BPC-157

What BPC-157 is

BPC-157 (Body Protection Compound-157) is a synthetic peptide of 15 amino acids whose sequence, Gly-Glu-Pro-Pro-Pro-Gly-Lys-Pro-Ala-Asp-Asp-Ala-Gly-Leu-Val, is described as a fragment of a larger protein that the discovering group reported isolating from human gastric juice [1, 2]. The group in question is the laboratory of Predrag Sikirić at the University of Zagreb, which first described the compound in the early 1990s and has published the great majority of the primary literature on it since. The name "pentadecapeptide" simply records its length; "stable gastric pentadecapeptide" is the phrase the Zagreb group uses in most of its titles.

Two structural points are worth noting. The sequence contains no cysteine and no non-natural residues, so there is no disulphide bridge to form or protect and no lipid chain, which makes it one of the simpler peptides in the catalogue to handle. The sequence is also proline-rich, with four prolines in fifteen positions, and the discovering group has attributed its reported resistance to gastric digestion partly to that feature [1, 2]. The free peptide carries a net negative charge at neutral pH from its glutamate and two aspartates.

Research-grade BPC-157 is supplied as a white to off-white lyophilised powder. Two salt forms exist in the literature and in commerce: the acetate, which is the form produced by routine solid-phase synthesis and HPLC purification, and an arginate (L-arginine) salt, discussed below. The reference identifiers for the free peptide are in the table; the values on any batch certificate should agree with them within the precision of the method used.

How the literature describes its mechanism

No receptor for BPC-157 has been identified, and the compound has no established molecular target. What the literature offers instead is a set of downstream observations in cells and tissues, from which the authors infer pathways.

The most cited mechanistic paper outside the Zagreb group is from Chang and colleagues at Chang Gung University in Taiwan, published in 2011. Working with rat Achilles tendon explants and the fibroblasts that grow out of them, they reported that BPC-157 accelerated outgrowth from explants, increased fibroblast migration in a transwell assay in a concentration-dependent manner, improved survival under hydrogen peroxide stress and increased spreading with F-actin formation. It did not, in their hands, increase proliferation in an MTT assay. By Western blot they observed increased phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and paxillin without changes in total protein, and proposed that the effects run through the FAK–paxillin pathway [5].

The Zagreb group's own reviews set out a broader framework. In the gastrointestinal literature they describe BPC-157 as a cytoprotective agent in the sense used by Robert in the 1970s, and have argued that the "Roberts cytoprotection" concept should be revised around it [2]. They report, across a long series of rat models, protection or accelerated healing of gastric, intestinal, hepatic and pancreatic lesions, and of fistulas and anastomoses [1]. A later review from the same group extends the argument to the vasculature, proposing that BPC-157 recruits and activates collateral vessels around an occlusion, which they describe as "vascular recruitment", and reports effects on nitric oxide signalling, thrombosis and bleeding in rat models [4]. The brain–gut axis review from 2016 reports, again mainly in rats, altered serotonin release in nigrostriatal regions after peripheral administration, protective effects in models of neuronal injury and modulation of dopaminergic and serotonergic behaviour, and names Egr-1, NAB2, FAK–paxillin and JAK-2 among the implicated pathways [3]. A 2022 review by Vukojević and colleagues, from the same laboratory, summarises three rat studies in stroke-like ischaemia–reperfusion, catalepsy and spinal cord compression models [7].

The independent 2019 review by Gwyer, Wragg and Wilson, from Loughborough and Keele, is the most useful survey of the musculoskeletal work for a reader outside the field. It covers the rat tendon, ligament and muscle models (Achilles tendon transection, medial collateral ligament transection, quadriceps transection and gastrocnemius crush), the chick chorioallantoic membrane angiogenesis assay, and the in-vitro tendon fibroblast and endothelial cell work. The authors note that almost all of the data come from small-animal models, mainly rats, and that efficacy in humans has not been confirmed [6].

For an in-vitro programme, the readouts that have been published are fibroblast migration and outgrowth, cell survival under oxidative stress, cytoskeletal reorganisation, FAK and paxillin phosphorylation, and growth-hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts. Concentrations used in the published cell work are in the nanogram-to-microgram-per-millilitre range, and, as with any compound lacking a defined receptor, results depend heavily on cell type, passage and assay format.

The research record

BPC-157 has almost no published human trial data, and it is important to say that plainly, because the compound is often discussed as though it were a well-characterised drug. It is not.

