Regulatory Changes and Their Impact on Peptide Use in Sports

What has changed for tested athletes

As of October 2026, WADA's 2026 Prohibited List is in force, and the 2027 List takes effect on January 1, 2027. Nearly every peptide sold on the research-chemical market is now either named on the List or covered by one of its catch-all clauses.

Some older guides still describe BPC-157 and TB-500 as "pending classification." That's out of date. BPC-157 has been named in section S0 since the 2022 List, and the 2026 List names TB-500 under S2.3. This page traces how the rules developed and where common peptides sit today. It also covers how testing works and what a violation costs. For testing pools and whereabouts rules, see our guide to peptide rules in sport.

How the rules got here

The early dates come from the University of Southampton's GH-2004 project and a 2019 review in Endocrine Reviews by Richard Holt and Ken Ho. The later rows come from WADA, USADA, MLB, news coverage of the NFL policy, and the UFC's anti-doping program. USADA notes that BPC-157 was not prohibited at all before 2022.

Where common peptides sit on the 2026 List

Everything in this table is prohibited at all times, in and out of competition, according to WADA's 2026 List.

Section numbers have shifted over the years. Some older tables put GH and IGF-1 under "S2.1", which on the current List is erythropoietin (EPO) and related agents.

The wording also reaches past the named examples. S0 covers any substance not addressed elsewhere on the List "with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use." S2.3 ends with a clause covering other growth factors that affect protein synthesis or regenerative capacity in muscle, tendon or ligament. A peptide missing from the table isn't automatically allowed.

One technical label matters later. The List classes everything in S0 as a Specified Substance and everything in S2 as non-Specified. That changes who has to prove intent if a case goes to a hearing (see the sanctions section below).

A few cases are less clear. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are not prohibited; USADA says they stay on WADA's Monitoring Program for 2027, which means labs track them so WADA can learn how they're used in sport. Elamipretide (SS-31) isn't named on the List. FDA gave it accelerated approval as Forzinity for Barth syndrome in September 2025, so S0's "no current approval" test no longer clearly applies. We couldn't find a WADA statement on whether another section covers it.

What the 2027 List adds

USADA's summary of the 2027 List says "peptides" in general are now named in the S0 class. USADA lists BPC-157, TB-500, AOD-9604, GHRPs, ibutamoren, ipamorelin and IGF-1 among the peptides caught by S0 or by other classes such as S2 and S4.

The agency also warns that prohibited peptides may be sold under different names or slang terms. It adds that some experimental peptides sold online may not yet be on anti-doping organizations' radar. USADA describes the rest of the 2027 changes as relatively minor; new S4 examples include SLU-PP-332 and SLU-PP-915.

Legal to buy is a separate question

US drug rules and the WADA List run on separate tracks, and 2026 brought big changes on the US side. In April 2026, FDA took 12 peptides, including BPC-157, TB-500 and MOTS-c, out of Category 2 of its 503A compounding framework (the group it flags for significant safety risks). In July 2026, FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted to recommend six of them for the 503A bulks list, those three included.

A committee vote is advice, not a rule. FDA still has to publish a proposed rule and take public comment before anything is added to the list. A compounding law firm reported in August 2026 that FDA had issued no proposed rule since the vote.

None of this changes a peptide's status in sport. TB-500 and MOTS-c are named in S2.3 and S4.4.1, sections that don't depend on approval. For BPC-157, being eligible for compounding isn't the same as approval for therapeutic use, so on our reading it would stay in S0 even if FDA finalized a rule. Rules on buying and possessing peptides also differ by country; see how peptide laws differ by country.

How detection works now

GH is hard to catch because recombinant GH is chemically identical to the body's own, and it clears from the blood within hours. Testers use several approaches, and published reviews give these windows:

The record so far is mixed. Holt and Ho's 2019 review counted 19 isoform-test positives since 2010 and two biomarker positives since 2012, far fewer than estimates of how many athletes use GH. They put this down to short detection windows and argued for more out-of-competition testing and passport monitoring.

Synthetic secretagogues are easier targets because they're foreign molecules. In 2017, according to the same review, WADA labs reported 19 positives for GH secretagogues and GHRPs out of 49,521 urine analyses (0.04%). For TB-500, a Belgian doping control lab in Ghent characterized the Ac-LKKTETQ fragment found in TB-500 products in 2012 and proposed a method for finding it in urine and plasma.

WADA's 2025 guidelines for the Endocrine Module require mass spectrometry for IGF-1 and say the module may also help detect secretagogue and IGF-1 use.

Two Code rules extend exposure past the day of the test. A sample reported negative can be stored and reanalyzed later at the direction of the testing organization or WADA. And a case can be brought up to ten years after the violation.

Testing outside the WADA system

US pro leagues run their own programs, negotiated with players' unions. MLB has blood-tested minor leaguers for HGH since July 2010 and major leaguers since 2012 spring training, adding random in-season tests in 2013. The NFL began HGH blood testing in October 2014.

The UFC ended its USADA partnership at the start of 2024. Its program is now administered by Combat Sports Anti-Doping, with Drug Free Sport International collecting samples. League banned lists and penalties don't always match WADA's, so the current league policy is the document that counts for those athletes.

Sanctions under the Code

The 2021 Code applies through the end of 2026. The 2027 Code keeps the four-year baseline for intentional use and the ten-year time limit. For a first violation involving presence or use:

A second violation is calculated from both offenses and can reach twice the standard ban for the second one. A third usually means a lifetime ban. The 2027 Code also sets tiered bans of two to four years for possession, depending on intent and whether possession was related to sport.

Therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) won't cover unapproved peptides in most cases. USADA says there is no basis for granting a TUE for BPC-157 because it isn't an approved therapy in any country.

Retired athletes in a registered testing pool who want to return must give six months' written notice and be available for testing before competing in international or national events (Code Article 5.6.1). For more on how a positive test plays out, see what a positive test means for a tested athlete. USADA's GlobalDRO database and Drug Reference Line answer substance-specific questions, though USADA notes that not every prohibited peptide appears on GlobalDRO by name.

What to watch next

• WADA's position on elamipretide (SS-31) now that it's an approved drug in the US. We found no statement as of October 2026.
• Whether FDA proposes a rule for the six peptides its advisory committee backed in July 2026. A rule would affect US compounding, not status in sport.
• What WADA learns from monitoring semaglutide and tirzepatide, which could shape future Lists.
• Wider use of mass spectrometry and passport data to catch GH and related peptides.