Peptides for healing & recovery.
The largest gap on the site between how confidently a category is discussed and how little of it has been tested in people.
Healing and recovery peptides are the most popular research compounds by a wide margin, and the least supported by human evidence. The pattern repeats across the category: an impressive body of rodent work showing accelerated tendon, ligament, gut or muscle repair, a plausible and often well-characterized mechanism, and then essentially nothing in the way of controlled human trials.
This does not mean the compounds do nothing. It means nobody has properly checked. The translation failure rate from animal models to human therapeutics is roughly ninety percent across drug development generally, and injury healing is a particularly treacherous area to study because tissue repairs on its own timeline. Someone who takes a healing peptide is usually also resting the injury, changing their training, and often doing physical therapy, all of which heal injuries by themselves. Without a control group there is no way to separate the compound from the recovery that was going to happen anyway.
The mechanisms are genuinely interesting. Several compounds in this category promote angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels into damaged tissue, which is a real and important part of repair. Others modulate the inflammatory response or influence cell migration into a wound. These are legitimate biological targets that pharmaceutical companies also pursue, which is precisely why the absence of human trials is notable rather than reassuring.
Safety is the axis that gets least attention here and deserves the most. Compounds that promote blood vessel growth and cell proliferation are doing something that healthy tissue regulates carefully for good reason. Long-term human safety data for this category does not exist, and the theoretical concerns around growth signalling are not resolved by an absence of reported problems in an unmonitored population.
Deep animal literature, strong mechanistic rationale, almost no human evidence, and no long-term safety data. Anyone claiming certainty about this category is telling you about their confidence, not about the research.
The stacks are synergistic.
No controlled study has tested the popular healing combinations against placebo or against either component alone. Synergy here is an inference, not a measurement.
It healed my injury, so it works.
Injuries heal on their own. Without a control group, personal recovery cannot distinguish the compound from time, rest and rehab.
Every compound in this category.
Graded on what has actually been published, with the regulatory reality on each one.
B7-33 is an experimental single-chain peptide derived from the B-chain of the human hormone relaxin-2 (H2 relaxin).
BPC-157 (sometimes written PL 14736 or "Body Protection Compound 157") is a synthetic pentadecapeptide, a chain of 15 amino acids (Gly-Glu-Pro-Pro-Pro-Gly-Lys-Pro-Ala-Asp-Asp-Ala-Gly-Leu-Val, MW ~1419 Da).
Larazotide (larazotide acetate, research code AT-1001) is a synthetic eight-amino-acid peptide investigated as an oral, gut-restricted therapy for celiac disease.
Pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS; brand name Elmiron) is a semisynthetic, sulfated polysaccharide derived from beechwood hemicellulose (xylan).
TB-500 is a synthetic peptide sold for research use and widely marketed as "thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4)." Naturally occurring Tβ4 is a 43-amino-acid, ~4.9 kDa actin-sequestering peptide found in nearly all mammalian cells and at high concentration in platelets and wound fluid.
Thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4) is a small, naturally occurring 43-amino-acid acidic peptide found in nearly all mammalian cells and in high concentrations in platelets, wound fluid, and many tissues.
Tracking one of these with your provider? PepCue handles the schedule, the vial math, and the record.