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| With an FDA advisory committee set to decide this week whether it recommends that several popular peptides be reclassified, I wanted to learn more. Cue a last-minute ticket purchase to a “Peptides 101” event in New York. |
| To my surprise, over 250 people had signed up. Those of us who made it crammed into the backroom of a West Village bar for a crash course on peptides, including a live demonstration of how to inject them. |
| The crowd ranged from skeptics to the curious. Some had tried a peptide once or twice, and some took them regularly. In a show of hands, three-fourths of the crowd said they’ve heard of Chinese peptides before. Two-thirds recognized BPC-157, a popular peptide marketed for muscle recovery, while around a quarter said they’ve tried a peptide themselves. |
| Based on the Q&A, many attendees thought peptides are worth exploring but had lots of questions about the safety and logistics of doing so, like where to buy them, what long-term risks look like and how to approach dosing. |
| Peptides, I learned, are cheaper than I thought. The speaker, Julius Ritter, a peptide user himself who founded the California Peptide Club, shared that he spends around $300 a month ordering three types of peptides directly from China. The discount comes with risks, though. Ritter said he has paid but never received the product. Plus, there are potential quality and efficacy issues. |
| Research on many peptides remains limited. The peptide community relies on physicians knowledgeable about peptides, crowdsourced information and personal anecdotes. Peptides, Ritter said, are not a substitute for fundamentals of health like sleep and exercise, but more of a final, incremental boost. |
| If the advisory committee decides to recommend reclassifying some popular peptides this week, potentially making them more widely available, Ritter predicted that the industry could expand beyond injections into consumer products, like peptide-infused foods, following a path similar to that of the marijuana industry. If the crowd clamoring for more information at a bar in NYC was any indication, that could become a booming business. |
| - Ngai |
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