Opinion: STAT+: Did Kennedy just stack the deck on FDA oversight of peptides?
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taking steps to change FDA oversight of certain peptides. These peptides, previously banned due to safety concerns, may soon be allowed for compounding again. This move raises significant public health risks according to experts.
- ▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to lift the FDA's ban on certain peptides like BPC-157 and GHK-Cu.
- ▪In 2023, the FDA classified these peptides as Category 2, prohibiting their compounding due to safety concerns.
- ▪Specialty pharmacies had previously exploited a loophole to market these unproven drugs.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
STAT PlusOpinionLab Dish Did Kennedy just stack the deck on FDA oversight of peptides? It sure looks like it Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article STAT, Adobe By Paul KnoepflerApril 29, 2026 Knoepfler is a professor of cell biology and human anatomy at UC Davis School of Medicine. I’ve been waiting for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to do something big on oversight of what I call pop peptides, like BPC-157 and GHK-Cu. He had long signaled that he was going to free such peptides from what he saw as a past, misguided FDA that had banned them in 2023. It’s finally happened — and the way it went down shook me up a bit.Advertisement For a few years, a loophole in compounding rules had allowed specialty pharmacies to make and market these peptides.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at STAT News.
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