A November 2025 CNN report documents how celebrities and wellness influencers are fueling mass consumer use of unapproved peptides like BPC-157, TB-500, ipamorelin, and CJC-1295, many sold with a "for research use only" label that lawyers and regulators describe as a loophole to evade FDA oversight. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to end the agency's "war on peptides," while named sellers such as biohacker Gary Brecka market injectable vials for $350 to $600 each. Independent experts — including Scripps' Dr. Eric Topol and UC Davis biologist Paul Knoepfler — stress that none of these compounds have passed adequate clinical trials and that "research-grade" powders often contain contaminants. BPC-157 and TB-500 are also banned by international sports authorities as doping substances.