Pro League Peptide Policies: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and UFC

Pro leagues write their own rules

Olympic athletes are tested against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list directly, as our IOC regulations page explains. North American pro leagues aren't. Each league negotiates its own drug policy with its players' union. Banned lists and penalties therefore differ from league to league. The UFC works differently: its program adopts the WADA list with a few changes.

For reference, WADA's 2026 Prohibited List, in force as of October 2026, puts BPC-157 in S0 (non-approved substances) and TB-500 in S2.3 (growth factors). Growth hormone secretagogues such as CJC-1295 and ipamorelin sit in S2.2.4. Our overview of competitive sports rules has the full WADA table. College athletes should see our NCAA peptide regulations page instead, since the NCAA keeps a separate list.

The leagues at a glance

This table reflects the league and union documents we could open in October 2026.

All five also test outside the season, so there's no off-season window.

NFL

The 2026 NFL Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances, agreed by the league and the NFL Players Association, files "protein and peptide hormones" under its anabolic agents heading. That section names BPC-157 outright. Its growth hormone examples include CJC-1295 and tesamorelin among the GHRH analogues. Ipamorelin, ibutamoren (MK-677) and GHRP-6 appear among the secretagogues and releasing peptides. We didn't find TB-500 named. The substance list is marked "last update: August 8, 2022."

A first positive for an anabolic agent brings a six-game suspension without pay. A second costs 17 games. A third means banishment for at least two seasons, with a petition for reinstatement allowed after 24 months.

Ten players per club are picked at random each week of the preseason and regular season. Off-season testing is capped at six tests per player, blood tests included. Every player can be tested for growth hormone through dried blood spot analysis. The policy adds: "Players are responsible for what is in their bodies and a positive test will not be excused because a Player was unaware that he was taking a Prohibited Substance."

MLB

The MLB program text we checked is the 2022 Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, negotiated with the MLB Players Association for the 2022-2026 Basic Agreement. Its growth hormone entry names "Thymosin Beta 4 (TB-500)" together with secretagogues such as ipamorelin and CJC-1295. The same entry covers AOD-9604 and myostatin inhibitors. We didn't find BPC-157 named, but the program calls its list "non-exhaustive" and also covers peptide hormones "that may not be lawfully obtained or used in the United States."

A first violation means an 80-game suspension. A second means 162 games and 183 days of pay. A third is a permanent suspension, although the player can apply for reinstatement after a year.

Urine and growth hormone blood testing run in season and off-season, with no limit on how often one player can be randomly selected. MLB's 2025 public report, released December 1, 2025, counted 11,700 tests, including 2,300 blood spot samples for growth hormone. Two adverse findings led to discipline that year: hCG in one case and testosterone in the other.

NBA

The NBA's rules sit in Article XXXIII of the 2023 collective bargaining agreement. A first positive for a steroid or performance-enhancing drug brings a 25-game suspension and entry into a treatment program. A second costs 55 games, and a third means dismissal from the league.

Players can be tested without notice for banned substances by urine up to four times a season and twice in the off-season. Separate random blood tests for growth hormone, using dried blood spots, can happen up to twice a season and once in the off-season. The banned list is an exhibit to the agreement that we couldn't find in public, so which peptides the NBA names is unverified.

NHL

The NHL's Performance Enhancing Substances Program is Article 47 of its 2013 collective bargaining agreement with the players' association. We didn't review whether later agreements changed this article. A first positive brings a 20-game unpaid suspension and a mandatory referral for evaluation. A second costs 60 games. A third is a "permanent" suspension, with reinstatement possible on application after at least two years.

The NHL and the union maintain the banned list jointly, and it changes only by negotiation. We couldn't find a public copy. Under the 2013 text, each team faces no-notice team-wide testing once in training camp and once in the regular season, plus random individual tests. Off-season testing is capped at 60 tests league-wide.

In March 2025 the NHL suspended Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad for 20 games under this program. The substance wasn't made public. In a statement, Ekblad said he "made a mistake by taking something to help me recover from recent injuries without first checking with proper medical and team personnel."

UFC

Since early 2024, the UFC's anti-doping program has been run by an independent administrator, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD). USADA handled testing before that transition. According to the UFC, every athlete on the active roster is subject to unannounced testing 365 days a year. All samples go to one WADA-accredited lab in Salt Lake City, which also keeps a biological passport for each athlete.

UFC athletes file whereabouts information every quarter, including where they'll sleep each night. Three whereabouts failures within 12 months may count as a violation.

The UFC Prohibited List took effect on January 1, 2024. It follows WADA's list and its Specified labels unless the UFC changes them. It names BPC-157 under S0 and TB-500 under S2. Under the 2024 UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the standard sanction is two years for a non-Specified substance and one year for a Specified one. Aggravating circumstances can add up to two years, and other articles allow reductions. Because BPC-157 is Specified and S2 substances aren't, a BPC-157 case starts from one year while a TB-500 or ipamorelin case starts from two.

In May 2026 a fighter accepted 12 months for an ipamorelin positive; CSAD found gross negligence tied to a wellness clinic product used during injury recovery. In January 2026 another accepted 30 months for testosterone after admitting to using both testosterone and BPC-157. Athletic commissions can also apply their own lists where events are held.

Why recovery peptides catch athletes

BPC-157 and TB-500 are sold mainly for injury recovery, and two of the cases above involved products used while recovering from injury. The evidence behind these peptides is thin. BPC-157 rests mostly on rodent studies plus three small uncontrolled human pilots; our BPC-157 profile covers that research. TB-500 is a synthetic seven-amino-acid fragment of thymosin beta-4, and as of October 2026 the FDA says it has found no human exposure data for the fragment.

A league's silence on a compound isn't a loophole either. The NFL policy covers natural and synthetic growth hormones "and related or similar substances." MLB calls its list non-exhaustive. WADA's S0 category, which the UFC adopts, catches any substance with no human approval anywhere.

Therapeutic use exemptions

Most of these programs let a player apply in advance for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE). The NBA text we read instead lets its medical director clear a positive that has "a valid alternative medical explanation." The NFL's TUE rules set general requirements: the medication must be "necessary and indicated" for a diagnosed problem, non-prohibited alternatives must have failed or been ruled out, and the exemption must be granted before use starts. MLB's 2025 report lists 57 exemptions granted, 54 of them for ADHD. In the UFC, CSAD decides exemption requests.

In our reading, a research peptide with no approved medical use is a poor fit for any of these processes, because there's no approved indication to document. Drug-tested bodybuilding has its own approach, covered on our natural bodybuilding federation rules page.

What we still don't know

• Which peptides the NBA's exhibit of banned substances names, since we found no public copy.
• Whether a new MLB program will replace the 2022 text when the 2022-2026 Basic Agreement ends.
• Whether later NHL agreements changed Article 47, and what its banned list names.
• Whether the NFL will name TB-500 when it next updates its 2022 substance list.
• Whether the UFC's list will pick up WADA's 2027 List when it takes effect on January 1, 2027.