POST 6 — What just happened at the FDA in July?

What just happened at the FDA

On July 23 and 24, 2026, the FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee met to decide whether seven peptides can go back on the 503A Bulk Drug Substances List, which governs what licensed compounding pharmacies may legally prepare against a prescription. During the Biden administration, 12 peptides were removed from that list and even doctors could not prescribe them.

The committee recommended six of the seven discussed. BPC-157, KPV, TB-500, and MOTS-c cleared on the first day. Epitalon and Semax cleared on the second. Only Emideltide, better known as DSIP, was voted down.

What made it remarkable is that the FDA’s own career scientists had recommended against all seven, citing thin clinical evidence and inconsistent chemical naming. The panel overruled them six times. Reporters in the room described an audible gasp when the first tally was read.

Two things to keep in mind about what that means. The votes are recommendations, not rules, the FDA makes the final call, and formal listing requires a rulemaking process the agency has completed for only about ten substances since Congress created the list in 1997. And none of these compounds became an FDA-approved drug. Clearing them for compounding means a licensed pharmacy could prepare them with a prescription, which is a different and much narrower thing.

Five more compounds go before the committee by February 2027, including GHK-Cu.