Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1)_Dosage, benefits & legal status
BGT TDP-LIP, the oil-soluble lip version, is sold under the same ingredient name, so a label reading Tridecapeptide-1 does not tell you which trade material is in the product.
Thirteen residues that add up to the published weight, and a retailer's description that does not.
What is Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1)?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
This is a newer entry in the needle-free wrinkle peptide category that argireline started, sold on the promise of visible smoothing within fifteen minutes, with the twist that its sequence was designed by artificial intelligence instead of copied from a human protein. Two things are worth knowing. First, the identity checks out on the manufacturer's side and does not on the retail side. Add up the thirteen amino acids the maker publishes and you get 1442.7 daltons, exactly the weight the maker prints. But a major skincare retailer's ingredient page describes the molecule as a combination of alanine, leucine, lysine and valine, and there is no lysine anywhere in the published sequence, while seven of the thirteen residues that are in it go unmentioned. Second, the fifteen-minute claim does not match the data behind it. The maker's own catalog prints a table headed as a study after one hour of application, with 120 panelists reporting what they felt rather than anything measured by instrument, and the same page contradicts its own table in one place. There is no peer-reviewed publication, no named outside laboratory, and the word patented appears without a patent number.
Tridecapeptide-1 is a synthetic 13-residue cosmetic peptide developed by Bio Genetic Technology and sold as BGT TDP-1, marketed for rapid smoothing of expression lines through claimed competitive inhibition of acetylcholine. The maker publishes the sequence as Ala-Cys-Cys-Leu-Phe-Asn-Cys-His-Ser-Trp-Val-Gly-Cys with a molecular weight of 1442.7, and the average molecular weight computed from that sequence as the free acid is 1442.7, matching to the tenth of a dalton. The company says the sequence was generated by its own generative artificial intelligence protein design platform rather than derived from a human protein fragment. Recommended use is 1% to 10% in leave-on products. The only efficacy data published for it is the maker's own 120-panelist study, self-reported and measured at one hour, not the fifteen minutes the marketing leads with.
What it's used for
Sold as a cosmetic raw material for expression lines and wrinkles in serums, eye products, creams, masks and makeup primers, with an oil-soluble variant for lip products marketed under the same ingredient name. Named by at least one major skincare retailer as an ingredient it buys direct from the originator.
How does Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1) work?
What it does in the body, and where.The claim is the same one every needle-free wrinkle peptide makes: interfere with the signal that tells a facial muscle to contract. The maker's version places the interference at the receptor rather than at the vesicle.
- 01Acetylcholine normally triggers contractionReleased from a nerve ending, it binds a receptor on the muscle side of the junction, and that triggers contraction.
- 02The maker claims competitive inhibition at that receptorIt describes the peptide as occupying the receptor instead, and notes that unlike peptides modeled on the vesicle-docking machinery it does not need to get inside a synaptic vesicle to work.
- 03A retailer describes something shallowerIts page places the action on acetylcholine receptors within the skin's uppermost layers, a different and much shallower claim than a neuromuscular junction.
- 04Neither account is demonstratedThe muscles that make expression lines sit well below the skin's uppermost layers, and nothing published for this ingredient shows that a 1,442-dalton peptide with four free thiols reaches a neuromuscular junction from a topical application.
What else is it used for?
Each group carries its own evidence level.Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
The identity discrepancy, resolved by arithmetic
Supplement or cosmetic- Lab studyThe maker publishes the sequence Ala-Cys-Cys-Leu-Phe-Asn-Cys-His-Ser-Trp-Val-Gly-Cys with a molecular weight of 1442.7. Computing the average molecular weight of that exact sequence as a free acid gives 1442.7 daltons. Sequence and stated weight agree to the tenth of a dalton, a strong internal consistency check.
- No dataA major skincare retailer's ingredient page describes the same molecule as a combination of alanine, leucine, lysine and valine. There is no lysine in the published sequence. Alanine, leucine and valine are present, and the four cysteines, phenylalanine, asparagine, histidine, serine, tryptophan and glycine are not mentioned.
- No dataThe two descriptions cannot both be right, and only one of them can be checked. The maker's sequence reproduces the maker's published weight; the four-amino-acid description reproduces nothing and names a residue the sequence does not contain. The retailer states it purchases direct from the originator, and that makes the gap harder to explain rather than easier.
- No dataFour cysteines in a thirteen-residue cosmetic peptide is unusual, and the published weight says they are unpaired. Free thiols oxidize readily in air, raising a practical question about what is actually in a finished product months after manufacture. No stability data was found.
The only efficacy data that exists
none- lab-analysisA 120-panelist study in the maker's catalog, headed as a clinical study after one hour of application. Wrinkle reduction reported by 25% of panelists at a 1% level, 50% at 3%, 85.3% at 6% and 97.1% at 10%. Skin tightness 34.4%, 41.2%, 82.4% and 100% across the same levels.