Preclinical. The animal literature is large by count. The 2025 literature and patent review by Józwiak and colleagues, from Warsaw and Gdańsk, is the most recent attempt to survey it independently of the originating group. The authors find that "most, if not all" of the studies are in small animals, principally rats and mice, and that the foundational work is attributable to Sikirić and colleagues, who appear throughout the reference list [10]. The other groups that have published primary data include Chang and Hsieh in Taiwan, working on tendon, and He and colleagues in China, working on pharmacokinetics [5, 8, 10]. Independent replication of the headline findings, by laboratories without an author in common with Zagreb, is limited to a handful of papers.

Pharmacokinetics. The best characterised aspect of the compound is, ironically, how quickly it disappears. He and colleagues reported in Frontiers in Pharmacology in 2022 that in rats the intact peptide had an intravenous half-life of about 15 minutes, and in beagle dogs about 5 minutes; after intramuscular dosing, bioavailability was 14–19% in rats and 45–51% in dogs. Using a tritium label they found the peptide was cleaved into small fragments and then to free proline, which entered normal amino acid metabolism, with urinary excretion the main route [8]. These data are from animals only; the paper does not report any human pharmacokinetics.

Human data. There is one published clinical report. Lee and Padgett, in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine in 2021, described a retrospective chart review of patients at a private clinic in Florida who received intra-articular injections for knee pain. Twelve patients received BPC-157 alone and 11 reported significant improvement in a telephone survey; four others received it with thymosin β4. There was no control group, no validated outcome measure, no imaging follow-up and no blinding [9]. A 2025 systematic review of the orthopaedic literature, by Vasireddi and colleagues in the HSS Journal, identified this as the only clinical study, rated the available evidence as level IV and V, and found no human safety data at all [11].

A phase I safety and pharmacokinetic study in 42 healthy volunteers was registered in 2015 (NCT02637284). According to Józwiak and colleagues, submission of the results was cancelled in 2016 and nothing from the trial has been published [10]. The Zagreb group's reviews refer to earlier clinical work in ulcerative colitis and a planned trial in multiple sclerosis [3, 4]; Gwyer and colleagues examined the available reports of the colitis work and found the details too limited to be informative [6]. Formal toxicology from the originating group is summarised only in the phrase "no toxicity being reported" [2], which is a statement about absence of published findings rather than a safety assessment.

Stability in gastric juice. The claim that BPC-157 is stable in human gastric juice is repeated in most of the Zagreb group's reviews and is the origin of the word "stable" in the compound's usual name [1, 2]. The primary data behind the claim are not easy to locate, and the reviews state it without a duration or a method. The one quantitative dataset in the public domain is from a patent, discussed in the next paragraph, and it shows the acetate salt degrading substantially within hours in artificial gastric juice at pH 3 [12]. A reader should treat the stability claim as a reported property rather than an established one.

The arginate salt. A patent granted in the United States in 2017 to Rudolf Rucman, a long-standing co-author of the Zagreb group, and assigned to Diagen d.o.o., describes salts of the pentadecapeptide with basic amino acids and reports the applicant's own stability tests. In those tests the L-arginine salt retained about 99% of its peptide content after 388 hours at 50 °C in aqueous solution, against about 21% for the acetate; and in artificial gastric juice at pH 3.0 the arginate retained about 85% after five hours while the acetate was almost entirely gone [12]. These figures are from a patent and have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. They are relevant to a laboratory because they suggest the two salt forms may behave differently in solution, and a certificate should state which form has been supplied. The material sold here is the acetate unless the product page says otherwise.

Taking the record as a whole. BPC-157 is a well-studied compound in rats from a small number of laboratories, with a consistent pattern of reported effects on healing and cytoprotection, a very short circulating half-life, no identified receptor, no controlled human trial, and limited independent replication. That is a legitimate basis for in-vitro research. It is not a basis for therapeutic claims of any kind, and this page makes none.

Regulatory status in the United Kingdom

BPC-157 is not licensed as a medicine in the UK or anywhere else. It has no marketing authorisation, no monograph in any pharmacopoeia, and no approved therapeutic use. BuyUK Peptides supplies it as a research chemical for in-vitro laboratory use under the Terms of Sale. It is not for human or veterinary administration. Purchasers must be 18 or over and are responsible for ensuring their use of the material complies with the laws and institutional rules that apply to them. Our guide to the UK rules on research compounds sets this out in more detail.

