Episode Details
Back to EpisodesThe FDA Voted for 6 Peptides. Its Own Scientists Said No
Description
An FDA advisory committee just voted to open a legal compounding supply line for six of seven peptides, including BPC-157 and TB-500, over the objection of the FDA's own scientists, who recommended against all seven. Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum walks through what the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee actually voted on, why a vote about ulcerative colitis ends up governing tendon and joint use, what the single human BPC-157 trial does and doesn't show, and why "a pharmacy makes it safe" and "there's no money to study it" don't hold up. Evidence-based, no hype, no nocebo.
Timestamps:
| 00:00:00 | The FDA voted 8-6. What it actually means
| 00:01:25 | What I am, and am not, claiming
| 00:03:21 | How they got here: Category 2 and the paperwork
| 00:07:17 | Who was in the room: the panel that flipped
| 00:10:57 | What they voted on: compounding and the bulks list
| 00:15:37 | "No money in it, you can't patent it"
| 00:18:24 | The trials already run: Plevna and MK-677
| 00:22:55 | "I took it and it worked": placebo and fake surgery
| 00:27:02 | The one human trial: Ruenzi 2005
| 00:32:28 | Is it natural? Is it even a drug?
| 00:36:58 | Harm reduction, or follow the money?
| 00:42:45 | Three times a missing trial went wrong
| 00:50:58 | Safety: known, unknown, and unknowable
| 00:55:22 | The other six peptides
| 00:58:22 | What I'd actually tell you
| 01:02:08 | What actually works, and what would change my mind
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1. US Food and Drug Administration. FDA Briefing Document: Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee Meeting. July 23-24, 2026. Silver Spring, MD: FDA; 2026.
2. US Food and Drug Administration. FDA review of BPC-157-related bulk drug substances. PCAC Briefing Document. July 23-24, 2026. Media 193343. Accessed July 24, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/media/193343/download
3. US Food and Drug Administration. FDA review of TB-500-related bulk drug substances. PCAC Briefing Document. July 23-24, 2026. Media 193349.
4. US Food and Drug Administration. FDA review of KPV-, MOTS-c-, Semax-, Epitalon-, and Emideltide-related bulk drug substances. PCAC Briefing Documents. July 23-24, 2026.
5. US Food and Drug Administration. Questions for the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee. July 23-24, 2026.
6. US Food and Drug Administration. Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meeting roster. July 23-24, 2026. Media 193772.
7. US Food and Drug Administration. Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meeting roster. 2022. Media 159040.
8. openFDA. FAERS adverse event reports for BPC-157. Accessed July 24, 2026. https://open.fda.gov
9. Pharmacy compounding; 503A bulk drug substances. 21 CFR §216.23 (2026).
10. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act §503A, 21 USC §353a (pharmacy compounding).
11. Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v von Eschenbach, 495 F3d 695 (DC Cir 2007).
12. United States v Rutherford, 442 US 544 (1979).
13. Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017, Pub L No. 115-176, 132 Stat 1372 (2018).
14. US Food and Drug Administration. Regulatory considerations for human drug products containing peptides. Guidance for Industry (draft). 2020.
15. Ruenzi M, Stolte M, Veljaca M, et al. Efficacy and safety of PL 14736 (BPC 157) in patients with active ulcerative colitis [abstract]. Gastroenterology. 2005. Meeting abstra