muscle, bone, gut and nerve injury. In humans, only a single unpublished 2015 Phase 1 safety trial and a small unpublished 2025 gummy-product trial have ever been completed.
How strong is the evidence?: Animal-only in practice. The only real human trial ever run has never released a result, so there is no published human outcome data of any kind.
What don't we know yet?: Whether any of the rodent healing effects occur in people, whether it survives digestion if swallowed, what long-term use does, and what an unregulated vial actually contains.
Where can I read the original research?: Sources at the bottom of this page: Phase 1 safety and pharmacokinetics of PCO-02 (BPC-157), NCT02637284; Chang et al., Journal of Applied Physiology 2010.

Plain-English overview

BPC-157 is a synthetic chain of fifteen amino acids modeled on a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice. It is sold as an unregulated research chemical and has never been approved as a medicine anywhere. A large, mostly Croatian rodent literature reports that it speeds healing of tendon, muscle, bone, gut and nerve injuries, sometimes with large effects. In humans, only one trial has ever been completed and its results were never released; a second, more recent trial tested a peptide gummy product and also posted no results. A record that once appeared to be an active Phase 2 hamstring trial turned out, on closer inspection, to be a template rather than a real study. The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits it at all times in competitive sport.

What researchers are studying it for

tendon healing
muscle injury
gut mucosal injury
wound healing

Current evidence level

Animal only

Regulatory status: Not an approved medicine. Evidence strength and approval are scored separately; approval is a regulatory decision about a specific use, not a measure of how much research exists.

Human research

Three studies of BPC-157 are registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, and that is the entire human trial record. The first, NCT02637284, was a Phase 1 safety and pharmacokinetics study in 42 healthy volunteers that began in 2015; its status is still listed as Unknown and it has never posted results, more than a decade later. A second registered record, describing a Phase 2 hamstring-strain trial, was found on closer inspection to be one of three template records sharing an identical sponsor, site, investigator and completion date, with a sibling record explicitly stating it is a fictional example — so it does not count as a real study. The third, NCT07752381, tested a commercial peptide gummy product in 40 people, completed in 2025, and has also posted no results. No human trial has ever tested BPC-157 for tendon healing, the condition it is most often marketed for. Because none of the three real or apparent trials has published an outcome, there is no human evidence — positive or negative — about whether BPC-157 does anything in people.

Animal and preclinical research

The animal literature is large and comes mostly from a single research group at the University of Zagreb, led by Predrag Sikiric and colleagues, working almost entirely in rats. Across dozens of papers, the group reports that BPC-157 accelerates healing of transected Achilles tendon, crush and transection injuries of muscle, and combined muscle-to-bone and tendon-to-bone junction injuries, and proposes mechanisms including increased growth hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts and modulation of VEGF-driven angiogenesis at injury sites. A 2026 scoping review in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that about two-thirds of published research on BPC-157 and similar peptides used animal models, and concluded that claimed musculoskeletal benefits remain unsubstantiated by human trials.

Major findings

In rat studies from a single Croatian research group, BPC-157 has been reported to accelerate healing of transected Achilles tendon, crushed and transected muscle, and combined muscle-to-bone reattachment injuries.
Proposed mechanisms in these rat studies include increased growth hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts and up-regulation of VEGF-driven blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) at injury sites.
The only completed human trial of BPC-157 alone was a 2015 Phase 1 safety and pharmacokinetics study in 42 healthy volunteers, which has never posted results.
A commercial peptide-gummy product containing BPC-157 was tested in 40 people in a trial completed in 2025; no results have been posted.
A registry record that appeared to be an active Phase 2 human hamstring-strain trial was found to be a template, not a real study — a caution about trusting registry entries at face value.
A 2026 scoping review found that roughly two-thirds of published research on BPC-157 and related peptides used animal models, with human data too sparse or poorly controlled to confirm benefit.

What has not been established

Whether any of the healing effects reported in rats occur in humans at all.
Whether BPC-157 helps tendon healing in people — the use it is most often marketed for — since no human trial has ever tested this.
Whether an oral (swallowed) dose survives digestion in a form that could act in the body.
What effect, if any, long-term use has, since no human study has run beyond weeks.
Whether it affects tumor growth in people, given its angiogenic activity in animal models.

Important limitations

Nearly all supporting evidence comes from one research group studying rats, which limits how confidently it generalizes to other species or to people.
The only human trials that exist have never published or posted their results, so there's no way to know what they found.
A registry entry that appeared to describe a real, currently recruiting human trial turned out to be a template record, not a genuine study.
No dose has been established in humans for any use, so figures circulating online rely on unvalidated rodent-to-human conversions.
Effects this large and consistent in rodents often shrink or disappear when the same substance is tested in people.

Regulatory status

BPC-157 is not approved as a medicine in the United States, the EU, or the UK, or in any major jurisdiction. It is sold only as an unregulated research chemical. It is prohibited at all times in competitive sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency under category S0 (non-approved substances).

