Are peptides legal in the UK? Their status explained

The legal status of peptides in the UK (such as BPC-157, MK-677 and more) can appear slightly unclear.

This article attempts to clear the confusion.

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Rather, it is my current best understanding of the status. If you spot an error, please leave a comment below.

Short Answer

• Selling peptides in the UK (such as BPC-157, MK-677 and more) that are marketed for human consumption is illegal.
• Marketing and/or selling peptides for research purposes only is not illegal.
• Peptides (such as BPC-157, MK-677 and more) are not illegal substances, so having possession of them is not a crime.

Longer Answer

It’s possible to break the answer up into 3 parts:

1. The legality of possession – The majority of commonly taken peptides like BPC-157, MK-677 and more are not illegal, meaning that possession of them is not a crime in itself.
2. The legality of marketing and selling for human use – setting aside food and food supplements, it is illegal to sell drugs/compounds for human consumption without MHRA approval.
3. Research purposes – it’s not illegal to market and/or sell peptides for research purposes.

We look at all 3 of these issues more below.

The Legality of Possession

In the UK, the vast majority of drugs/compounds that are deemed illegal, are done so with two pieces of legislation:

1. Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 – see the section Schedule 2 – Controlled Drugs.
   This is where they break drugs up into “classes”, and include common street drugs. Granted, sometimes they’re under names we wouldn’t expect, such as heroin being listed as diamorphine.
2. Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 – Where the Misuse of Drugs Act names specific substances, this act is more broad. It makes it an offense to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import, or export any psychoactive substance intended for human consumption. It defines psychoactive substances as anything capable of producing a psychoactive effect in the user, meaning it stimulates or depresses the central nervous system, affecting the user’s mental functioning or emotional state.

So how do peptides fit into this?

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 does mention 3 peptides, although these are not the peptides we are discussing in this article:

• Somatotropin, Somatrem, Somatropin – all forms of human growth hormone (hGH).

By mentioning these explicitly, it means that they are illegal.

However, the peptides discussed in this article (examples listed below) are not mentioned.

Let’s take a peptide such as BPC-157. It is not explicitly named in the Misuse of Drugs Act, and it is not a psychoactive substance.

Therefore BPC-157 is not explicitly illegal.

However, as we’ll learn below, it is illegal to market or sell it for human use, because it does not have MHRA regulatory approval.

Then, regarding the Psychoactive Substances Act, there may be peptides that do have psychoactive effects (and aren’t already made illegal via the Misuse of Drugs Act). These would then be made illegal via the Psychoactive Substances Act. However, at the time of writing this article, I am not familiar with them.

Legality of Marketing and Selling for Human Use

As mentioned above, setting aside food and food supplements, it is not legal to sell drugs or compounds for human consumption without MHRA approval.

This is primarily defined by legislation called The Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is similar in function to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). It’s the regulatory body that approves drugs to be able to be sold in the UK market.

Relating this back to peptides, they would need MHRA approval in order to be sold for human consumption.

Research Purposes

Selling a drug/compound for research purposes means that it does not clash with the MHRA’s requirement for drugs/compounds to be approved by them before marketing and/or selling for human use.

Peptides In Discussion

It’s important to clarify some details around what we’re calling “peptides”.

The Merriam-Webster definition is:

Any of various amides that are derived from two or more amino acids by combination of the amino group of one acid with the carboxyl group of another and are usually obtained by partial hydrolysis of proteins

– Merriam-Webster

This covers a lot of molecules, some of which are already widely used.

For example, the most common peptide is insulin, used globally by type 1 (and some type 2) diabetics. A more recent, popular peptide is called semaglutide, which is patented, FDA-approved, and sold under brand names such as Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy.

This article does not discuss these, because there are already MHRA-approved versions of insulin and semaglutide.

Instead, the article refers to peptides such as:

This article does not comment on the safety of these peptides – which is a different subject and will vary based on a wide variety of factors.

Final Words

Hopefully the above has clarified any questions you may have about the current legal status of peptides in the UK.

If you’ve got questions or comments, please leave them below.