An FDA advisory panel has voted to approve six of seven peptide drugs for the agency’s compounding list, a move supporters are calling a win for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
The Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee’s vote, first reported by STAT, would clear the way for pharmacies to legally mix and prescribe the peptides under the 503A Bulks List. Peptides are short chains of amino acids, usually administered by injection, that have surged in popularity through the “biohacking” and “looksmaxxing” trends online.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has lauded peptides and said he takes them himself. https://t.co/Q4PT3Zvmpx
— STAT (@statnews) July 24, 2026
The committee backed BPC-157 for ulcerative colitis, MOTS-c for obesity and osteoporosis, and KPV and TB-500 for wound healing. It rejected emideltide, which was proposed for withdrawal, chronic insomnia and narcolepsy.
Xifin Pharmacy Solutions chief pharmacy officer David Pope, who voted yes on BPC-157, said the decision belongs with doctors and patients rather than regulators.
“It’s time to put this decision back in the hands of the patient, the physician and the pharmacist,” he said.
Kennedy has long championed peptides publicly, telling Joe Rogan in February that he is a “big fan” and takes them himself.
Writing for the MAHA Report, registered nurse Catherine Ebeling called the vote “a win for HHS Secretary Kennedy and MAHA,” noting it opens a path for compounding pharmacies to prepare six popular peptides by prescription.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer echoed that sentiment online, calling it a win “for all Americans that Secretary Kennedy helped lead.”
I know the media wants to sell this as a @RobertKennedyJr win — and it is — but its really a win for all Americans that @SecKennedy helped lead
In win for RFK Jr., FDA advisory panel narrowly votes to allow compounding of unapproved peptideshttps://t.co/isSwpNePS6
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 23, 2026
The vote is only a recommendation. Ebeling noted that “none of the compounds became an FDA-approved drug this week,” and the FDA will still need to complete formal notice-and-comment rulemaking before any changes take effect — a process the agency has finished for only about ten substances since Congress created the Bulks List in 1977.
FDA staff had recommended against approving any of the seven peptides, citing a lack of clinical data on safety and effectiveness. Pat Aussem of the Partnership to End Addiction told the Daily Caller News Foundation the panel’s votes were unusually close, 8-6 and 7-5, and noted six of the eight newly seated advisers had previously sold peptide products themselves.
Aussem also raised concerns about the broader unapproved-peptide market, pointing to a Chainalysis report estimating $27 million in crypto payments to grey-market peptide vendors in the first quarter of 2026 — up roughly 150% from the prior quarter. An HHS spokesperson told the DCNF that all panelists “underwent the same ethics review and vetting process required of all FDA advisory committee members.”