\n<\/p>\n
A panel of federal health advisers on Thursday narrowly recommended easing access to several peptides popular with wellness influencers and celebrities, despite warnings from government scientists that the chemicals have not been shown to be safe or effective.<\/p>\n
In a series of votes, outside experts to the Food and Drug Administration advised the agency to drop current restrictions barring pharmacies from producing injectable peptides with names like BPC-157, TB-500 and KPV.<\/p>\n
The panel\u2019s vote is not binding but is likely to embolden the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has described himself as a \u201cbig fan\u201d of peptides and vowed to overturn FDA restrictions put in place under Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Across several votes, the panelists voted 8-6, with one abstention, in favor of putting the peptides on FDA\u2019s list of substances considered safe for pharmacy compounding. If FDA follows that advice, telehealth companies are expected to ramp up marketing of the chemicals for wellness and cosmetic uses.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s vote tally reflected the unusual makeup of the panel. Before the meeting, more than a half-dozen people with connections to the peptide industry were added to the panel, including doctors, pharmacists or consultants who work in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI voted yes because it\u2019s time to put this decision back in the hands of the patient, the physician and the pharmacist,\u201d said David Pope, chief pharmacy officer of Xifin Pharmacy Solutions, after the vote on BPC-157.<\/p>\n
The panel will on Friday vote on three more peptides. The FDA is not required to follow the group\u2019s advice, though it usually does.<\/p>\n
The positive votes came despite highly critical reviews from FDA staff scientists, who said there was little data that BPC-157, TB-500 and the other chemicals can be safely used for medical purposes.<\/p>\n
<\/span>The peptide boom: how the US got hooked on unregulated \u2018miracle\u2019 drugs | On the Ground<\/span><\/p>\n Panel members with backgrounds in academia, rather than peptides, mostly voted against the substances, which are widely advertised on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m concerned we\u2019re responding to a market-induced demand rather than a decision based in solid science,\u201d said Dr Elizabeth Rebello of the University of Texas MD Anderson Center.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to First Thing<\/span><\/p>\n Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Peptide supporters include the podcaster Joe Rogan and longevity influencers such as Gary Brecka, a supporter of Kennedy\u2019s \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d agenda who sells peptides through his website.<\/p>\n But medical experts describe the marketplace as a \u201cwild west\u201d of unproven, unregulated drugs that could cause serious harm, including infection, allergic reactions or other problems.<\/p>\n Peptides are the building blocks of more complex proteins, triggering hormones inside the body needed for growth, metabolism and healing. Drug companies have brought several to market as medications, including mainstay treatments for diabetes and weight loss.<\/p>\n But most peptides sold online are promoted for unproven uses, often combined in \u201cstacks\u201d, to purportedly heal injuries, build muscle, rejuvenate skin or increase energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A panel of federal health advisers on Thursday narrowly recommended easing access to several peptides popular with wellness influencers and celebrities, despite warnings from government scientists that the chemicals have not been shown to be safe or effective. In a series of votes, outside experts to the Food and Drug Administration advised the agency to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[794,1044,11075,37,6231,24041,11214,4021,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-51369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-administration","9":"tag-controversial","10":"tag-easing","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-panel","13":"tag-peptides","14":"tag-recommends","15":"tag-restrictions","16":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}