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Three years ago, actor Lukas Gage suffered a herniated disc “trying to be Mr. Tough Guy” on set and performing a stunt himself instead of using a body double. Although the injury didn’t slow down his acting career, it did leave him with an achy back, prompting him to try Body Protection Compound-157.
Derived from a naturally occurring gastric protein, BPC-157 is thought to reduce inflammation and heal damaged tissue. The protein BPC-157 comes from protects the mucosal lining of the gastrointestinal tract from stomach acids, and in the early ’90s, Croatian medical researchers discovered the fragment of 15 amino acids was primarily responsible for much of the tract’s regenerative properties. They synthesized the fragment into BPC-157, and now, more than 30 years later, it’s gained status as a godsend for people who claim it can cure chronic pain and nagging soft tissue injuries. And let’s be honest. Saying you inject BPC-157 sounds pretty badass.
BPC-157 is just one of a seemingly endless number of peptide treatments that promise to help us live longer, stronger, literally more beautiful lives — and Gage is just one of many celebrities who capitalize on this veritable fountain of youth.
“Everyone’s on peptides in Hollywood,” says John Mark Pero, founder of Levers Health, a telehealth service that provides peptide treatments and whose clients include a male TV star (whom he can’t name). “It’s cool for Hollywood types to talk about peptide use now. It’s a signaling thing. Oh, I have status. I can afford peptides.”
Despite their popularity, peptides operate in a legal gray area. Most of them are neither approved nor regulated by the FDA, and some of them are outright banned for human use. Still, people across the country—particularly famous people with money to burn—are getting them through dubious means.
But that’s changing. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is an outspoken advocate of peptides, and has pushed to loosen their regulation. On Wednesday, Kennedy announced he would allow access to unproven peptides, bypassing FDA current regulations. In a memo, Kennedy said he would exercise “enforcement discretion,” allowing certain compounding pharmacies to offer six unapproved peptides without threat of legal action: BPC-157, TB-5000, KPV, Semax, MOTS-c, and Epitalon.
With Kennedy’s backing, peptides are enjoying both popularity and legitimacy — meaning the celebrity peptide boom is only just getting started.
On a chemical level, peptides are exceedingly simple. A peptide is a short chain of amino acids, the building blocks for the tens of thousands of proteins in the human body. Peptides bind to cells and signal them to perform specific functions, making them effective for a vast array of beauty and health therapies.
The astronomical growth of peptides — Grand View Research projects the global peptide market to nearly double over the next seven years, from $164 billion in 2026 to $294.6 billion in 2033 — is primarily driven by GLP-1 receptor agonists, the peptide compounds that are the active ingredients in weight loss drugs Mounjaro, Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound. More than one in 10 Americans use a GLP-1 treatment, and the enormous popularity of those drugs have left people wondering just what else these peptides can do.
Turns out, virtually anything — or at least that’s what their marketers claim.
Diplo (real name Thomas Wesley Pentz) first started using peptides four years ago, when he took up long-distance running. On a dare, he says he ran the 2022 Miami half marathon with no training, posting an impressive time of one hour, 50 minutes, immediately followed by him partying at Space. He topped that feat, he says, by running the 2023 Los Angeles Marathon while tripping on acid.
Running upwards of 35 miles per week left the 47-year-old Pentz with achy ankles and knees—and seeking pain relief. Pentz, who is a fixture in the Westside LA fitness scene, popping up at group beach workouts and hosting his own run club, learned about peptides from his fitness bro community. He marveled at men in their 50s and 60s, “tech guys and hedge fund managers,” he says, who were older than him and still in incredible shape. “I was like, ‘Are you on drugs?’ They said, ‘No, it’s peptides,’” Diplo tells Playboy.
Pentz went on the so-called “Wolverine stack” of BPC-157 and TB-500, named after the surly X-Men anti-hero with superhuman healing powers. TB-500, a synthetic fragment of the Thymosin Beta-4 protein, is said to repair damaged tissue in the body and promote angiogenesis, a big word meaning the creation of new blood vessels, thus further accelerating the healing process.
Pentz says the Wolverine stack eased his joint pain, setting him off on a yearslong quest to experiment with different peptides and refine his regiment. He tried CJC-1295 and tesamorelin, peptides that supposedly stimulate the release of human growth hormone, helping men simultaneously grow muscle and burn fat. For cognitive functioning, he tried Semax, a nasal spray-based peptide treatment that apparently improves memory and focus, and has been studied as a potential Parkinson’s treatment. And hey kids, you can put it in your nose! To keep his boyish glow, he tried GHK-Cu, which is said to produce thicker, more youthful skin and combat hair loss. Long gone are the days of drinking and smoking behind the DJ booth. The only thing coursing through his body are his concierge doctor-approved peptide bioregulators.
