FDA Panel on Peptides Will Include Doctors Who Sell the Drugs They're Reviewing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a meeting next month to decide whether certain drugs called peptides are safe. For the first time, the panel of experts reviewing these drugs will include doctors and pharmacists who sell, promote, or prescribe the same peptides they are judging. This is a big change from past panels, which were mostly made up of scientists from major universities. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supports peptides and has praised some of the chemicals being reviewed.

Peptides are chemicals that some people inject into their bodies hoping to build muscle, heal injuries faster, or look younger. They are popular with athletes, social media influencers, and celebrities. However, scientists say there is little proof that these drugs actually work, and the FDA has warned Americans for years that injecting peptides can be dangerous. Two specific peptides called BPC-157 and TB-500 are even banned by international sports organizations as doping substances.

Many peptide products are made by special pharmacies called compounding pharmacies. These businesses mix custom medicines that are not made by regular drug companies. Because peptide sellers often label their products as 'for research use only,' the FDA does not regulate them the same way it does regular medicines. Seven peptides are scheduled to be reviewed at the two-day July meeting.

In past meetings, FDA panels voted against allowing several peptide ingredients to be used on patients. Those panels said the chemicals were too risky. The experts on those older panels came from well-known universities like Duke, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins. The new panel looks very different and includes more than six members who run clinics, online businesses, or pharmacies that sell peptides.

One panel member is Dr. Haleem Mohammed, who runs clinics in Florida that sell peptide injections, vitamins, and weight loss medicines. His clinic's own website admits that the treatments it offers are 'not FDA-approved.' Another member, Dr. Gabriel Alizaidy, charges $500 for consultations about peptides and promotes specific peptides to thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok. His website says his consultations are 'educational in nature and do not constitute medical care.'

A third member is Bobby Harshbarger, a Tennessee state senator and pharmacist at his family's pharmacy, which sells compounded medicines. His mother, Representative Diana Harshbarger, is also a pharmacist and a member of Congress. Last year, she wrote a letter to Kennedy asking him to loosen FDA rules on several peptides. The Harshbarger family has deep ties to the compounding pharmacy business.

Kennedy and his supporters have long criticized government expert panels. They claimed those panels were full of conflicts of interest, even though government data showed that was not usually the case. Last year, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with people who have questioned vaccine safety. A federal judge later said that move likely broke federal rules.

The FDA has more than 30 expert panels that give advice on drugs, vaccines, and food ingredients. Members who have a financial connection to the industry they are reviewing are allowed to serve, but they must disclose that connection. The agency is also supposed to explain why a person's knowledge is worth more than the risk of their bias. Critics say the new peptide panel is stacked with people who have a financial reason to approve the drugs they are reviewing.