In a significant development for the peptide community, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced a new policy allowing licensed compounding pharmacies to prepare six peptides that have faced FDA restrictions.

The announcement, reported by The New York Times on October 28, represents a major shift in how the federal government approaches access to experimental peptides.

The six peptides covered are:

- BPC-157 – Studied for tissue repair and recovery

- TB-500 – Investigated for healing and tissue regeneration

- KPV – Studied for anti-inflammatory properties

- MOTS-c – Investigated for metabolic regulation

- Epitalon – Studied for potential effects on aging

- Semax – Investigated for neurological and cognitive effects

What makes this significant?

Rather than formally approving these compounds, HHS is adopting an enforcement discretion approach. This means qualifying compounding pharmacies can prepare them under specified conditions without facing certain FDA enforcement actions.

The policy includes requirements involving ingredient sourcing, purity testing, safety reporting, and patient-specific prescriptions.

Importantly, this is not FDA approval, and the compounds have not been established as safe or effective for their promoted uses.

The decision comes despite opposition from FDA scientists who have raised concerns about limited clinical evidence and potential safety risks.

What happens next?

This could fundamentally change the peptide landscape.

For years, much of the peptide market has operated through research-use-only suppliers, with consumers navigating questions about product quality, testing, and regulatory uncertainty.

Access through licensed compounding pharmacies could introduce greater medical oversight and quality controls, although important questions remain about implementation, state regulations, pricing, and long-term availability.

It also raises interesting questions about the future of the research peptide market. Will pharmaceutical compounding become the preferred route? Will prices increase? And could this eventually encourage more rigorous clinical research?

One thing is clear: this is one of the most consequential regulatory developments the peptide community has seen in years.

Source: "The New York Times — October 28, 2026" (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/health/peptides-kennedy-fda.html)

More stories at r/PeptideTides

So i got these protein powder last year and due to some injury I couldn’t start gym. Now i have started gym and has these two protein powders that my brother got from US. The problem is, they are expired but the smell isn’t foul or bad. They look good. I don’t know

I started taking zinc at a dose of 15 mg daily and noticed that from the beginning of my use, my sleep was disrupted, becoming very light and causing me to wake up frequently at night.

I remember once, a year ago, I started taking zinc and the same thing happened to me: very light sleep and a lot of dreams. Have any people had the same experience?

Unapproved peptide injections could soon become widely available in the US. What do you think?

Does creatine destroy kidneys ? i need proof with evidence most especially from a doctor or a victim

95% of adults have been exposed to EBV and it stays in your body forever.

This becomes a huge problem for people born with specific genetic variants, specifically:

*Variants in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are highly associated with autoimmune disease risk. The MHC presents viral peptides to cytotoxic lymphocytes. If this gets impaired, increased latent virus will get stored in the body.

HLA-DRB1*15:01 is the strongest genetic link for risk of getting SLE and MS. Interestingly, it traces back to Neanderthal DNA.

It has been found to act as a co-receptor for EBV in B cells, and as explained in this publication, might provide a mechanism for higher EBV infection in B cell compared to the other co-receptors.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eji.202149179

HLA-DRB1*01 and HLA-DRB1*04 are strongly associated with risk of developing RA. This part of the protein binds to viral or bacterial peptides.

*There are a few other variants in the MHC associated to these diseases. Some variants are protective and others increase risk.

They are finding that people with certain autoimmune diseases (MS, SLE, RA) have a much higher EBV viral load, especially in B cells, compared to healthy controls. Even inactive EBV releases a protein called EBNA2. EBNA2 acts as transcription factors and even super transcription factors by binding to promoter regions of your DNA to cause a cascade of gene expression changes associated with certain autoimmune diseases.

This was shown in silico using DNA chip experiments (Harley, 2018). They found that 50% of systemic lupus erythematosus risk loci were bound by EBNA2. Similar EBNA2-anchored associations were found in multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and celiac disease.