Primary research sources

Phase 1 safety and pharmacokinetics of PCO-02 (BPC-157): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02637284, registered 2015, n=42, status Unknown, no results posted
Peptide gummies and markers of inflammation and recovery: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07752381, n=40, completed 2025, no results posted
Chang CH, Tsai WC, Lin MS, Hsu YH, Pang JHS, "The promoting effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on tendon healing involves tendon outgrowth, cell survival, and cell migration": Journal of Applied Physiology 2010; PMID 21030672, DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00945.2010
Novinscak T, Brcic L, Staresinic M, et al., "Gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 as an effective therapy for muscle crush injury in the rat": Surgery Today 2008; PMID 18668315, DOI 10.1007/s00595-007-3706-2
Matek D, Matek I, Staresinic E, et al., "Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 as Therapy After Surgical Detachment of the Quadriceps Muscle...for Muscle-to-Bone Reattachment in Rats": Pharmaceutics 2025; PMID 39861766, DOI 10.3390/pharmaceutics17010119
Tewari K, Liu TP, Im C, et al., "Peptide Supplements and Their Therapeutic Applications in Sports Medicine" (scoping review covering BPC-157, TB-500, CJC-1295, ipamorelin and others): American Journal of Sports Medicine 2026; PMID 42578445, DOI 10.1177/03635465261464420

Full evidence entry (complete data, registry records, dosing evidence)

Animal only

Studied in animals; human evidence absent or minimal

At a glance

Also known as: Body Protection Compound-157, PL 14736, Bepecin
Class: Synthetic pentadecapeptide
Derived from: A 15-amino-acid sequence based on a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice
Registered human trials: 1
…with published results: 0
Largest human trial: 42 healthy volunteers (Phase 1, 2015) — status still listed as Unknown, no results posted
Studied for: tendon healing, muscle injury, gut mucosal injury, wound healing
Dosing evidence: No human dose establishedNo human trial has established a dose for any use. The amounts circulating online trace to rodent studies scaled by conversions never validated in people.
Regulatory status: Not approved as a medicine in the United States, the EU, or the UK. Not an approved drug in any major jurisdiction.
Anti-doping status: Prohibited at all times by the World Anti-Doping Agency (S0, non-approved substances)

What it is

BPC-157 is a synthetic chain of fifteen amino acids. The sequence is based on a fragment of a protein found in human gastric juice, which is where the "body protection compound" name comes from — though the synthetic peptide sold online is not something the body produces.

It is not an approved medicine anywhere. It is sold as a research chemical, and it is prohibited in competitive sport at all times.

What the studies actually found

Nearly everything published about BPC-157 is animal work — mostly rats, often from the same research group in Croatia. In those rodent studies it has been reported to speed healing in tendon, muscle, bone, gut and nerve injuries, frequently with large effects.

That literature is genuinely substantial. It is also almost entirely preclinical, and effects that large in rodents very often shrink or disappear in people.

What exists in humans

Three trials are registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. That is the complete set.

The first, from 2015, was a Phase 1 safety and pharmacokinetics study in 42 healthy volunteers. Its status is still listed as Unknown, and it has never posted results — more than a decade later.

A second record, registered in 2026, presents a Phase 2 hamstring-strain trial — but it is not a real study. It is one of three template records in the registry that share a single sponsor, site and investigator, with an identical completion date; one of its siblings states outright that it is a fictional example.

The third studied a commercial peptide gummy product in 40 people and has posted no results.

No human trial has ever studied BPC-157 for tendon healing — the use it is most often marketed for.

What doses have been studied in humans

None that establish anything. This is the honest answer, and it matters more than a chart would.

The only completed human study of BPC-157 alone was the 2015 Phase 1 trial in 42 healthy volunteers. A Phase 1 trial is designed to look at safety and how a substance moves through the body — not whether it works. It measured no healing outcome, and it never published its results.

The Phase 2 hamstring trial registered in 2026 will use a defined regimen, but it is still recruiting and will not report before 2027.

So there is no dose that human research has shown to do anything, for any condition. The figures quoted on forums and vendor sites are generally derived from rat studies, converted to human equivalents using scaling assumptions that have not been tested in people. A rodent-to-human conversion is an estimate of comparable exposure — not evidence that the resulting amount is effective, or safe, in a person.

What remains unknown

Whether any effect seen in rodents occurs in humans at all
Whether oral administration survives digestion in a usable form
What long-term use does — no human study has run beyond weeks
Whether it affects tumour growth, given its angiogenic activity in animal models
What purity or content an unregulated vial actually contains

Registry and study records

Phase 1 safety and pharmacokinetics of PCO-02 (BPC-157): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02637284 · n=42, started 2015, status Unknown, no results posted
Template record, not a real study: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07437547 · One of three template records sharing a sponsor, site and completion date; a sibling record declares itself fictional
Peptide gummies and markers of inflammation and recovery: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07752381 · n=40, completed 2025, no results posted

See the full Evidence Index →

Evidence last reviewed: September 2026. Peptide Proof reports what studies found. We do not give medical advice, dosing guidance, or treatment recommendations.