In July 2026, an FDA panel voted to recommend peptides for pharmacy compounding, including BPC-157, TB-500, and MOTS-c. In our August poll, we asked the DOC community about this vote and whether it might influence their views on peptides: are they still on the fence holding out for more data? Or, if they’d already adopted these off-label amino acids, what might they share about the stacks they’d been trying?
The results? Fewer than one in ten — 8.3 percent — are using peptides today. While some peptides (like GLP-1s) have earned FDA approval, most are still off-label and live in the gray market, meaning that while they may be research-grade, they are not greenlit for human use. Those few who are “experimenting” with peptides are dabbling with stacks that in some cases include MOTS-c, one of the peptides the FDA panel recommended, and is being studied for regulating metabolic stress.
Still, the majority of DOC respondents remain unmoved. More than one-third, 35 percent, want clear data from human trials. Another 30 percent are waiting for peptides to come off the gray market and be available through official prescriptions. Fewer than 27 percent are still “looking to learn” more on peptides in general. As one commenter stated, “I think it’s crazy to experiment with non-FDA-approved peptides.”
That’s not everyone’s sentiment. Some in the DOC community are listening to friends who are using them, and even prescribing non-gray market peptides for patients, even while not dabbling in their use themselves. But most of you want some “real science” backing the anecdotal claims everyone has heard about — or, as one person stated, “randomized trials with valid clinical endpoints to guide clinical use.”
DOC’s own motto, looking to advance “credible science,” echoes these sentiments. And we’ll be hearing from experts including Eli Lilly’s Ruth Gimeno, Ph.D., C.O. Bigelow’s Alec Ginsberg, Pharm.D., and Bioscope AI’s Helen Messier, M.D., Ph.D. They’ll converse at DOC 2026 in October on stage — and with the community — to help us discern the difference between data-driven longevity science and the hype that’s overwhelming the field.
See you all there.