The World Anti-Doping Agency added BPC-157 to its Prohibited List with effect from 1 January 2022, under category S0 (non-approved substances), which covers pharmacological substances with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use. UK Anti-Doping's summary of the 2022 changes records that "Body Protecting Compound-157 (BPC-157) has now been listed as a prohibited substance" and warns athletes about supplements marketed with it [13]. The S0 category applies at all times, in and out of competition. Any researcher whose institution is subject to anti-doping rules should be aware of this.

Handling, storage and stability

BPC-157 is supplied lyophilised in a glass vial with a rubber stopper and an aluminium flip-off crimp. As a short, unlipidated, cysteine-free peptide it is among the more forgiving compounds in the catalogue to reconstitute, although the degradation data above are a reminder that "stable" is a relative term.

Sealed vial. Store at 2–8 °C for routine use and at −20 °C or below for storage beyond a few months. Protect from light. Avoid repeated freeze–thaw cycles. Allow a refrigerated vial to reach room temperature before opening, so that moisture does not condense onto the cake.

Reconstitution. For most in-vitro work the compound is reconstituted in sterile bacteriostatic water, sterile water for injection, or a buffer appropriate to the assay. A 15-residue peptide with three acidic residues and no lipid chain dissolves readily in water; add the solvent down the side of the vial and swirl gently, and the cake should clear within seconds. There is no need for sonication or prolonged mixing. The reconstitution calculator gives the volume to add for a target concentration.

Reconstituted solution. Keep at 2–8 °C and protect from light. The published half-life data concern enzymatic cleavage in plasma and tissue, not chemical stability in clean aqueous solution. The conservative practice for a research solution is to use it within 28 days and to discard it if it becomes cloudy. Aliquoting into single-use volumes and freezing at −20 °C is a sensible alternative where the buffer permits it. Avoid acidic buffers for storage: the patent data show substantially faster loss at pH 2–3 [12].

Solubility. BPC-157 acetate is freely soluble in water and in common aqueous buffers at the concentrations used in research. It does not foam or aggregate under gentle agitation. Where filtration is required a standard 0.22 µm membrane is adequate; the adsorption concerns that apply to amphipathic peptides do not apply here.

What a sound certificate for BPC-157 looks like

Every batch we release carries an independent certificate of analysis, and the figures from it are transcribed on the product page and in the certificate register. For BPC-157 a certificate should contain the following, and a reader should be able to check each item against this monograph.

Purity by RP-HPLC. Reversed-phase HPLC on a C18 column with UV detection at 214 or 220 nm reports purity as the area of the main peak as a percentage of all integrated peaks. A good batch of BPC-157 shows a single dominant peak with purity of 98% or above; 99% and above is common for a peptide this short. The principal impurities in a 15-mer are deletion sequences, which elute close to the main peak, so a certificate that shows the chromatogram is more informative than one that reports a number alone.

Identity by LC-MS. Electrospray mass spectrometry confirms that the main peak has the expected mass. For BPC-157 the average molecular weight is 1419.55 Da and the monoisotopic mass is approximately 1418.7 Da. A peptide of this size usually appears as the singly charged [M+H]+ ion at about 1420.6 and the doubly charged [M+2H]2+ ion at about 710.8, and a certificate may report either or a deconvoluted mass. The observed mass should agree with the theoretical value to within about 0.5 Da. A mass 174 Da higher than expected would indicate an arginine adduct and should prompt a question about which salt form has been supplied.

Net peptide content. Lyophilised peptides contain bound water and counter-ions, usually trifluoroacetate from purification or acetate after an exchange step, so the mass of powder in the vial is more than the mass of peptide. For a short acidic peptide the counter-ion fraction can be significant. Net peptide content, where reported, expresses the fraction that is actual peptide, and it matters for preparing solutions of accurate concentration.

Endotoxin. Where the batch has been tested, a limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) result is reported in endotoxin units per milligram. This is relevant to the cell-based assays in which BPC-157 is most often studied, where endotoxin contamination can itself alter fibroblast and endothelial behaviour and confound results.

Our guide to reading a certificate of analysis goes through a complete report line by line.

Related compounds

BPC-157 is most often discussed alongside TB-500, a synthetic fragment of thymosin β4, with which it shares a rodent tissue-repair literature; the two were used together in the Lee and Padgett knee series [9], and we supply a BPC-157 and TB-500 blend for programmes that study them in combination. GHK-Cu, a copper-binding tripeptide, is the other short, unlipidated, cysteine-free peptide in the catalogue with a wound-healing literature, and it handles in much the same way at the bench, although its mechanism, through copper delivery and gene expression, is quite different. For the two side by side, including the shape of each evidence base, see BPC-157 vs TB-500.

