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The Gray-Market Peptide Report 2026
Americans now search for "research use only" peptides more than a million times a month, almost five times as often as in early 2024. We tracked 21 of them across search demand, clinical evidence, lab tests, adverse event reports and enforcement to show what people are buying and what the evidence says.
Key findings
Search demand has almost quintupled. Monthly US searches for the 19 gray-market peptides we track (all 21 except semaglutide and tirzepatide) rose from about 236,000 in January 2024 to 1.12 million in August 2026.
Retatrutide is the most-searched peptide in the US, and no country has approved it. US searches went from 13,194 in January 2024 to 361,428 in August 2026. Eli Lilly is still in Phase 3 trials and says it has found more than 14,000 online listings in over 100 countries.
BPC-157 is searched 236,000 times a month, and there are no published randomized trials of it in humans. PubMed lists 109 animal-only studies and no randomized controlled trials. It is the second most-searched compound in our tracker.
Only one of 18 "retatrutide" vials tested in Australia matched its label. About 30% held more drug than stated, about 30% held less, and one held none. In a US test purchase of online semaglutide, purity was 7.7-14.4% and every sample contained bacterial endotoxin.
Gray-market retatrutide users lost about half as much weight as trial patients. A preprint of 378 users found 7.2% weight loss at one year, against 15.5% in clinical trials at the same point. It has not yet been peer reviewed.
FDA adverse event reports for retatrutide are rising. They went from 1 in 2024 to 13 in 2025 and 29 in January-July 2026. Of the 44 reports so far, 33 were classed as serious.
Crypto payments to gray-market peptide sellers reached 32 million USD in Q1 2026, up 159% in one quarter (Chainalysis). That is an annual rate of more than 100 million USD, against about 1 million USD a quarter in 2024.
"Are peptides legal?" searches rose 757% as the rules shifted. Seventeen peptides left FDA's compounding "Category 2" restricted list between 2024 and 2026, while warning letters, seizures and lawsuits against sellers also increased.
Search demand, 2023-2026
Monthly US searches for the five most-searched compounds. Retatrutide went from a niche trial drug to a mass-market search term in about 18 months, and was growing before Lilly published any Phase 3 results.
US monthly search volume, Ahrefs estimates. Spelling variants are combined (for example "bpc 157" and "bpc-157"). Dashed lines mark events.
Fastest-growing compounds
Change in average monthly US searches, Jan-Mar 2024 to Jun-Aug 2026. Weight-loss and "longevity" peptides grew fastest.
How people are searching
General searches about peptides grew too, and questions about legality grew fastest.
US searches in Aug 2026, up from 14,588 in Jan 2024 (+765%).
US searches in Aug 2026, up from 1,085 in Jan 2024 (+757%).
US searches in Aug 2026, up from 1,126 in Jan 2024 (+710%).
Global monthly searches for retatrutide. After the US, the UK (82,000), Canada, Brazil and Australia search most.
Demand versus evidence
Each dot is a compound. Higher dots are searched more; dots further right have more published randomized controlled trials in humans. The most-searched peptides with no approval path sit in the top left: high demand, little human evidence.
Randomized controlled trials: PubMed records tagged "Randomized Controlled Trial" that mention the compound (searched Sept 2026). The horizontal axis is logarithmic and includes zero. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are left out because their gray-market search terms aren't comparable.
What's actually in the vial
Independent tests of peptides bought online keep finding the same problems: the wrong amount of drug, low purity, contamination, or a different drug altogether.
Purity of semaglutide vials bought from illegal online pharmacies, against a claimed 99%. Every vial contained bacterial endotoxin, and 3 of 6 orders never arrived.
Counterfeit retatrutide samples in Australia that matched their label. One vial contained no peptide at all.
Amount found in a vial sold as "10 mg" retatrutide, almost double the label. Purity was 16.6%.
Semaglutide level in a product sold as "retatrutide", compared with approved products. The buyer was hospitalized with a torn esophagus.
Range of labeled potency found in knockoff tirzepatide, including some products with no tirzepatide at all. This is Eli Lilly's own testing data.
Share of the 34 preparation steps completed by first-time injectors who followed online instructions to reconstitute gray-market semaglutide.
Harm signals
Adverse event and poison center data undercount harm from unapproved products, but every source we checked is moving up.
44 reports in total, 33 classed as serious. The most common reactions are vomiting, nausea and fatigue. Because retatrutide is unapproved, reports can come from trial participants as well as gray-market users.
