New Delhi: Peptides are all the rage among Americans looking to ‘hack’ their brains, get a competitive edge and even slow down ageing. US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a “big fan”, and now the Trump administration is reportedly considering letting pharmacies sell some unapproved peptides.
What all the buzz, which has even reached India, is drowning out is the potential risks of these drugs and warnings from doctors.
Bloomberg reported this week that there is now a “billion-dollar grey market” for peptides. These are short chains of amino acids also used in drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. But the popular biohacking variety, such as Semax (heptapeptide)—a Russian-developed drug used to treat stroke patients—is a different beast. It is not approved for medical use in the US. And though users are making reels about the benefits of taking these peptides, there’s little scientific evidence that they actually work or what long-term health effects they may have.
On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was weighing a temporary relaxation of restrictions on certain unapproved peptides while new regulations are worked out, but no formal announcement has been made yet.
But eager customers haven’t been waiting around. Bloomberg reported that one peptide group on Reddit has more than 174,000 members, while another online platform connecting users with sellers has around 87,000 members and over 257,000 posts. People are turning to strangers online for advice on what to take, how much and how often. There is also a burgeoning online market in India for these drugs, as reported by Mint last month. A ‘peptide party’ planned in Bengaluru for biohackers was cancelled at the last minute after Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration officials got wind and shut it down.
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Why do people use peptides?
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as chemical messengers in the body, telling cells what to do. They’ve been around for a long time, but as a June 2026 scientific review put it, “experimental, investigational, or weakly evidenced peptides are promoted for fat loss, injury recovery, longevity, cognition, libido, aesthetics, sleep, muscle gain, and performance enhancement”.
Anna Wexler, a professor of medical ethics and policy at the University of Pennsylvania, told Bloomberg that some people turn to DIY treatments because conventional medicines haven’t helped them enough. Others simply want to perform better, physically or mentally.
“They want to be more productive. They want to be smarter. They want to be more efficient,” Wexler said.
Bloomberg also spoke to people who swear by these drugs, including Taylor Bauer, a 44-year-old Los Angeles biohacker who turned to Semax after quitting Adderall because of its mental and physical side effects.
Describing his first experience with the Semax nasal spray, Bauer said: “Gosh, how do you really describe it? It’s like, all of a sudden, the clouds have cleared. You’re sharper, any brain fog goes away very quickly.”
A dangerous trend
Such personal accounts, shared on TikTok and online forums, are feeding the DIY medicine craze. A 2025 survey found that 28 per cent of American adults had ignored their doctors’ advice in favour of social media, up 10 percentage points from the previous year. A survey of 5,500 Americans last year found that one in four had used AI for medical advice, and some even skipped a visit to the doctor after such a ‘consultation’.
The peptide craze is part of this DIY trend, where peer advice is often given more weight than doctors’ cautions.
“The concern is not that all peptides are equivalent, but that digital discourse and online access pathways may blur distinctions between approved medicines, compounded products, investigational drugs, research chemicals, context-specific clinical therapies, preclinical compounds, and products supported mainly by anecdote or marketing,” reads the June 2026 review.
Bloomberg said it was difficult to estimate how many people use peptides, but cited Nutrition Business Journal figures projecting that the broader brain health supplement market would reach $1.6 billion in 2026 and nearly $1.9 billion by 2028.
In July, FDA scientists raised concerns about impurities and possible immune reactions from Semax. The agency said it “lacks sufficient information to know whether the drug would cause harm if administered to humans”.