Frequently asked questions

Is BPC-157 found naturally in the body? The Zagreb group describes it as a fragment of a protein isolated from human gastric juice [1, 2]. The parent protein has not been fully characterised, and the research material is entirely synthetic.

What is the difference between the acetate and the arginate? They are the same peptide with a different counter-ion. The arginate is claimed in patent literature to be more stable in solution and in acidic conditions [12]. The two have different masses by LC-MS, and the certificate should state which has been supplied.

Are there any human trials? One retrospective, uncontrolled case series of 12 patients [9], and one registered phase I study whose results were never released [10]. There is no controlled trial.

Is it on the WADA list? Yes, under S0 (non-approved substances), since 1 January 2022 [13].

How long does a sealed vial last? Short lyophilised peptides of this kind are stable for years at −20 °C and for many months at 2–8 °C. The batch certificate reports the test date; the storage guidance on this page applies from receipt.

References

1. Sikiric P, Seiwerth S, Rucman R, et al. Stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157: novel therapy in gastrointestinal tract. Current Pharmaceutical Design. 2011;17(16):1612–1632. doi:10.2174/138161211796196954. PMID 21548867.
2. Sikiric P, Seiwerth S, Brcic L, et al. Revised Robert's cytoprotection and adaptive cytoprotection and stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157. Possible significance and implications for novel mediator. Current Pharmaceutical Design. 2010;16(10):1224–1234. doi:10.2174/138161210790945977.
3. Sikiric P, Seiwerth S, Rucman R, et al. Brain-gut axis and pentadecapeptide BPC 157: theoretical and practical implications. Current Neuropharmacology. 2016;14(8):857–865. doi:10.2174/1570159X13666160502153022. PMID 27138887.
4. Sikiric P, Rucman R, Turkovic B, et al. Novel cytoprotective mediator, stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157. Vascular recruitment and gastrointestinal tract healing. Current Pharmaceutical Design. 2018;24(18):1990–2001. doi:10.2174/1381612824666180608101119. PMID 29879879.
5. Chang CH, Tsai WC, Lin MS, Hsu YH, Pang JHS. The promoting effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on tendon healing involves tendon outgrowth, cell survival, and cell migration. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2011;110(3):774–780. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00945.2010. PMID 21030672.
6. Gwyer D, Wragg NM, Wilson SL. Gastric pentadecapeptide body protection compound BPC 157 and its role in accelerating musculoskeletal soft tissue healing. Cell and Tissue Research. 2019;377(2):153–159. doi:10.1007/s00441-019-03016-8. PMID 30915550.
7. Vukojević J, Milavić M, Perović D, et al. Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 and the central nervous system. Neural Regeneration Research. 2022;17(3):482–487. doi:10.4103/1673-5374.320969.
8. He L, Feng D, Guo H, et al. Pharmacokinetics, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of body-protective compound 157, a potential drug for treating various wounds, in rats and dogs. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2022;13:1026182. doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.1026182. PMID 36588717.
9. Lee E, Padgett B. Intra-articular injection of BPC 157 for multiple types of knee pain. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 2021;27(4):8–13. PMID 34324435.
10. Józwiak M, Bauer M, Kamysz W, Kleczkowska P. Multifunctionality and possible medical application of the BPC 157 peptide—literature and patent review. Pharmaceuticals. 2025;18(2):185. doi:10.3390/ph18020185.
11. Vasireddi N, Hahamyan H, Salata MJ, et al. Emerging use of BPC-157 in orthopaedic sports medicine: a systematic review. HSS Journal. 2025;21(4):485–495. doi:10.1177/15563316251355551. PMID 40756949.
12. Rucman R, inventor; Diagen d.o.o., assignee. Stable pentadecapeptide salts, a process for preparation thereof, a use thereof in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations and a use thereof in therapy. US Patent 9,850,282 B2. Granted 26 December 2017. patents.google.com/patent/US9850282B2.
13. UK Anti-Doping. Major changes to the 2022 Prohibited List: what you need to know. Published 2021. network.ukad.org.uk.

This monograph summarises the published literature for laboratory researchers. It is not medical advice, and nothing on this site is for human or veterinary use.