Adverse event reports FDA has received for compounded semaglutide, plus more than 730 for compounded tirzepatide (to May 31, 2026). In November 2024 the figures were 392 and 215. FDA says both are undercounts.
GLP-1 exposures reported to US poison centers in 2023, against 1,000-1,500 a year before 2021. More than half of these involved taking the wrong dose.
Patients hospitalized with acute liver toxicity in Victoria, Australia after using counterfeit retatrutide (2026).
Published case reports from 2026 include diabetic ketoacidosis and acute kidney injury after online "retatrutide", ketoacidosis in an 18-year-old ten days after starting online semaglutide, and two women intubated after peptide injections at a 2025 longevity festival in Las Vegas.
Rules, enforcement and money
Regulators are loosening some compounding restrictions while cracking down on "research use only" sellers. Both have happened at the same time.
Peptides removed from FDA's compounding "Category 2" restricted list: 5 in Sept 2024 and 12 in April 2026. Removal does not make a peptide legal to compound. FDA still has to go through rulemaking first.
Peptides FDA's advisory committee recommended for compounding in July 2026, including BPC-157 (8-6), even though FDA scientists recommended against all seven.
Packages of unapproved peptides from China seized by US Customs in Cincinnati on April 1, 2026. They contained retatrutide, semaglutide, tirzepatide, cagrilintide and MOTS-c.
Prison sentence for the owner of an online peptide seller with more than 54,000 customers. Many of its products were not what the labels said (July 2026).
Timeline
- RegulationFDA restricts about 19 peptides, including BPC-157, TB-500 and MOTS-c, citing safety risks and missing human data.
- EvidenceJAMA Network Open test purchase finds online semaglutide 7.7-14.4% pure, with endotoxin in every sample.
- RegulationFDA declares the tirzepatide and semaglutide shortages over. Grace periods for mass compounding end in spring 2025.
- EnforcementFDA sends 50+ warning letters, including to "research use only" sellers of retatrutide and BPC-157, and restricts imports of GLP-1 ingredients (Import Alert 66-80).
- RegulationHHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says about 14 restricted peptides will be reclassified.
- EnforcementUS Customs seizes about 5,000 peptide packages in Cincinnati. A Utah physician is indicted for selling China-sourced peptides to more than 200 patients.
- Regulation12 peptides leave Category 2 after their nominations are withdrawn.
- EvidenceLilly's retatrutide Phase 3 trial reports 28.3% weight loss at the highest dose after 80 weeks.
- RegulationFDA advisory committee backs 6 of 7 peptides for compounding, against FDA staff advice.
- EnforcementLilly sues 6 US retatrutide sellers and refers more than 200 entities to regulators.
- EnforcementFDA warns 5 "research use only" peptide sellers that disclaimers don't hold up when marketing implies human use.
- EvidenceFDA's count of adverse event reports for compounded semaglutide reaches 990.
Compound scorecard
All 21 compounds, sorted by US search volume. Compounds are listed by US search volume, highest first.
Scroll the table sideways to see all 10 columns.
| Compound | US status | US searches / month |
Search growth since early 2024 |
Randomized trials |
Animal-only studies |
Phase 3 trials |
FDA adverse event reports |
FDA compounding status | WADA 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retatrutide Weight loss | In trials Phase 3 (Lilly). Not approved anywhere. | 335,000 | +2,418% | 6 | 8 | 14 | 44 | Not on bulks list | S0 (non-approved) |
| BPC-157 Injury recovery | No approval No approved product; no active late-stage trials | 227,000 | +140% | 0 | 109 | 0 | 20 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC 8-6 in favor | S0 (named) |
| Sermorelin Growth hormone | No approval Formerly approved (Geref®); discontinued | 120,000 | +367% | 19 | 114 | 4 | 59 | Never restricted | S2 (prohibited) |
| GHK-Cu Skin/hair | No approval No approved drug (used in cosmetics) | 77,000 | +1,194% | 1 | 18 | 0 | 2 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC pending | Not named |
| Tesamorelin Growth hormone | FDA-approved Approved: Egrifta (HIV-related abdominal fat) | 71,000 | +634% | 26 | 3 | 2 | 3,517 | Never restricted | S2 (prohibited) |
