Anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stacked another federal advisory panel with allies, advancing his efforts to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reverse its stance on a dozen popular but unproven injectable peptide drugs.
While FDA scientists determined in 2023 that the drugs lack evidence of benefits and may pose safety risks, Kennedy is a self-professed “big fan” of these dubious drugs and has vowed to ‘end’ the FDA’s ‘aggressive suppression’ of them. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration updated its list of advisors who will review the peptides, adding nine new members—almost all of whom personally promote peptide use and/or have financial ties to wellness clinics that offer peptide treatments.
The additions bring the total number of advisors to 13, making it easy for the new members to determine the outcome of upcoming meetings. At the same time, the FDA released briefing documents for the upcoming meetings with the advisors, in which FDA scientists reaffirm that there is not enough evidence of safety and efficacy to justify making the peptides more accessible.
The advisory panel will meet July 23 and 24 and discuss seven peptides. On the first day, advisors will discuss the use of peptides BPC-157 for ulcerative colitis, KPV for wound healing and inflammation, TB-500 for wound healing, and MOs-C for obesity and osteoporosis. On the second day, they will discuss emideltide for opioid withdrawal, chronic insomnia, and narcolepsy; semax for cerebral ischemia, migraine, and trigeminal neuralgia (a condition causing severe facial pain); and epitalon for insomnia.
There will also be a meeting scheduled before the end of February 2027, in which advisors will discuss five additional peptides. Specifically, the meetings will discuss whether these unproven peptides can be produced by compounding pharmacies, which make specialty drugs. Currently, the FDA does not allow compounding pharmacies to make the peptides in question for human use, though the drugs can be sold for research use.
