Category · Healing peptides
Healing peptides: grading the hype.
Probably the most-searched peptides on the internet — and probably the corner of the space where the gap between marketing claims and human evidence is widest. Here's what each one actually has behind it.
The category usually means three compounds: BPC-157 ("body protective compound"), TB-500 (a synthetic fragment of Thymosin Beta-4), and TB-4 itself. All three have interesting mechanism work and a substantial rodent literature on tendon, ligament, and tissue repair. The human evidence is dramatically thinner than the online enthusiasm — and that's reflected in the grades below.
Be especially careful with marketing copy on these. Claims like "studies show" almost always trace back to animal data; "extensive research" almost always means rodent or in-vitro work. We grade strictly on human evidence, which is how you get the gap between everyone-uses-them and the numbers below.
- 6/10 · Preliminary Thymosin Beta-4 Corneal/eye-surface healing, dry eye, and wound repair; cardiac and stroke repair (preclinical, abandoned).
- 4/10 · Animal-leaning BPC-157 Tissue and wound healing, tendon and gut repair, and anti-inflammatory effects — almost entirely in animals.
- 4/10 · Animal-leaning TB-500 Tissue repair, wound healing, and recovery — mainly in animal and veterinary work.
Reading this class honestly
For why animal data alone gets a low grade, see the Codex Scale. For the gray-market context — "research use only" labels, vendor claims, COAs — see the gray market and how to read a COA.