Peptide encyclopedia
Every compound indexed here carries mechanism, route of administration, half-life, legal status, and the primary sources backing every claim — graded and dated.
- Compounds
- 75
- Source links
- 249
- Therapeutic classes
- 10
- Matching filter
- 37
F·Filter
Reset allGH secretagogue
Pulsed growth-hormone release via the GHRH / ghrelin pathways.
6 compounds
01
Prescription only
Anamorelin
ONO-7643 · RC-1291 · et al.
Anamorelin is the only ghrelin-receptor agonist with a regulatory approval for a muscle-wasting indication anywhere in the world — and the lean-mass-without-strength endpoint pattern that won Japan PMDA approval is the same pattern that produced an EMA refusal three years earlier.
Half-life·~6 to 7 hours plasma half-life with oral dosing, supporting …
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02
Prescription only
Long-acting somatropin (lonapegsomatropin, somapacitan, somatrogon)
lonapegsomatropin · Skytrofa · et al.
The three long-acting somatropins represent three distinct chemistry approaches to converting daily injections into weekly therapy — TransCon carrier release, fatty-acid albumin binding, and CTP fusion — and each is FDA-approved on the basis of non-inferiority against daily somatropin in narrow deficiency populations rather than on improved outcomes in healthy adults.
Half-life·Lonapegsomatropin releases unmodified somatropin with an eff…
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03
Prescription only
Pegvisomant
Somavert · B2036-PEG · et al.
The only molecule on this site that lowers IGF-1 by blocking the growth-hormone receptor rather than suppressing the pituitary — and the only molecule whose efficacy can be monitored only by IGF-1, because circulating growth hormone rises during treatment by design.
Half-life·~6-day mean serum elimination half-life following single or …
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04
Prescription only
Sermorelin
GRF (1-29) · GHRH (1-29) NH2 · et al.
Sermorelin is the molecular grandfather of the GHRH-analog peptide class — the only one whose published RCTs sit in pediatric GH deficiency, and the only one whose modern biohacker-adjacent use case the original FDA file was never designed to test.
Half-life·~10 to 20 minutes plasma half-life after either intravenous …
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05
Prescription only
Somatropin
rhGH · growth hormone · et al.
Somatropin is the reference molecule for every GH-secretagogue claim on this site — the substance the secretagogues ask the pituitary to release more of, with the deepest evidence base, the narrowest approved indications, and the only criminal-statute restriction on off-label distribution of any prescription drug in U.S. law.
Half-life·~2 to 4 hours plasma half-life for daily subcutaneous somatr…
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06
Prescription only
Tesamorelin
Egrifta · Egrifta SV · et al.
The only peptide on this site with an FDA approval and a 412-patient placebo-controlled NEJM trial behind it — and even so, the indication it earned is narrow.
Half-life·~26 to 38 minutes plasma half-life; the GH and IGF-1 pulse i…
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Metabolic / GLP-1
GLP-1 receptor agonists and the obesity / diabetes pharmacology cluster.
12 compounds
01
Prescription only
Exenatide
Byetta · Bydureon · et al.
Exenatide is the founding GLP-1 receptor agonist — the molecule that opened the incretin pharmacology era for diabetes and produced the largest Parkinson's-disease randomized-trial body of any peptide, with a Phase 2 positive readout that the Phase 3 confirmatory trial did not replicate.
Half-life·~2.4 hours plasma half-life for the immediate-release (Byett…
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02
Prescription only
Glucagon
Glucagen · Baqsimi · et al.
Native glucagon is hyperglycemic by design — the engineered glucagon-receptor agonism inside retatrutide and survodutide is the same receptor used in reverse, leveraged for energy expenditure rather than glycemic rescue.
Half-life·~8–18 minutes plasma half-life IV, 26–45 minutes IM, and 32–…
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03
Prescription only
Insulin
human insulin · regular insulin · et al.
Insulin is the reference peptide therapy — the first hormone purified and given to a patient, the first protein synthesized by recombinant DNA technology, and the molecule against which every subsequent peptide-pharmacology claim is implicitly measured.