- No dataThese are proportions of panelists reporting a perception. The catalog does not state that wrinkle depth or any other property was measured by instrument, and the wording it uses is that panels felt the effect.
- No dataThe marketing headline says results in fifteen minutes. The table it sits beside is headed at one hour. The catalog also claims in running text that 100% of panelists felt improvement around the eyes at a 3% level, where its own table shows 61.8%.
- No dataNo peer-reviewed publication, no named independent testing laboratory, and no patent number despite the ingredient being described as patented. Every efficacy figure published for this ingredient comes from the company that sells it.
Where it sits in the needle-free wrinkle category
none- Lab studyThe mechanism claimed, competitive inhibition of acetylcholine at the muscle receptor, is the same family of claim made for argireline, SNAP-8 and the snake-venom-derived peptides, all of which are on this site. What is new here is the origin story: the maker says the sequence came from its own generative artificial intelligence design platform rather than from a fragment of a known protein.
- No dataThe maker's and the retailer's mechanism accounts differ in depth. One places the action at the neuromuscular junction, the other at acetylcholine receptors in the skin's uppermost layers. The muscles that create expression lines are not in the uppermost layers, and no penetration data for this peptide was found.
- lab-analysisAn oil-soluble variant for lips is sold under the same ingredient name, so the label does not distinguish which trade material a product contains. The maker reports a lip-line reduction deepening to 12.01% at 24 hours at a 5% level of that material, again from its own testing.
The composition. A major retailer's ingredient page describes this peptide as a folded and encapsulated combination of alanine, leucine, lysine and valine. The maker's published sequence contains no lysine at all, and seven of its thirteen residues, the four cysteines plus phenylalanine, asparagine, histidine, serine, tryptophan and glycine, are absent from that four-name description. The maker's sequence is the one that holds up: its computed average molecular weight is 1442.7 daltons, exactly what the maker prints. The second thing commonly repeated is the fifteen-minute figure. The maker's own data table does not support it; the table reports results at one hour.
The published record
Papers about Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1) · this compound only
Searched: Tridecapeptide-1, BGT TDP-1, TDP-1.
Left out: TDP-1 (ALONE. THE critical rejection. TDP-1 is also the established abbreviation for tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1, a DNA repair enzyme with a large oncology literature, and for tRNA-splicing proteins. An unqualified query returns molecular biology papers that have nothing to do with a cosmetic peptide); argireline (acetyl hexapeptide-8, on this site, the original needle-free wrinkle peptide and the source of every comparison made about this one. Its own clinical data must not migrate here); SNAP-8 (acetyl octapeptide-3, on this site, the longer cousin with the same mechanism claim); syn-ake (the snake-venom-derived cosmetic peptide on this site that genuinely does act on the acetylcholine receptor, modeled on waglerin. The closest true mechanistic neighbor and the easiest to confuse with this one); vialox (pentapeptide-3, on this site, another competitive acetylcholine inhibitor claim); octapeptide-45 (on this site, and the template for this card: another cosmetic peptide whose published sequence contradicts its marketing); botox (the injected neuromodulator every page about this ingredient invokes. A prescription medicine with a different mechanism, a different depth of action and an enormous clinical literature); botulinum toxin (the same problem in formal terms); acetylcholine (the neurotransmitter, with a literature spanning neuroscience and pharmacology); Bio Genetic Technology (the maker, which also sells BGT ALP, a 24-residue neurotransmitter peptide, Decapeptide-4, mRNA-Collagen and others, all under their own INCI names); TDP-LIP (the maker's oil-soluble lip variant sold under THE SAME INCI NAME. Not a separate ingredient on a label and not a separate card, but its figures are its own); Cybele (the maker's AI protein design platform, also spelled Cybelle in its materials. A platform name, not a molecule); Paula's Choice (the retailer whose ingredient page carries the incorrect four-amino-acid description. Named on the card as the source of that description, but a query on the brand returns its whole catalog).
Furthest stage reached: No clinical trial on record
Counted from Europe PMC indexing, not read by a person; a human tag can land on reviews, commentary or lab papers; clinical trial publications is the narrower count. A preprint and its journal version count once.
At a glance
Four things to know about Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1)
Evidence
Cosmetic
Category
Skin and cosmetic
Common vial
Varies
Half-life
Not published and not a meaningful measure for a topical
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.1% to 10% of the finished formula, as the maker recommends, as the product directs. Daily, as part of a routine No range
The maker claims both an immediate effect and a cumulative one with regular use, and describes no tolerance or washout. There is nothing to cycle.
Not published and not a meaningful measure for a topicalNo figure
No pharmacokinetic data of any kind has been published for this ingredient.
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
How is it given?
Dosing context and source notes.Supplied as a ready-made solution, so there is nothing to mix.