Pentz’s embrace of peptides is common across Hollywood. Aging heartthrob actor Josh Duhamel takes the Wolverine stack to aid his exercise recovery, in addition to ipamorelin and tesamorelin for HGH production. Tough guy action star Frank Grillo takes BPC-157 and testosterone. Hailey Bieber has incorporated peptides into her skincare routine and to help boost her immunity, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston also attest to their age-defying effects.
Because many of these peptides are still less than legal, acquiring them requires shrewd maneuvering and a high appetite for risk for those who want to ingest them. Peptides that haven’t received full FDA approval can be obtained through compounding pharmacies, and require a concierge doctor or telehealth service willing to write a prescription for drugs that haven’t passed clinical trials and there’s no data on their long-term effects.
Many of the most popular peptides — such as BPC-157, TB-500 and the anti-inflammatory peptide KPV — were previously not even available through compounding pharmacies and require even more courage for those wishing to bask in their effects (though that seems to be changing thanks to Kennedy). The daring buy these illegal peptide treatments from foreign manufacturers, often in China. The chemicals are labeled “For Research Purposes Only” and “Not For Human Consumption,” and there’s no assurance to their quality.
Pentz obtains his peptides through these channels. A member of his entourage runs a peptide telehealth business and travels around the world with the jet-setting DJ, ensuring Pentz is always stocked with whatever he thinks his body needs. The peptides are procured from manufacturers in Asia, Pentz says, and tested in laboratories for purity.
Gage is more cautious — he gets his peptides from ReadyRx, a telehealth service that fulfills prescriptions through compounding pharmacies in the U.S.
That peptides exist outside the traditional medical system is a large part of their appeal for many peptide proponents. Their belief in peptides illustrates a strange irony of the Make America Healthy Again movement spearheaded by RFK, Jr., and its skepticism of vaccines and the wider medical-industrial complex — MAHA adherents mistrust formalized medicine, but many are more than willing to inject themselves with chemicals of dubious provenance and whose side effects are unknown. They’re skeptical of mRNA vaccines, such as the one for Covid, but shoot themselves up with mystery peptide potions.
“I don’t really trust doctors at all,” says Pentz, who’s friendly with RFK, Jr. — they skied together in Aspen late last year, and Kennedy reportedly attended one of Diplo’s apres ski shows during the trip. Pentz instead believes in empowering individuals to take control of their healthcare. He’s a celebrity spokesman for Rythm Health, which allows customers to track more than 25 biomarkers by taking blood samples at home and mailing them in for analysis. “People should be more aware of their body composition and make decisions on their own,” Pentz says.
Peptide use will only become more popular and varied in the future — particularly given RFK Jr.’s move to make them more conventionally available. Researchers have identified approximately 7,000 peptides in the human body and they suspect there are magnitudes more to be discovered, teasing a veritable galaxy of potential peptide treatments.
But for all the hype around peptides, there are many who claim peptides are merely that — hype.
“People are getting ripped off by peptides,” says documentarian Chris Bell, director of the 2008 documentary “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” about bodybuilding culture and performance-enhancing drugs. Bell tried the Wolverine stack to treat his chronic joint pain, but says it did “nothing” for him.
Part of the fascination with peptides is that they are derived from proteins naturally found in the human body and thus some wrongly compute them as safer than synthetic drugs. But when it comes to bang for your buck, Bell says, peptides have nothing on good old-fashioned steroids. “A peptide will signal your body to make a hormone. Testosterone is the hormone.”
Even Gage and Pentz are reluctant to fully endorse peptides.
Gage went back on BPC-157 recently, and while it helped with his back injury, it “fucked up” his sleep, he says. He has stopped taking BPC-157, and limits his peptide use to FDA-approved treatments, including tesamorelin and glutathione, an antioxidant therapy. “It’s too early to trust peptides,” Gage says. “I need FDA approval.”
Pentz, brave biohacker that he is, also downplays the importance of peptides. When it comes to health, he says, most people just need to adhere to the basics.
“If you just exercise, eat decent and get sleep, you don’t need any peptides,” Pentz says. “I’m just doing it because I need a little extra.”
It’s hard to say for sure, and everybody is different, but peptides are here to stay… for now. Maybe longer. The benefits of peptides are real, but so are genetics and basic body maintenance.