| Ipamorelin Growth hormone | No approval Not approved | 29,000 | +109% | 2 | 20 | 0 | 11 | Left 503A Category 2 Sept 2024; still restricted for 503B | S2 (prohibited) |
| Selank Anxiety/cognition | No approval Not approved in US (registered in Russia) | 24,000 | +1,285% | 3 | 64 | 0 | 0 | Left Category 2 Sept 2024 | Not named |
| MOTS-c Metabolic/longevity | No approval No approved product | 23,000 | +1,111% | 4 | 54 | 0 | 0 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC 7-5 in favor | S4 (prohibited) |
| Cagrilintide Weight loss | In trials Phase 3; CagriSema filed with FDA Dec 2025 (Novo) | 22,000 | +1,408% | 15 | 5 | 22 | 4 | Not on bulks list | S0 (non-approved) |
| PT-141 Sexual health | FDA-approved Approved: Vyleesi (bremelanotide), 2019 | 21,200 | +61% | 14 | 7 | 3 | 1,005 | Never restricted | Not named |
| CJC-1295 Growth hormone | No approval Not approved | 21,000 | +178% | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Left Category 2 Sept 2024 | S2 (prohibited) |
| TB-500 Injury recovery | No approval No approved product | 13,000 | +87% | 7 | 385 | 4 | 4 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC 8-6 in favor | S2 (prohibited) |
| Semax Cognition | No approval Not approved in US (registered in Russia) | 11,000 | +198% | 1 | 164 | 0 | 2 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC 8-5 in favor | Not named |
| Melanotan II Tanning | No approval Never approved | 8,200 | +22% | 1 | 155 | 0 | 10 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC pending | S0 (non-approved) |
| AOD-9604 Weight loss | No approval Not approved | 6,600 | +35% | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Left Category 2 Sept 2024 | S2 (prohibited) |
| Survodutide Weight loss | In trials Phase 3 (Boehringer Ingelheim/Zealand) | 6,200 | +193% | 9 | 0 | 9 | 2 | Not on bulks list | S0 (non-approved) |
| Tirzepatide Weight loss | FDA-approved Approved: Mounjaro®, Zepbound® | 5,200 | +342% | 135 | 73 | 54 | not applicable | Compounding grace period ended 2025 | Monitoring only |
| Mazdutide Weight loss | In trials Approved in China (Jun 2025); Phase 2 in US (Lilly) | 4,100 | +569% | 9 | 1 | 11 | 0 | Not on bulks list | Not named |
| Epitalon Longevity | No approval Not approved | 3,300 | -1% | 6 | 137 | 0 | 0 | Left Category 2 Apr 2026; PCAC 7-4 in favor | S0 (non-approved) |
| Thymosin alpha-1 Immune | No approval Not approved in US (approved abroad as Zadaxin) | 2,600 | -12% | 64 | 240 | 8 | 248 | Left Category 2 Sept 2024 | Not named |
| Semaglutide Weight loss | FDA-approved Approved: Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Wegovy® pill | 2,450 | -24% | 318 | 269 | 179 | not applicable | Compounding grace period ended 2025 | Monitoring only |
US status: FDA-approved means an approved brand exists (the gray-market product is still unapproved), In trials means in late-stage development, and No approval means no approved US product. Search volume is Ahrefs' 12-month US average. FDA adverse event reports are all FAERS reports naming the compound, including reports about approved brands, so they are not shown for semaglutide and tirzepatide.
Methodology
Compounds
We picked 21 peptides that are widely sold online as "research use only" or "not for human consumption". The list covers weight loss (retatrutide, cagrilintide, survodutide, mazdutide, AOD-9604, and "research" semaglutide and tirzepatide), injury recovery, growth hormone, skin, tanning, sexual health, cognition and longevity peptides.
Search demand
Ahrefs' modeled US monthly search volume, January 2023 to August 2026. We combined common spelling variants. Growth compares average monthly volume in January-March 2024 with June-August 2026. For semaglutide and tirzepatide we counted only "peptide" and "research" searches, which point to gray-market interest.
Evidence
PubMed counts from NCBI E-utilities (September 2026). "Randomized trials" counts records with the Randomized Controlled Trial publication type. "Animal-only" counts records indexed with animals but not humans. Trial counts come from the ClinicalTrials.gov API. The TB-500 counts include broader thymosin beta-4 research.
Adverse events
openFDA's FAERS drug event endpoint, matched on product names including common spellings, with data through July 30, 2026. FAERS reports are voluntary and unverified, so they don't prove a drug caused a reaction. They may also include reports from clinical trials.