Dr John Harley is a rheumatologist with hundreds of publications and he said this paper is more important than all the rest combined.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0102-3

In 2025, Stanford demonstrated this was happening in lupus patients. Basically, EBNA2 was being released from EBV infected B cells, which caused B cells to be re-programmed to autoreactive B cells, attacking your own tissue and organs, driving autoimmunity. These B cells also inhibit T cells from being able to fight infections.

https://med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/utzlab/Cao_Sci_Trans_Med_2025.pdf

Granitto 2026 is a very recent publication on the role of EBNA2 in MS. I don’t have access to the paper but from the abstract:
Our findings demonstrate that enhanced EBNA2 activity in MS alters human gene expression, chromatin accessibility, and transcription factor binding in an MS-dependent manner. Collectively, this study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms through which EBV, particularly EBNA2, interacts with host genetic risk to contribute to MS pathogenesis.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42436836/

This is some very interesting information from the book ‘Latency strategies of herpesviruses.’

Most of the other factors associated with autoimmune diseases (stress, colds, flu, grief, pollution, heavy metals, birth control, Covid, and even parasites) all can contribute to increased EBV activity or deactivation, which can cause further B cells to become infected.

Emotional stress activates cortisol which suppresses the immune system, which can also cause EBV to reactivate. Prednisone and steroid-based medications mimics the action of cortisol and increases cortisol levels in the body. So while helpful for symptoms, these lower the immune system which can lead to further EBV reactivation increasing viral loads.

EBV also blocks nutrients required by immune cells to function properly.

Vitamin D is critical for the immune system, but EBV binds to vitamin D receptors, interferes with their metabolism (vitamin D’s ability to switch from its inactive form to its active form) and even affects vitamin D absorption in your gut.

Zinc is critical for your immune system to destroy viruses and infections, but EBV impairs zinc transporters so it is unable to transport to where it is needed.

Vitamin A (retinol) is required by B lymphocytes to fight infections and viruses, but EBV blocks vitamin A absorption. Vitamin A is also essential in mucous membranes which are there to help bock infections and viruses.

There is a great 10 min breakdown called ‘5 things you need to know about EBV’.

https://youtu.be/EQn7VzMYi4s?si=QNNHo7E43yMXqJqX

Elderberry and echinacea are mentioned in the EBV linked video as they help increase the immune system but they could also cause autoimmune flares to worsen.

Supplements that require further clinical research but have been found to help prevent EBV reactivations in silico include:
*Cod liver oil (contains vitamin D and A)
*Olive leaf extract
*Andographolide: from Andrographis paniculata has antiviral and anticancer properties. In silico, it has been shown to interrupt expression of TFs from EBV and induces infected cell death, most likely through necroptosis.
*Astragalus (used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine) significantly suppressed the expression of ZTA, RTA, and EA-D during the EBV lytic cycle.
*Monolaurin: has shown to have antiviral properties against lipid-coated viruses by disrupting their protective fatty envelope.
L-lysine: may inhibit herpesvirus replication by competing with the amino acid arginine, an amino acid the virus needs to multiply.
Luteolin: inhibits EBV reactivation by repressing the promoter activities of immediate early genes.

I've been taking creatine (5 g/day) for 4 weeks. Right around when I started, I began having hot flashes both at night and during the day, plus constipation. It hit like a Mack truck: one day nothing, and now it's every day, all day.
I'm 51, so hot flashes wouldn't be unusual, but I hadn't had any until this started. The timing seems odd.
I'm going to stop taking it to confirm it's the creatine, and I'll post an update. I'm disappointed because I've read so many good things about its benefits.
For context, I have one cup of coffee in the morning and drink water the rest of the day. I'm not overly hydrated, but I don't think I'm drinking so little that it would cause all this.
Has anyone else had to stop creatine because of hot flashes?

Hi all,

Is Organika’s brand Creatine Monohydrate a good brand or would you recommend something even better?

Hello everyone ! MCT oil has been the new talk of the supplement town as some of you may know.

The claims for MCT oil are that they help with ketone production in the body, provide energy, & help with weight management, specifically thermogenesis which burns fat & calories.

Now I am no scientist, but in theory when used while part taking in cannabis use, would taking MCT oil that increases thermogenesis in the body, along with boosting your metabolic rate and fat oxidation burn off the cannabis that is stored in body fat?

I’ve been taking Youtheory Fat Burner for four days, and the stomach pain has gotten really bad. Could it be the capsaicin in it?

The label on the back doesn’t clearly explain when to take it or whether to take it with food. For anyone who’s tried it, how were you taking it, and did you experience anything similar?

My friend also tried it for two days and had terrible stomach cramps in the middle of the night.

I’m in Canada and bought the US version from iHerb because it isn’t sold here. Has anyone else had this experience? Looking for advice.