The Great Peptide Cash Grab Has Begun
The Great Peptide Cash Grab Has Begun
肽类药物的淘金热已经开启
Has anyone tried to sell you peptides yet? If not, they probably will soon. Once a niche interest among bodybuilders and biohackers, peptides are an increasingly popular class of substance hyped by both fringe influencers and the current US secretary of Health and Human Services. 有没有人尝试向你推销肽类药物（peptides）？如果没有，他们很快就会找上门来。肽类药物曾经只是健美运动员和生物黑客圈子里的冷门兴趣，如今却成为了一类日益流行的物质，受到边缘网红和现任美国卫生与公众服务部部长的热捧。
Earlier this year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the podcaster Joe Rogan that the government intended to loosen restrictions on peptide production. This week, it could finally happen: On July 23 and 24, the Food and Drug Administration will discuss whether to reclassify a group of peptides so that pharmacies can legally make custom mixes, a process known as compounding. The move would reverse a decision made in 2023 by the Biden administration, which barred certain peptides from being compounded. 今年早些时候，小罗伯特·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）在播客节目中告诉乔·罗根（Joe Rogan），政府打算放宽对肽类药物生产的限制。本周，这一设想可能最终成为现实：7月23日和24日，美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）将讨论是否对一组肽类药物进行重新分类，以便药房能够合法地进行定制混合，这一过程被称为“复合配制”（compounding）。此举将推翻拜登政府在2023年做出的禁止某些肽类药物进行复合配制的决定。
Although career scientists at the agency have recommended against it, many industry insiders tell WIRED they believe the FDA will approve reclassification anyway, since the committee put together to do the assessment includes peptide boosters. Some players in the telehealth world are already operating under the assumption that the floodgates will soon open. “We’re getting everything ready to go,” says Myra Ahmad, the chief executive of the telehealth platform Mochi Health, which originally focused on GLP-1 medications. “We have pharmacies that have done all their safety testing stuff; they’re putting pricing together.” 尽管该机构的职业科学家建议不要这样做，但许多业内人士告诉《连线》（WIRED），他们认为FDA最终还是会批准重新分类，因为负责评估的委员会成员中包括了肽类药物的支持者。远程医疗领域的一些参与者已经开始行动，认定闸门即将开启。远程医疗平台Mochi Health（最初专注于GLP-1药物）的首席执行官迈拉·艾哈迈德（Myra Ahmad）表示：“我们正在为一切做好准备。我们合作的药房已经完成了所有的安全测试，目前正在制定定价方案。”
Some of the largest telehealth companies have looked forward to this moment for over a year. Virtual health care juggartnaut Hims & Hers Health purchased a peptide manufacturing facility in February 2025 and is developing clinical protocols for peptides, according to its chief medical officer, Anant Vinjamoori, who is slated to testify at the FDA hearing. Joshua Fritzler, president of the compounding pharmacy Olympia Pharmaceuticals, says the company has been preparing in advance of the anticipated changes, “spending a lot of money to create these formulas” to be ready if the FDA gives the green light. 一些大型远程医疗公司已经期待这一时刻超过一年了。据Hims & Hers Health的首席医疗官阿南特·文贾穆里（Anant Vinjamoori，他计划在FDA听证会上作证）透露，这家虚拟医疗巨头在2025年2月收购了一家肽类药物制造工厂，并正在开发肽类药物的临床方案。复合药房Olympia Pharmaceuticals的总裁约书亚·弗里茨勒（Joshua Fritzler）表示，公司一直在为预期的变化做准备，“投入了大量资金来研发这些配方”，以便在FDA开绿灯时做好准备。
“There’s an understanding in the industry that something big is happening,” he says. “业内有一种共识，那就是大事即将发生，”他说。
The GLP-1 boom warmed people up to the idea of injecting medications at home and proved to be a cash cow for pharmacies and virtual clinics. Now, though, many of these companies are eager to expand their horizons. Cole Thomas, the director of sales and operations at the pharmacy marketing and technology platform RxConnexion, says that some of the company’s compounding pharmacy clients are testing peptides that are likely to be popular. One such variety, BPC-157, is touted as a healing compound and is one-half of the combination known as the “Wolverine stack.” (BPC stands for “body protection compound.”) GLP-1药物的繁荣让人们逐渐接受了在家注射药物的概念，并被证明是药房和虚拟诊所的摇钱树。然而，现在许多公司都渴望扩大业务范围。药房营销与技术平台RxConnexion的销售与运营总监科尔·托马斯（Cole Thomas）表示，该公司的一些复合药房客户正在测试可能大受欢迎的肽类药物。其中一种名为BPC-157的药物被吹捧为一种愈合化合物，它是被称为“金刚狼组合”（Wolverine stack）的组合药物的一半。（BPC代表“身体保护化合物”。）