Half-life·~4 to 6 minutes plasma half-life for native human insulin on…
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04
Prescription only
Liraglutide
Saxenda · Victoza · et al.
Liraglutide is the GLP-1-class agent that paved the road for semaglutide and tirzepatide — its 2014 Saxenda approval was the first GLP-1 receptor agonist authorized specifically for chronic weight management.
Half-life·~13 hours plasma half-life — a C16 fatty acid acylation enab…
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05
Prescription only
Lixisenatide
Adlyxin · Lyxumia · et al.
Lixisenatide is the only GLP-1 receptor agonist to date with a published double-blind randomized Phase 2 trial in Parkinson's disease that returned a positive primary motor endpoint — LIXIPARK 2024 — though the molecule was commercially discontinued in the US in 2023 and the disease-modifying claim awaits Phase 3 confirmation.
Half-life·~three hours mean terminal plasma half-life — sufficient to …
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06
Prescription only
Mazdutide
LY3305677 · IBI-362 · et al.
Mazdutide is the first dual GLP-1 / glucagon receptor agonist approved for chronic weight management in any major jurisdiction — and that jurisdiction is China. In GLORY-1 (n=610), the 6 mg dose produced 14.8% weight loss at week 48 versus 0.5% on placebo, with 50.6% of participants reaching ≥15% loss.
Half-life·~one week — fatty-acid conjugation to plasma albumin slows r…
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07
Prescription only
Pancragen
KEDW · Lys-Glu-Asp-Trp · et al.
Pancragen is the pancreatic entry in the Khavinson short-peptide catalog — same single-laboratory evidence base as Epitalon and Vilon, with a tissue-specificity claim that is mechanistically distinctive but unconfirmed by independent Western replication.
Half-life·Plasma half-life is brief (minutes); the proposed effects on…
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08
Prescription only
Pramlintide
Symlin · AC137 · et al.
Pramlintide is the clinical proof-of-concept that amylin agonism works in humans — a 0.3–0.4% HbA1c reduction and 1–2 kg of weight loss as an insulin adjunct, the foundation on which cagrilintide and the CagriSema program were later built.
Half-life·~48 minutes elimination half-life after subcutaneous adminis…
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09
Prescription only
Retatrutide
LY3437943
Retatrutide is the first triple-receptor agonist (GLP-1, GIP, glucagon) to reach Phase II in obesity — at the highest dose, mean weight loss reached 24.2% at 48 weeks, the largest published pharmacotherapy result to date.
Half-life·~6 days plasma half-life on weekly subcutaneous dosing; the …
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10
Prescription only
Semaglutide
Ozempic · Wegovy · et al.
In STEP 1 (n=1,961), once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide produced a mean 14.9% body-weight reduction at 68 weeks versus 2.4% on placebo.
Half-life·~1 week plasma half-life — the long-chain fatty acid binds a…
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11
Prescription only
Teduglutide
Gattex · Revestive · et al.
The only FDA-approved peptide on this site for a gastrointestinal indication driven primarily by mucosal-growth pharmacology — and the closest the literature has come to proving GI peptide pharmacology can survive a rigorous Phase III program.
Half-life·~2 hours plasma half-life after subcutaneous administration …
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12
Prescription only
Tirzepatide
Mounjaro · Zepbound · et al.
Tirzepatide is the first dual GIP / GLP-1 receptor agonist to reach approval — and across the SURMOUNT trials it produced obesity-class weight loss (≥20% at the highest dose) that no monotherapy in the history of pharmacotherapy had reached.
Half-life·~5 days plasma half-life — a C20 fatty diacid chain anchors …
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Cognitive
Nootropic and neuroprotective compounds with hippocampal action.
2 compounds
01
Prescription only
Cerebrolysin
FPF-1070 · Cerebrolysin Concentrate · et al.
Cerebrolysin is the peptide product on this site with the largest randomized-controlled-trial body and also the one for which the most authoritative independent reviewer — the Cochrane Stroke Group — has concluded the trial body does not yet support routine use; the page treats both facts as load-bearing.
