The archive
Everything we’ve published.
49 pieces across news, opinion, science and field guides. Every claim attributed, every gap stated.
News
The regulatory and trial cycle, read from primary sources.
The Peptide Stopgap Is Now a Document Under White House ReviewOn October 14 the FDA sent an 'Interim Access Policy for Compounding Using Certain Peptides' to the White House regulatory office. Its text is not public. What the government filing confirms, what anonymous sources add, and what has not changed.Oct 22, 2026A Reported Stopgap for Restricted Peptides: What Is Confirmed, and What Is NotOn October 7 the Washington Post reported that the administration is drafting a temporary path for some previously restricted peptides while rules are written. What the report says, what it leaves open, and how it would fit the rules already on the books.Oct 22, 2026The FDA Has a New Word for Compounded Weight Drugs: Pretextual.A September warning letter to one of the largest compounding pharmacies in the country reads less like an inspection report and more like a closing argument.Oct 1, 2026The Triple Agonist Finished Phase 3. Here Are the Numbers, Without the Adjectives.Three TRIUMPH trials reported in 2026, with a filing planned for early 2027. What Lilly's retatrutide actually showed at 80 weeks, and what the headline figure leaves out.Oct 1, 2026Five Warning Letters in One Week. The FDA Just Spelled Out What 'Research Use Only' Does Not Cover.On August 24 the FDA wrote to five US peptide sellers at once. The letters say almost nothing about what was in the vials. They are about what was on the websites.Oct 1, 2026The Compounding Boom Is Over. Here's What Ended It.For two years, a drug-shortage provision let compounders legally supply the biggest weight drugs in the world. When the shortages closed, so did the lane, and the market is still absorbing it.Sep 1, 2026The FDA Just Had Its Biggest Peptide Meeting in Years. Here's What Actually Happened.An advisory committee recommended six peptides for the compounding bulks list this July, and half the internet misread it. What the vote means, what it doesn't, and the timeline nobody quotes.Aug 31, 2026
Opinion
Signed editorials in the publication’s own voice.
Opinion: Telegram Is Not a Supply ChainA market heading for tens of billions of dollars now runs through group chats, wallet addresses and reputations. People call that the culture. We call it the reason so much of the material is bad.Oct 1, 2026Opinion: The Price Tells You Almost NothingThe same nominal compound can vary tenfold across sellers. People read that spread as a quality signal. It mostly isn't, and the reasoning cuts against cheap and expensive alike.Sep 1, 2026Opinion: Peptides Have an Influencer Problem, and It's Not the One You ThinkThe issue isn't that people are hyping compounds. It's that the incentive structure rewards confidence over calibration, and calibration is the whole job.Sep 1, 2026Opinion: 'Third-Party Tested' Is the Most Abused Phrase in WellnessIt sounds like an audit. It's usually a vibe. A short editorial on the two words doing the heaviest lifting in supplement and peptide marketing, and the one question that deflates them.Aug 31, 2026
Science
Class-by-class reviews of what the published literature reports.