Enforcement and testing
FDA warning letters and press releases, DOJ and CBP releases, peer-reviewed studies and reputable news coverage, each linked at the point where it's cited. We don't name or link to sellers.
Limitations
- Search volume shows interest, not purchases.
- The retatrutide real-world preprint has not been peer reviewed.
- Poison center data for research peptides specifically isn't published.
- Regulatory status can change quickly. This report reflects September 28, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is a gray-market peptide?
A peptide sold outside the approved drug system, usually online and labeled "research use only" or "not for human consumption". Some are unapproved versions of approved drugs, such as semaglutide or tirzepatide. Others, such as retatrutide, are still in clinical trials. Others, such as BPC-157, have never been approved anywhere. FDA says these labels don't make a product legal when the marketing implies human use.
Which peptide is searched most in the US?
Retatrutide. US searches reached about 361,000 in August 2026, up from about 13,000 in January 2024. Retatrutide is an experimental weight-loss drug from Eli Lilly that no regulator has approved. BPC-157 is second, with about 236,000 searches a month.
Is retatrutide approved?
No. As of September 2026, no regulator anywhere has approved retatrutide. Lilly's Phase 3 TRIUMPH-1 trial reported up to 28.3% average weight loss at 80 weeks in May 2026, and more Phase 3 trials are ongoing. Anything sold as retatrutide today is unapproved.
Is BPC-157 legal?
BPC-157 is not an approved drug in the US, and the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits it. FDA removed it from its compounding "Category 2" restricted list in April 2026 after its nomination was withdrawn, and an FDA advisory committee voted 8-6 in July 2026 to allow compounding. That vote is only advisory. BPC-157 is not on the approved list of bulk substances pharmacies can compound with, and FDA still has to complete rulemaking.
How safe are research peptides bought online?
Independent tests keep finding wrong doses, low purity and contamination. One US study found online semaglutide was 7.7-14.4% pure, with bacterial endotoxin in every sample. In Australia, only 1 of 18 retatrutide samples matched its label, and seven people were hospitalized with liver toxicity after using counterfeit retatrutide.
How much evidence is there for popular research peptides?
It varies widely. Retatrutide, cagrilintide and survodutide have large Phase 3 trials. BPC-157 has no published randomized controlled trials in humans and 109 animal-only studies in PubMed. CJC-1295, GHK-Cu, semax and melanotan II each have one randomized trial or none.
How often is this report updated?
We plan to refresh search, adverse event and evidence data every quarter, and to add regulatory changes as they happen.
Use this data
Journalists and researchers may use and republish these findings and charts with a link to this page.
Peptides.io Research (2026). The Gray-Market Peptide Report 2026. Analysis of Ahrefs US search data (2023-2026), PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, FDA FAERS and FDA/DOJ/CBP enforcement records. https://peptides.io/research/gray-market-peptide-report
Sources
- Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US monthly search volume, accessed Sept 2026.
- National Library of Medicine, PubMed, and ClinicalTrials.gov API, accessed Sept 2026.
- FDA, openFDA drug adverse event data (FAERS), through Jul 30, 2026.
- FDA, FDA's concerns with unapproved GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss.
- FDA, Certain bulk drug substances that may present significant safety risks (updated Apr 22, 2026).
- Ashraf AR, Mackey TK, et al. Availability and quality of semaglutide sold online. JAMA Netw Open, 2024.
- Eli Lilly, statement on illegal retatrutide sales, Aug 12, 2026, and TRIUMPH-1 results, May 21, 2026.
- Partnership for Safe Medicines, summary of the nference gray-market retatrutide preprint, Aug 2026; Medscape coverage.
- Chainalysis, Gray-market peptide crypto boom, 2026.
- ABC News (Australia), reporting on retatrutide testing and hospitalizations, Aug 28, Aug 24, Jun 27 and Sept 14, 2026.
- McDermott Will & Schulte, PCAC backs majority of peptides, Jul 2026.
- ArentFox Schiff, FDA warning letters to five RUO peptide vendors, Aug 2026.
- US Customs and Border Protection, Cincinnati peptide seizure, Apr 2026. US DOJ, N.D. Indiana sentencing, Jul 2026, and D. Utah indictment, Apr 2026.
- Drug Topics, GLP-1 poison center calls (J Med Toxicol 2026). Public Health Reports, usability of gray-market semaglutide instructions, 2026.
- Eli Lilly, ITC ruling on knockoff tirzepatide, Dec 2024. ProPublica, RAADfest peptide injections.