Most of what people take has no approval anywhere
Three words that get mixed up constantly
Approved
A regulator reviewed the evidence and cleared the drug for a specific use, in a specific form, at a specific dose. Approval for one use is not approval for another, and approval abroad is not approval here.
Compoundable
A pharmacy is permitted to prepare it. That permission rests on lists and reviews rather than on a full approval, and a compound can be legally prepared while never having been approved for anything.
Not banned
The weakest of the three, and the one most often reported as good news. A substance coming off a review list means the review stopped, and it says nothing about whether the thing works or is safe.
In April 2026 twelve peptides came off one of the FDA's review categories because the people who had nominated them withdrew the nominations. That was widely written up as a step toward approval. It was the review ending, and nothing was decided about any of them.
Is BPC-157 legal?
Owning it is not the issue. Selling it as a supplement or a drug is, and pharmacies are not currently permitted to compound it. It has never been approved for any use in any country. Its listing status has moved more than once, so check its row for the current position and the date.
Does an advisory committee vote mean something got approved?
No. An advisory committee recommends. The recommendation is not binding, it usually concerns whether pharmacies may compound something rather than whether it may be sold as a drug, and a formal rulemaking process follows that takes months.
Why do so many rows say research only?
Because that is what the evidence supports. Most of the compounds here have no approval anywhere and are sold labelled for laboratory use. That label is a legal position rather than a description of how people are actually using them.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a plain-language summary of published regulatory documents with links to them. Rules differ by country and by state, they change, and we are not lawyers.
A row is out of date. Can I tell you?
Please do. Use the report an error link in the footer. Corrections with a primary source attached get made the same week.