What the Trials Actually Showed: The Incretin ClassThe GLP-1 receptor agonists are the most-studied peptide class in modern medicine. Here is what the published trials reported: numbers, models, and the gap between approved drugs and research material.Aug 28, 2026What the Research Actually Shows: The Repair PeptidesBPC-157 and thymosin beta-4 are the most talked-about peptides in recovery circles, and the gap between the published evidence and the online conversation is wider here than anywhere else.Aug 28, 2026What the Research Actually Shows: The Growth-Hormone AxisSecretagogues occupy the middle of the evidence spectrum: one approved drug, one compound with real human trials, and a family of research peptides studied mostly in models. Sorting them is the point.Aug 28, 2026The Skin Peptides: Where the Evidence Is Actually StrongestCopper peptides have fifty years of research behind them, and the strongest evidence sits in the least glamorous place. What the dermatology literature reports, and where it stops.Sep 1, 2026The Longevity Peptides: Big Promises, Small TrialsNAD⁺ precursors, mitochondrial peptides, and the telomere compounds. One has real human data on biomarkers. The others have almost nothing, and the gap is worth understanding.Sep 1, 2026The Cognitive Peptides Have a Translation ProblemSemax and Selank are prescribed medicines in Russia and unknown almost everywhere else. That gap says less about the compounds than about how evidence travels.Sep 1, 2026BPC-157 vs TB-500: What the Published Research Actually ComparesTwo peptides, two origins, two proposed mechanisms, and one shared problem: an evidence base that is almost entirely animal and cell work. A side-by-side of what has been published, and what has not.Oct 9, 2026Ipamorelin vs Sermorelin vs CJC-1295: What the Published Research ComparesTwo are analogs of growth-hormone-releasing hormone and one acts at the ghrelin receptor. One was an FDA-approved drug and two never were. A side-by-side of what has been published on each, and where the record stops.Oct 11, 2026Semax vs Selank: What the Published Research ComparesTwo seven-amino-acid peptides from the same Moscow institute, one built on a fragment of ACTH and one on the immune peptide tuftsin. What has been published on each, how much of it is in Russian, and where both stand with the FDA.Oct 11, 2026GHK-Cu: What the Published Research Actually ShowsA copper-binding tripeptide found in human plasma in 1973. The cell and animal work is consistent, the human wound trials are mixed, and the cosmetic studies are small. What each layer of evidence says, with the study behind it.Oct 11, 2026MOTS-c vs NAD+: What the Published Research ComparesOne is a 16-amino-acid peptide encoded in mitochondrial DNA, described in 2015. The other is a coenzyme found in every cell, studied in humans mostly through its precursors. What each evidence base contains, study by study, and where each stands with regulators and in sport.Oct 22, 2026Epitalon: What the Published Research Actually ShowsA synthetic four-amino-acid peptide from a St. Petersburg research program. The telomerase findings come from cell culture, the lifespan findings from rodents and flies, and much of the human literature studied a different substance. What each layer says, and who produced it.Oct 22, 2026KPV: What the Research Shows on the Anti-Inflammatory TripeptideThree amino acids from the tail of alpha-MSH. Its published record is cell culture and mouse models of colitis, peritonitis and wounds, with a proposed route into cells through the PepT1 transporter. The FDA found no human data at all. What each study reported, and in which model.Oct 22, 2026Thymosin Alpha-1: Approved Abroad, Unapproved in the USA 28-amino-acid thymic peptide sold as Zadaxin in dozens of countries and never approved by the FDA. What the hepatitis, melanoma and sepsis trials found, why the US trials did not lead to approval, and where it stands on compounding.Oct 22, 2026TB-500 vs Thymosin Beta-4: What the Research CoversThymosin beta-4 is a 43-amino-acid protein with a real literature. TB-500 is a 7-residue fragment of it with almost none. Evidence, FDA and WADA status.Oct 22, 2026PT-141 vs Melanotan II: What the Research ComparesPT-141 is bremelanotide, approved in 2019 as Vyleesi for HSDD in premenopausal women. Melanotan II, its parent analog, is approved nowhere. The evidence.Oct 22, 2026Tesamorelin vs Sermorelin: One Approved, One DiscontinuedBoth are GHRH analogs. Tesamorelin is approved as Egrifta for one HIV-related use; sermorelin was approved as Geref and discontinued in 2008. The evidence.Oct 22, 2026AOD-9604: What the Obesity Trials ShowedAOD-9604 is a 16-amino-acid growth hormone fragment made for obesity. Its phase 2b trial missed, work ended in 2007, and its GRAS claim is not an FDA review.Oct 22, 2026IGF-1 LR3: What the Published Research ShowsIGF-1 LR3 is an engineered 83-amino-acid IGF-1 analog built as a lab reagent. Its record is cell and rodent work, with no human trials. FDA and WADA status.Oct 22, 2026DSIP: What the Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide Research ShowsDSIP was described in 1977 as a sleep factor from rabbits. Fifty years on it has no known gene or receptor, mixed small human studies, and no FDA approval.Oct 22, 2026
Field guides
How to read certificates, chromatograms and studies for yourself.
