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Home / Peptide legality / By country / New Zealand

Peptide legality · New Zealand · updated 2026-09-22

Are peptides legal in New Zealand?

Restricted

Peptides are legal in New Zealand only as prescription medicines: following a December 2025 Medsafe reclassification, research peptides such as BPC-157, TB-500 and SS-31 are prescription-only under the Medicines Act 1981 and cannot be lawfully sold over the counter, while Melanotan I and II are banned outright.

Legal status overview

Peptides are restricted in New Zealand and can be obtained lawfully only through a doctor's prescription and a licensed (often compounding) pharmacy. Medsafe, the national medicines regulator operating under the Medicines Act 1981, reclassified ten groups of previously-unscheduled peptides, including BPC-157, TB-500 and SS-31, as prescription medicines in December 2025; before that they sat in a legal grey area that Medsafe could not seize at the border. Peptides are not controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, so personal possession is not a criminal offence, but selling or importing unapproved peptides for human use exposes suppliers and importers to Medicines Act enforcement.

Key points

  • Medsafe, New Zealand's medicines regulator under the Medicines Act 1981, has determined that BPC-157 has no approved product in New Zealand and classifies it as a prescription medicine following instances of personal-use importation. [1]
  • In December 2025, on the recommendation of Medsafe's Medicines Classification Committee, ten groups of peptides, including BPC-157, TB-500, SS-31 (elamipretide), MOTS-C, GHK-Cu, sermorelin, thymosin alpha-1, NAD+, glutathione and epitalon, were classified as prescription medicines in New Zealand. [4]
  • Peptides are not scheduled as controlled drugs under New Zealand's Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, so simple personal possession is not a criminal offence in the way controlled drugs are. [3]
  • Importing peptides such as BPC-157 into New Zealand for human use falls into 'unapproved medicine' territory under the Medicines Act 1981, and New Zealand Customs (working with Medsafe) can seize packages, while Melanotan I and Melanotan II are explicitly banned and should not be imported. [3]
  • New Zealand medical practitioners may only prescribe medicines that meet Medicines Act requirements, and Customs working with Medsafe will seize and potentially destroy unapproved peptide shipments where the recipient cannot provide a valid prescription. [7]
  • Before the reclassification, unscheduled peptides intercepted at the New Zealand border were released to the individual with a high-risk-medicine letter because Medsafe had no grounds under the Medicines Act 1981 to seize them, the gap the December 2025 prescription classification was designed to close. [2]
  • The cleanest lawful route to obtain peptides in New Zealand is a prescription from a New Zealand doctor with supply through a compounding pharmacy, rather than importing unapproved research chemicals. [3]

Compound-by-compound status

BPC-157BPC-157 is a prescription medicine in New Zealand with no Medsafe-approved product, meaning it cannot be lawfully sold over the counter and is legally accessible only via prescription. [5]
Semaglutide / GLP-1 (weight-loss and diabetes)GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide are classified as prescription medicines in New Zealand and require a doctor's prescription for lawful access. [8]
TB-500 (thymosin beta-4)TB-500 was reclassified as a prescription medicine in New Zealand in December 2025 and cannot be legally sold as an unregulated research chemical for human use. [4]
Human growth hormone (HGH / somatropin)Hormone-based peptides such as growth hormone are prescription medicines in New Zealand and cannot lawfully be sold over the counter. [8]
Melanotan I and IIMelanotan I and Melanotan II are explicitly banned in New Zealand and should not be imported. [3]

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy peptides in New Zealand without a prescription?

No, in New Zealand peptides such as BPC-157 and TB-500 are prescription medicines under the Medicines Act 1981 and cannot lawfully be sold over the counter or as research chemicals for human use; legal access requires a doctor's prescription. [4]

Can I import peptides into New Zealand for personal use?

Importing peptides for human use in New Zealand is treated as importing an unapproved medicine under the Medicines Act 1981, and Customs can seize (and potentially destroy) packages, especially without a valid prescription; Melanotan I and II are banned outright. [3]

Is it a crime to possess peptides like BPC-157 in New Zealand?

Personal possession of peptides such as BPC-157 is not a criminal offence in New Zealand because they are not scheduled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975; the legal risk instead attaches to selling or importing them as unapproved medicines. [3]

Can a New Zealand doctor prescribe BPC-157?

It is highly unlikely, because New Zealand practitioners can generally only prescribe medicines meeting Medicines Act approval requirements and BPC-157 has no Medsafe-approved product, though it is now formally a prescription-classified substance. [7]

Is BPC-157 banned for athletes in New Zealand?

Yes, BPC-157 has been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2022 (under the S0 and S2 categories), so it is banned in sport regardless of its prescription status in New Zealand. [6]

Sources

  1. Medsafe, Agenda for the 70th Medicines Classification Committee Meeting (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  2. Medsafe, Classification of Unscheduled Peptides (Agenda 74, item 5.7) (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  3. Regimen, Peptides in New Zealand 2026: What's Legal, What's Not & How to Source (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  4. Revive Peptides, Are Peptides Legal in New Zealand? (citing NZ Herald, March 2026) (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  5. MSK Doctor Zaid Matti, BPC-157 and Healing Peptides: A Doctor's Comprehensive Perspective (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  6. Autonomy Health, Peptides in New Zealand: access, the law, and what the evidence actually shows (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  7. Real Peptides, Is BPC-157 Legal in New Zealand? A Researcher's Guide (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  8. PeptideLaws.com, Are peptides legal in New Zealand? (retrieved 2026-09-22)

Last researched: 2026-09-22.

General information based on the sourced research above, not legal advice. Laws change and enforcement varies; for a specific situation in New Zealand, consult a licensed attorney or the national regulator.