Peptide Therapy Guides

This is the practical side of peptide therapy — the “how does this actually work, and what should I know before I commit” material. The Reference library explains what each compound is and what the evidence says; these guides focus on using a therapy responsibly: how dosing is decided, what side effects get reported, how injections are handled, and how to tell a legitimate provider from a gray-market one.

A note on what you won’t find here. We don’t publish injection recipes or “start at X, increase by Y” ladders. For most of these compounds that isn’t a cautious editorial choice — it’s a safety one. With the exception of approved drugs like the GLP-1 medicines and tesamorelin, these peptides aren’t FDA-approved, and much of what’s sold online is research-grade material of unknown concentration and purity. A “standard internet dose” applied to an unverified vial is still unsafe. So we treat dosing as a topic — how a prescriber decides it, what changes it, why fixed online numbers are risky — rather than a protocol to copy.

The US regulatory picture is also moving fast. In April 2026 the FDA removed a group of widely discussed peptides (including BPC-157, TB-500, and MOTS-c) from its Category 2 compounding-restriction list, and a Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee review is scheduled for late July 2026 to consider returning several to the Category 1 503A bulks list. None of that is the same as FDA approval, and formal rulemaking is still pending. Where a guide touches legality, it’s current as of its update date and may change — always cross-check the Access & Legality section.

Start with the fundamentals

If you’re new to peptides, read these four first. They give you the framework the compound-specific guides build on.

• How peptide dosing works — why there’s no universal number, how clinicians individualize and titrate, and why copied protocols are unsafe.
• Peptide side effects: what to know — the common, the serious, and the “this is the product, not the peptide” category of problems.
• Peptide injections: a beginner’s guide — what subcutaneous administration involves, what reconstitution is, and what clinical oversight should look like.
• How to choose a peptide clinic or telehealth provider — green flags, red flags, and the questions that separate a real medical practice from a vendor with a doctor’s signature.

Guides by compound

Each compound below has a dosing guide (how it’s used and how that’s decided) and a side-effects guide (what’s reported and what to watch for).

Metabolic & weight-loss peptides

• Semaglutide — dosing · side effects
• Tirzepatide — dosing · side effects
• Retatrutide — dosing · side effects
• Cagrilintide — dosing · side effects
• AOD-9604 — dosing · side effects

Healing & tissue-repair peptides

• BPC-157 — dosing · side effects
• TB-500 — dosing · side effects

Growth-hormone secretagogues

• CJC-1295 — dosing · side effects
• Ipamorelin — dosing · side effects
• Sermorelin — dosing · side effects
• Tesamorelin — dosing · side effects
• MOTS-c — dosing · side effects

Recovery, immune & cellular peptides

• GHK-Cu — dosing · side effects
• Thymosin Alpha-1 — dosing · side effects

Cosmetic, sexual & nootropic peptides

• PT-141 — dosing · side effects
• Melanotan-2 — dosing · side effects
• Selank — dosing · side effects
• Semax — dosing · side effects

Note: A guide existing here is not an endorsement that a compound is safe, effective, or legal to obtain. Several of these — Melanotan-2 in particular — carry genuine safety concerns and have no approved US pathway. Each individual guide is honest about where the evidence and the law actually stand.

Where to go next

Once you understand how dosing and providers work, the Access & Legality guides cover the legitimate routes — telehealth, 503A compounding with a prescription, in-person clinics — and the current status of the 2026 FDA reclassification. For the science behind each compound, start in the Reference library.