What Is a Peptide?A structural and analytical primer: peptide bonds, why the format matters, how solid-phase synthesis works, and where purity numbers actually come from.Aug 28, 2026How to Read a Certificate of Analysis, and the Four Ways They Get FakedWhat a complete certificate contains, and the recycled, drawn, in-house and method-free failure modes to check for before trusting one.Aug 28, 2026What an HPLC Trace Shows, and What It CannotHow reversed-phase chromatography works, why purity is a relative measure, and the questions a chromatogram is structurally unable to answer.Aug 28, 2026Reading a Peptide Study: Separating Signal From NoiseA practical guide to evaluating the research behind a claim: study type, methods, dose scaling, endpoints, and where to verify a citation.Aug 28, 2026What the Community Gets Wrong About PeptidesFive specific, repeatable errors behind most confident claims: dose scaling, purity-as-identity, preclinical overreach, undefined testing, and anecdote.Aug 28, 2026Peptides, SARMs and Steroids Are Three Different ThingsThey get grouped constantly and they have almost nothing in common: different molecules, different mechanisms, different legal status. Sorting them is the first real step to understanding any of it.Sep 1, 2026What 'Research Use Only' Actually MeansThree words that appear on almost every vial in this market, widely read as a formality. They describe a real legal category, and understanding it explains most of how this industry is structured.Sep 1, 2026Are Peptides FDA-Approved? Some Are. Most of What Is Sold Online Is Not.Insulin, semaglutide, tesamorelin and bremelanotide are FDA-approved peptide drugs. Most research peptides sold online are approved for nothing. What the 2026 review changed, and what it did not.Oct 9, 2026Independent Peptide Testing Explained: Janoshik, Finnrick, and What a Third-Party Test Can and Cannot Tell YouOne is a laboratory in Prague. The other is a US platform that buys samples, sends them to labs and publishes ratings. What each actually does, what the numbers mean, and where every test stops.Oct 9, 2026How to Vet a Research Peptide Supplier: A Ten-Point ChecklistLot-matched certificates, a lab you can contact, a real address, sane payment options and no dosing advice. The checks that separate a documented supplier from a storefront, in the order worth running them.Oct 9, 2026Is It Legal to Buy Research Peptides in the United States?There is no single yes or no. US law sorts peptides by product and intended use: approved drugs and compounded drugs need a prescription, and research-use material is approved for nothing. Where the lines sit, and what the FDA said in 2026.Oct 11, 2026503A vs 503B vs 'Research Use Only': Three Supply Lanes ExplainedA 503A pharmacy compounds for one patient with a prescription. A 503B outsourcing facility registers with the FDA and works under manufacturing rules. Research-use material sits outside both. A side-by-side of who oversees what.Oct 11, 2026Endotoxin, Sterility and Heavy Metals: What a Purity Number Leaves OutAn HPLC purity figure cannot detect bacterial endotoxin, living microbes or toxic metals. What each of the three tests measures, which USP chapter defines it, and how to tell whether a certificate of analysis actually ran them.Oct 11, 2026What 'Purity' Means on a Peptide Label: HPLC Purity vs Net Peptide ContentA 99% HPLC purity figure says how much of the detected peptide material is the target sequence. It does not say how much of the powder in the vial is peptide. The difference, explained: counter-ions, water, salts, fill testing, and what to look for on a certificate.Oct 22, 2026Peptide Testing Glossary: The Terms on a Certificate of Analysis, DefinedThirty-one terms that appear on peptide certificates of analysis and third-party test reports, from area percent to water content, each defined in plain language with the standard or source behind it.Oct 22, 2026FDA Status of 24 Peptides, Compound by CompoundWhich peptides are FDA-approved, where each stands in US compounding review, and whether WADA bans it. One table, 24 compounds, a source for every row.Oct 22, 2026Is BPC-157 Legal? What US Law and WADA Say in 2026BPC-157 is not FDA-approved, not a controlled substance, and banned in sport. Where it stands after the 2026 advisory vote, and who gets enforced against.Oct 22, 2026Is Retatrutide FDA-Approved? Not Yet. Here's Where It StandsRetatrutide is an investigational Eli Lilly drug with no FDA approval. What the TRIUMPH trials reported, the filing plan, and what the FDA says about sellers.Oct 22, 2026