Easing Restrictions on Peptides: Will the FDA Stand for Science or Toady Up to RFK Jr.?
WASHINGTON, D.C – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a public meeting of the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee on July 23 and July 24, 2026 to discuss easing restrictions on seven peptides that three years ago the agency removed from a list of bulk drug substances that compounding pharmacies can use. Although these unapproved treatments are either unproven, unsafe, or both, they are favorites of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and many health and wellness influencers. Peptides are short chains of amino acids, usually administered by injection, that are touted for wound healing, opioid withdrawal, ulcerative colitis, insomnia, and many other uses. At present, the FDA panel has six vacancies, including the chairperson and the consumer representative, three voting members, and an industry representative.
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group Director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“By convening an advisory committee to discuss increasing access to peptides that it banned in 2023, the FDA is bowing to the wishes of RFK Jr. and his acolytes. There is no credible reason to believe that peptides that were deemed unproven or unsafe in 2023 are miraculously safe and effective in 2026. These peptides should go through the standard FDA approval process for new drugs, not a more lenient alternate pathway that defeats the reason the agency exists in the first place. If there were convincing safety and effectiveness data, the findings would already be widely known.
“Because the FDA panel has six vacancies, including the chairperson, the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee could be stacked with new members who will rubber stamp Kennedy’s wishes, as at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC. The FDA must decide if it will stand for public health by maintaining the ban on these peptides for compounding or embrace pseudoscience and toady up to RFK Jr. The FDA’s credibility and the health of the public are at stake.”