Half-life·Pharmacokinetics are not characterized in the conventional s…
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02
Prescription only
Trofinetide
NNZ-2566 · Daybue · et al.
Trofinetide is the engineered descendant of the GPE pharmacology lineage that became, in March 2023, the first FDA-approved drug for any indication in Rett syndrome — and the page treats both halves of that fact as load-bearing: a genuine regulatory milestone for a previously drug-less condition, paired with a modest pivotal effect size and a diarrhea incidence of approximately 80% that defines real-world tolerability.
Half-life·The 2-methyl-proline substitution at the central residue con…
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Immune
Immunomodulation, thymopoiesis, mucosal repair.
1 compound
Sexual function
Melanocortin-receptor activity and sexual-function indications.
3 compounds
01
Prescription only
Oxytocin
OXT · Pitocin · et al.
Pitocin in the obstetric ward is one of the most-used medications on earth. Intranasal oxytocin for social cognition is one of the most-replication-troubled stories in modern neuroscience — and the most-rigorous test of the biohacker-relevant hypothesis, the 290-participant Sikich 2021 NEJM trial in autism, was negative on its primary endpoint.
Half-life·Plasma half-life on the order of 1–6 minutes following intra…
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02
Prescription only
PT-141
Bremelanotide · Vyleesi · et al.
PT-141 is the only peptide on this list approved by the FDA specifically for sexual function — and the only one whose pivotal Phase III evidence (RECONNECT, n=1,267) is in women, while the dominant biohacker conversation is about off-label male use.
Half-life·~2.7 hours plasma half-life on subcutaneous administration; …
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03
Prescription only
hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin)
human chorionic gonadotropin · Pregnyl · et al.
An FDA-approved peptide hormone whose biohacker-popular use case — preserving fertility and testicular function during testosterone replacement — is mechanistically defensible, evidence-anchored at the dose-response level, and entirely off-label.
Half-life·~24 to 36 hours terminal plasma half-life after intramuscula…
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Longevity
Pineal-axis modulation and senescence-targeted compounds.
1 compound
Mitochondrial
Mitochondrial-membrane and bioenergetics-axis peptides.
1 compound
Other
Compounds outside the primary corpus classes.
11 compounds
01
Prescription only
CGRP-pathway migraine therapeutics (anti-CGRP antibodies and gepants)
erenumab · Aimovig · et al.
The CGRP class is the first mechanism-specific migraine prevention pharmacology in the field's history — and it succeeds against the gepant-generation failure of the 2000s, when telcagepant and MK-3207 were discontinued for hepatotoxicity that the second-generation molecules engineered out.
Half-life·The four monoclonal antibodies have terminal half-lives of a…
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02
Prescription only
Desmopressin
DDAVP · 1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin · et al.
Desmopressin is the rare peptide on this site that needs no caveat about evidence depth — it has carried four FDA-approved indications across five decades. The load-bearing safety frame is not efficacy uncertainty but iatrogenic hyponatremia, and the FDA pulled the intranasal pediatric-enuresis indication in 2007 after 61 postmarketing hyponatremic seizures including two deaths.
Half-life·Plasma terminal half-life of roughly 2.5–4 hours after intra…
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03
Prescription only
Eptifibatide
Integrilin · GPIIb/IIIa inhibitor · et al.
Eptifibatide is the worked example on the site of a snake-venom-disintegrin-derived peptide that translated from rodent pharmacology to an FDA-approved acute cardiovascular therapeutic — and that has since seen its routine clinical use steadily contract as oral P2Y12 inhibitors and the EARLY-ACS readout reshaped the antiplatelet landscape around it.
Half-life·Plasma elimination half-life of approximately 2.5 hours in p…
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04
Prescription only
GnRH-agonist class (leuprolide, goserelin, triptorelin, nafarelin, histrelin, buserelin)
LHRH agonist · GnRH agonist · et al.
