Legal Status of Peptides in Sports

Where Peptides Sit on the Prohibited List

For athletes covered by the World Anti-Doping Code, the WADA Prohibited List decides which peptides are banned. Whether a peptide is legal to buy where you live has no bearing on its status in sport. Our guide to how peptides get onto the List and how strict liability works explains the mechanics; this page is the athlete's overview.

As of October 2026, the 2026 List is in force. Every substance in the table below is prohibited at all times (in and out of competition) and is named on the List individually or as a class. We checked each placement against the 2026 List text.

None of these is "under review." WADA added BPC-157 to S0 by name in the 2022 List, the first substance ever named in that section. TB-500 sits in S2.3, where the List names "Thymosin-β4 and its derivatives e.g. TB-500"; it isn't an S0 substance. MOTS-c is named in S4.4.1 alongside AICAR. The Specified label only changes the starting sanction (see below).

Semaglutide and tirzepatide are not prohibited as of October 2026. Both are in WADA's Monitoring Program, which means labs track their use without any sanction.

S0 and the 2027 List

S0 covers any pharmacological substance that no other section addresses and that has "no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use." That reaches unapproved research peptides even when the List doesn't name them. The 2027 List, already published and in force from January 1, 2027, goes a step further: according to USADA's athlete advisory, it names "peptides" in general as S0 substances.

How Testing Works

Athletes in a testing pool can be tested in or out of competition, usually without notice. Our page on what anti-doping labs can detect goes into the methods; this is the short version.

Growth Hormone Tests

Labs use two complementary blood tests for growth hormone. The isoform test looks for the imbalance injected GH creates: recombinant GH is pure 22 kD hormone, while the pituitary releases a mix of forms. GH clears quickly, so a 2011 review put the isoform test's window at about 12-24 hours after the last dose.

The biomarker test measures IGF-1 and P-III-NP, a collagen marker. Both rise with GH use and fall slowly, and the same review estimated detection for up to about 2 weeks after stopping. WADA's laboratory guidelines for this test say it "may also have utility" in detecting GH secretagogues and IGF-1 misuse.

Secretagogues in Urine

Many GH secretagogues are small peptides that labs can detect directly in urine. Anti-doping labs have published liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods for GHRPs and their main metabolites since at least 2011, and methods for BPC-157 and TB-500 have followed. Detection windows vary by peptide and dose, and most published figures come from small administration studies.

The Athlete Biological Passport

The Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) tracks an athlete's own markers over time instead of comparing them with population ranges. WADA's ABP page lists three modules: hematological (2009), steroidal (2014) and endocrine. The endocrine module was added in 2023 to uncover use of hGH and its releasing factors, as well as IGF-1. An atypical passport can trigger target testing or an investigation. Passport data can also support a "use" violation under Code Article 2.2 without any single positive test.

Sanctions Under the Code

As of October 2026, sanctions follow the 2021 World Anti-Doping Code. A revised 2027 Code, approved in December 2025, takes effect on January 1, 2027; we haven't checked whether it changes the periods below.

For a first presence or use violation, Article 10.2 sets the starting point:

Fault-based reductions can shorten these periods, for example when an athlete proves a contaminated product was the source. Results from the affected competition are disqualified. Medals and prize money go with them.

Repeat violations escalate. Under Article 10.9.1, a second ban falls between the sum of the first ban plus the second treated as a first, and twice that second period. A third violation usually means a lifetime ban. Trafficking or administering a prohibited substance carries 4 years up to lifetime ineligibility under Article 10.3.3, and the Code says serious cases that may break other laws get reported to the relevant authorities.

Retiring doesn't end these obligations. Under Article 5.6.1, a retired athlete from a registered testing pool who wants to return to international or national events must first give their International Federation and national anti-doping organization six months' written notice and be available for testing.

Therapeutic Use Exemptions

A Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) lets an athlete use a prohibited substance for a medical condition without committing a violation. According to WADA, all four conditions must be met:

1. The substance treats a diagnosed medical condition supported by clinical evidence.
2. It won't enhance performance beyond a return to the athlete's normal health.
3. It is an indicated treatment, with no reasonable permitted alternative.
4. The need doesn't stem from earlier use of a prohibited substance without a TUE.

Athletes apply to their national anti-doping organization or International Federation rather than to WADA. A decision is due within 21 days of a complete application.

Those conditions explain why TUEs and research peptides rarely meet. BPC-157 and TB-500 aren't approved treatments for any condition, so it's hard to see how either could qualify as an "indicated treatment." Prescription medicines are a different case. Tesamorelin is sold as Egrifta, a prescription medicine approved by the FDA to reduce excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV-associated lipodystrophy; its label says it isn't indicated for weight loss. An athlete with that diagnosis could apply for a TUE, but without one, tesamorelin stays prohibited under S2.2.4. Sermorelin sits in the same section. Prescribed growth hormone for diagnosed adult GH deficiency is the other case usually discussed, and it goes through the same four tests.

Pro Leagues and Untested Federations

Many US professional leagues aren't bound by the WADA Code. They run drug programs negotiated with their players' unions, with their own substance lists and penalties. MLB began random hGH blood testing in the minor leagues in 2010 and added unannounced in-season blood testing in the majors in 2013. The NFL started hGH blood testing in the 2014 season, with no blood collection on game days. We haven't checked how each league's current policy treats research peptides such as BPC-157, so athletes in these leagues need their own league's rules.

Some powerlifting and bodybuilding federations, and many amateur events, don't drug test at all, while others market themselves as tested or natural and apply their own rules. Competing untested doesn't change the law on importing or possessing a peptide, which differs by country; see our overview of peptide legal status by country. For the gap between what can be bought and what sport allows, see the legal landscape of peptides in sport.

Permitted Options and Supplement Certification

Outside a TUE, none of the peptides above can be used in tested sport. Training and ordinary medical care remain permitted, and supplements are allowed as long as they contain nothing prohibited. Supplements are a known source of accidental positives: as USADA notes, no regulator checks a supplement's label or contents before it's sold.

USADA recommends that athletes who use supplements choose third-party certified products, and it currently recognizes NSF Certified for Sport as the program best suited to reducing that risk. Informed Sport, another program, says it tests every batch of a certified product for banned substances before release. USADA's own guidance is that certification reduces the risk but doesn't remove it: an athlete who tests positive from a contaminated certified product would likely still face a reduced sanction.

What to Watch Next

• The 2027 List takes effect on January 1, 2027. USADA describes peptides as named in S0; WADA's own List text will give the exact wording.
• The 2027 Code and its revised standards, including the TUE standard, take effect the same day.
• WADA says it is developing new ABP biomarkers.