Cameron Bravo, a research scientist at the biotech firm Sapho Bio, says his company has been approached about testing a variety of peptides already, too. (Mochi Health is a client.) Sapho Bio runs tests to “validate” formulas that clients bring, ensuring the mixtures are uncontaminated and properly sealed. So far, it has tested BPC-157 as well as more obscure offerings like MOTS-c, which is hyped as “exercise in a vial” by evangelists. Some of the pharmacies the company works with are testing multiple products, at significant cost. “They’re probably investing something like $100,000 into these before they’re even fully out yet,” he says. 生物技术公司Sapho Bio的研究科学家卡梅伦·布拉沃（Cameron Bravo）表示，他的公司也已经接到请求，要求测试各种肽类药物。（Mochi Health是其客户之一。）Sapho Bio通过测试来“验证”客户带来的配方，确保混合物没有受到污染且密封良好。到目前为止，该公司已经测试了BPC-157以及像MOTS-c这样更冷门的药物，后者被拥护者吹捧为“瓶装运动”。该公司合作的一些药房正在测试多种产品，成本巨大。他说：“在这些产品还没完全上市之前，他们可能就已经投入了大约10万美元。”
Even if this week’s meeting goes exactly how peptide boosters want it to go, with the committee approving all of the substances up for discussion, that won’t lead to an immediate green light for sellers. The next step involves a review period, during which the FDA will propose rules and the public will be able to comment. “It’s a long-winded process,” says Gerard Olson, who was recently the director of research at LegitScript, a company that provides certifications for telehealth providers and pharmacies. 即使本周的会议完全按照肽类药物支持者的意愿进行，委员会批准了所有讨论中的物质，这也不会立即给销售商发放绿灯。下一步涉及一个审查期，在此期间FDA将提出规则，公众将能够发表评论。最近担任LegitScript（一家为远程医疗提供商和药房提供认证的公司）研究总监的杰拉德·奥尔森（Gerard Olson）表示：“这是一个漫长的过程。”
Hims plans to wait and see. “We don’t want to be necessarily first to market. We want to be best in market,” says Vinjamoori, the chief medical officer. Hims计划持观望态度。首席医疗官文贾穆里表示：“我们不一定要成为第一个进入市场的，我们想成为市场上最好的。”
But other compounders and clinics are moving ahead with prescribing these medications as injectables. 但其他复合药房和诊所正在推进将这些药物作为注射剂进行处方。
Amanecia Health, a concierge service that sees patients in person at its Texas and Virginia clinics in addition to operating a telehealth practice, has started prescribing popular options like BPC-157. “There’s been an uptick in interest because it’s been all over Instagram and the media,” says Amanceia’s founder Ann Czarnik, who also works as an emergency medicine physician. Even though Czarnik readily acknowledges that these substances do not have the same kind of safety and efficacy data that traditional medications do, her practice has begun tentatively prescribing them to a small group of patients; she stresses that this “tiny percentage” of her patient base is aware that they are not FDA-approved medications. “I can’t advertise that I’m prescribing them yet,” she says. Amanecia Health是一家礼宾医疗服务机构，除了经营远程医疗业务外，还在其德克萨斯州和弗吉尼亚州的诊所为患者提供面对面诊疗。该公司已经开始开具BPC-157等热门药物的处方。Amanecia的创始人安·查尼克（Ann Czarnik，同时也是一名急诊科医生）表示：“由于Instagram和媒体上的广泛宣传，人们的兴趣有所上升。”尽管查尼克坦率地承认，这些物质不像传统药物那样拥有同样的安全性和有效性数据，但她的诊所已经开始尝试向一小部分患者开具这些药物；她强调，这“极小比例”的患者群体知道这些药物并未获得FDA批准。她说：“我还不能公开宣传我正在开这些药。”
Scott Brunner, the head of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, has been warning member pharmacies to comply with the law and not go rogue and roll out peptides early. “Many of them are being hammered by prescribers and patients to do this,” he says. To make the temptation even more intense, these compounders know that the people they turn away have easy access to a gray-market supply. 药房复合配制联盟（Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding）负责人斯科特·布鲁纳（Scott Brunner）一直警告成员药房要遵守法律，不要擅自行动，提前推出肽类药物。他说：“他们中的许多人正受到处方医生和患者的巨大压力，要求他们这样做。”为了让这种诱惑更加强烈，这些复合药房经营者知道，那些被他们拒绝的客户可以很容易地从灰色市场获得供应。
Right now, all of the peptides up for discussion in the July FDA meeting, as well as many others, are remarkably easy to get your hands on. They’re available for purchase from online sellers that place disclaimers on their products, noting that they are “research-grade only” and not for human consumption. 目前，7月份FDA会议上讨论的所有肽类药物，以及许多其他肽类药物，都非常容易获得。它们可以从在线卖家那里购买，这些卖家在产品上贴有免责声明，注明它们“仅供研究使用”，不供人类食用。
“We are not selling. It is not legal for us to do so,” says Olympia’s Fritzler. “This gray market, which is insane—obviously we are not participating in it.” “我们没有在销售。这样做对我们来说是不合法的，”Olympia的弗里茨勒说。“这个灰色市场简直疯了——显然我们没有参与其中。”
“Everyone and their mom wants to start a peptide company right now,” says Thomas Millman, who runs OnTop Labs, a Florida-based research-use peptide operation. OnTop Labs sells products like Melanotan II, known as the “ “现在每个人，连他们的妈妈都想开一家肽类药物公司，”经营佛罗里达州研究用肽类药物机构OnTop Labs的托马斯·米尔曼（Thomas Millman）说。OnTop Labs销售像Melanotan II这样的产品，它被称为“