Kennedy’s latest MAHA-approved plan could supercharge peptide boom - Politico

He indicated that the FDA will soon take action on peptides, the mini-proteins biohackers tout as therapies for a range of ills.

In this image taken from video, an IV infusion is administered at Pure Alchemy Wellness on Nov. 11, 2025, in Chula Vista, Calif. The clinic also provides peptide therapies. | Javier Arciga/AP

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to declare victory on widening access to one of the country’s biggest wellness fads: peptides, the building blocks of proteins that biohackers claim help quickly heal injuries and promote muscle growth and fat loss.

Kennedy — a self-declared “big fan” of the treatments for injuries for which he reports “good results — has accused the Food and Drug Administration of aggressively suppressing peptides’ use.

Last month, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Health Secretary signaled imminent action by the FDA to allow “about 14” peptides to be “more accessible” for domestic compounding pharmacies.

Kennedy didn’t specify what the FDA will do, referring vaguely to “some kind of new action” after the agency reviews the science around the peptides in question.

But there are other signs that new regulations are likely afoot. Last summer, a group of compounding pharmacies that had sued the FDA over its restrictive peptide stance agreed to stand down when the agency said it “expects to submit” a final rule by next February addressing four peptides the companies want to produce.

At minimum, the FDA could exercise leniency in enforcing against U.S.-based peptide makers unless they identified safety issues.

An HHS spokesperson did not answer POLITICO’s questions about how and when the FDA plans to act on peptides.

“The FDA’s goal is to ensure that patients can obtain FDA approved products, and when those aren’t available or can’t work because of a patient’s unique situation, [that they] are made by licensed U.S. pharmacies, prescribed by a physician, and produced under appropriate quality standards — not products from unregulated or foreign sources that may pose safety risks,” spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in an email.

Kennedy’s supporters in the Make America Healthy Again Movement, which include social media influencers selling popular peptide treatments, and his pharmacist allies have applauded his remarks and say they expect bold action from him any day now.

Brigham Buhler, a compounding pharmacy and wellness clinic owner who’s close to Kennedy, told Trump- and MAHA-friendly podcaster Rogan on an episode Wednesday that senior HHS officials “are aligned” on widening access to peptides.

“It’s just a matter of when,” he added.

‘One of the biggest medical experiments’ in history

Yet some pharmacists and doctors warn that any move by the FDA to loosen current regulations around peptides could pose serious health risks because of the lack of scientific data to support many of them.

Peptides, which are usually injected under the skin, include the FDA-approved diabetes therapy insulin and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy. The global market for the mini-proteins is projected to reach $100 billion in the next decade as pharma companies chase the spectacular success of the GLP-1s and growing demand for precision medicine.

But Kennedy and the biohacking corner of the MAHA movement hype dubiously legal chemicals known by alphanumeric names — like BPC-157 and CJC-1295 — for their health benefits, despite questions around their efficacy and FDA safety approval. These products are now often manufactured in China and sold on the black market. Consumers are also seeking out peptides for purported anti-aging and sleep-promoting qualities, in addition to possible benefits for injuries and body composition.

Many wellness-focused Americans, skeptical of mainstream medicine and wary of “Big Pharma,” find these peptide treatments through social media influencers, some of whom offer links to products of dubious quality. They can also be found through peptide clinics that are popping up across the country.

“We’re about to unleash one of the biggest medical experiments in the history of America onto Americans as the test subjects,” Alec Ginsberg, chief operating officer at C.O. Bigelow, the country’s oldest pharmacy, said, referring to the lack of clinical data on peptide use.