Reported range: 1 up to 10 % per formulation. Bio Genetic Technology product page for BGT TDP-1
The maker recommends 1% to 10% of the finished formula and its panel study tested 1%, 3%, 6% and 10%. One caution on reading those percentages: they are percentages of the supplied trade material, and the product catalog gives no composition for it beyond describing it as a clear liquid. A separate presentation deck from the same maker lists a Tridecapeptide-1 material at 300 parts per million peptide in pentylene glycol and water, but does not make clear which product that refers to, so the actual peptide concentration reaching skin at a 10% use level is not established.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Room temperature, out of light. Cap it tight after each use.
Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1) ships as a cream, gel, or serum. Keep it at room temperature away from sun and heat unless the label says otherwise. Refrigerating an emulsion can split the texture. Watch for color, smell, or separation changes and stop using it if any appear.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.Solubility, computed: 15% charged residues, 69% hydrophobic. Organic co-solvent likely.
A first-pass rule from peptide manufacturers' guidance. It does not account for disulfide bridges, salt form or how the powder was dried, and it predicts what should be easy rather than what will happen in your vial.
Who should avoid it
- Any expectation of a result comparable to an injected neuromodulator that acts on muscle directly and is a prescription medicine
- Reading the fifteen-minute claim as the finding of the study behind it, since that study was measured at one hour
- Taking a retailer's four-amino-acid description of this molecule as its composition
Stop and get help
- Redness, stinging or a rash after starting a product containing it, a reason to stop the product
Common effects
- Self-reported tightness, smoothness and brightness in the maker's own panel study, rising with concentration
- Nothing measured instrumentally has been published
- No independent user-outcome data exists for this ingredient as distinct from the products carrying it
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1) approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.Not as a medicine. Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1) is sold without a prescription as a cosmetic ingredient, which is a different thing from being approved as a drug.
- Approval statusCosmeticSold without a prescription as an ingredient in cosmetics, such as skincare and hair products. The FDA does not approve cosmetics before they are sold, and being easy to buy says nothing about whether it works.
- RouteOn the skin, in a leave-on product
- Checked11 November 2026
- DoseFrom the concentration range manufacturers formulate at. This is a product strength, not a dose set by a regulator or a trial.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- SourcesBio Genetic Technology cosmetic peptide catalog, with the BGT TDP-1 sequence, molecular weight and 120-panelist clinical tableBio Genetic Technology product page for BGT TDP-1, with the recommended 1-10% dosageBio Genetic Technology product page for BGT TDP-LIP, sold under the same ingredient nameBio Genetic Technology product data sheet for BGT TDP-1Paula's Choice ingredient page for Tridecapeptide-1, naming alanine, leucine, lysine and valine
What has happened recently
A cosmetic ingredient, not a drug, and not reviewed by any medicines regulator. The ingredient name is registered in the international cosmetic ingredient nomenclature and the maker states it is listed for use in China. The retailer that names it explains the naming convention usefully: the name reflects the thirteen amino acids in the sequence, and the -1 suffix marks it as the first registration of that name rather than describing the sequence. The maker's materials describe the ingredient as patented without giving a patent number, and no patent for it was located in the searching behind this page.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
What else is like Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1)?
Others in Skin and cosmetic, side by side.If you're weighing Tridecapeptide-1 (BGT TDP-1), it's worth reading Tripeptide-10 Citrulline (Decorinyl), Tripeptide-132, and Tripeptide-2 in the same class.
Thirteen residues that add up to the published weight, and a retailer's description that does not.
- Dose
- 1% to 10% of the finished formula, as the maker recommends
- How often
- As the product directs
A four-residue mimic of decorin, the skin protein that keeps collagen fibrils evenly sized, made by Lipotec and now sold by Lubrizol. In the one independent trial it was not significantly better than placebo on its own.
- Dose
- About 0.01% peptide in a cream or serum, as 5% Decorinyl (supplier)
- How often
- Twice daily (2017 study)
Lysine, cysteine and valine, picked by computer from about 8,000 candidates for how tightly they grip hair keratin.
- Dose
- Set by the product; no concentration is published
- How often
- As the product directs
Progeline with the fluorine taken off, and the claims changed.
- Dose
- Serum, per product
- How often
- Daily
Guides for this compound
- mcg vs mg: The Peptide Dosing Mistake to Avoid
Your vial says mg and your protocol says mcg. Here is the conversion and how to check it.
- How to Read a Peptide COA
What the purity number does and does not tell you, and how to spot an edited report.
- How to Vet a Peptide Vendor
Independent COAs, HPLC purity, and the red flags that mean walk away.
Sources
- Bio Genetic Technology cosmetic peptide catalog, with the BGT TDP-1 sequence, molecular weight and 120-panelist clinical table
- Bio Genetic Technology product page for BGT TDP-1, with the recommended 1-10% dosage
- Bio Genetic Technology product page for BGT TDP-LIP, sold under the same ingredient name
- Bio Genetic Technology product data sheet for BGT TDP-1
- Paula's Choice ingredient page for Tridecapeptide-1, naming alanine, leucine, lysine and valine
Beyond these, 1 records are indexed for this compound. Browse the records