The agonist paradox is the load-bearing fact of the entire class: pulsatile native GnRH stimulates the HPG axis, while continuous GnRH-receptor occupancy by a long-acting analog desensitizes the receptor and shuts down LH/FSH secretion within two to three weeks. Every depot formulation in the class is designed to exploit the desensitization, not the activation — and the clinical entry point is the transient flare of LH, FSH, and testosterone that the agonist drives before desensitization completes.
Half-life·Plasma half-life of the parent peptides is short (approximat…
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05
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GnRH-antagonist class (degarelix, cetrorelix, ganirelix, relugolix, elagolix)
GnRH receptor antagonist · LHRH antagonist · et al.
The GnRH-antagonist class is the mechanistic complement of the GnRH-agonist class — same receptor, opposite pharmacology, no flare, faster castration, and a different post-treatment recovery profile that has rebuilt the hormonal-therapy conversation in advanced prostate cancer and endometriosis.
Half-life·Degarelix has a terminal half-life of approximately 53 days …
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06
Prescription only
Gonadorelin
GnRH · LHRH · et al.
The decades-old academic-medicine case for gonadorelin rests on pulsatile pump infusion every 60 to 120 minutes — a delivery architecture the bro-medicine subcutaneous bolus protocols do not replicate, and which the half-life of the molecule itself essentially forbids.
Half-life·~2 to 4 minutes plasma half-life after intravenous administr…
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07
Prescription only
Icatibant
Firazyr · JE-049 · et al.
Icatibant is the cleanest worked example on the site of a synthetic peptide engineered around a specific endogenous-mediator-receptor pair — bradykinin and the B2 receptor — that translated from rodent pharmacology to FDA approval for an acute rare-disease indication, and that did so with a safety profile dominated almost entirely by the local injection-site reaction the mechanism predicts.
Half-life·Mean plasma elimination half-life of approximately 1.4 ± 0.4…
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08
Prescription only
Osteoporosis anabolic peptide class (teriparatide, abaloparatide, romosozumab)
teriparatide · Forteo · et al.
The osteoporosis anabolic class is the build-new-bone arm of fracture-prevention pharmacology — distinct from the bisphosphonate and denosumab antiresorptive arm by mechanism, by treatment duration, and by what happens when therapy stops: anabolic gains require a subsequent antiresorptive to be maintained, and the post-anabolic transition is part of the prescription.
Half-life·Teriparatide has a subcutaneous plasma half-life of approxim…
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09
Prescription only
Proteasome inhibitor class (bortezomib, carfilzomib, ixazomib)
bortezomib · Velcade · et al.
The proteasome inhibitor class is the worked example of peptidic pharmacology arriving by way of pharmaceutical chemistry rather than biotechnology — three molecules with a peptide backbone and a C-terminal electrophilic warhead that engage the chymotrypsin-like β5 catalytic site of the 20S proteasome, with bortezomib opening multiple myeloma to a new mechanism in 2003 and the class accumulating two follow-on approvals over the subsequent twelve years.
Half-life·Bortezomib has a multi-compartmental pharmacokinetic profile…
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10
Prescription only
Somatostatin-analog peptide class (octreotide, lanreotide, pasireotide)
octreotide · Sandostatin · et al.
Native somatostatin lasts about two minutes in human plasma. The somatostatin-analog class is the worked example of medicinal chemistry rescuing an endogenous peptide from clinical irrelevance — three molecules, three pharmacokinetic strategies, four decades of pituitary and gastroenteropancreatic-neuroendocrine practice built on top.
Half-life·Native somatostatin-14 and somatostatin-28 are degraded by u…
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11
Prescription only
Ziconotide
Prialt · SNX-111 · et al.
Ziconotide is the cleanest worked example on the site of a marine-venom peptide that translated from invertebrate neurochemistry to FDA approval — and the cleanest worked example of a peptide therapeutic whose mechanism was so potent and so non-selective for its target system that the only viable route of administration is a surgically implanted intrathecal pump.
Half-life·Cerebrospinal-fluid terminal half-life of approximately 4.6 …
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