Industry Record
Peptide Clinical Trials in 2026: 896 Registered Studies Across 20 Compounds
Published: September 21, 2026
By the Curo Research Team
TL;DR
We counted every interventional study on ClinicalTrials.gov that names one of 20 peptides as an intervention. The count was run on September 21, 2026, and the script and the raw output are public, so anyone can rerun it.
- The 20 compounds appear in 896 unique registered trials.
- Four metabolic compounds account for 768 of them: semaglutide (538), tirzepatide (210), cagrilintide (44) and retatrutide (33). Some trials test two of these together, which is why the four numbers add up to more than 768.
- Semaglutide alone is named in 60% of all the trials we counted.
- The other 16 compounds share 129 trials. Thymosin alpha 1 leads that group with 55.
- BPC-157 has 3 registered trials. Ipamorelin has 2. GHK-Cu, MOTS-c and CJC-1295 have 1 each.
- AOD-9604, Selank, Semax, Epithalon, KPV and Pinealon have no entry in the US registry. For several of them the human work was done in Russia or Australia and recorded elsewhere.
- 271 of the counted trial entries are Phase 3. All but 20 of those belong to the four metabolic compounds.
What we counted, and why
People who work with research peptides ask a plain question all the time: how much formal human research exists for this compound? Review articles answer it one compound at a time. We wanted one table, built the same way for every compound, that a reader could check.
ClinicalTrials.gov is the largest public trial registry. US law has required registration of most drug trials since 2007 under FDAAA 801, and the registry has a public API. That makes it countable.
The compounds are the ones most often sold as research materials, including those in the Curo catalog, plus the approved drugs that sit in the same families. Curo supplies these compounds under a research-use-only policy, each lot with its own certificate of analysis. This page is a count of public records. It says nothing about how any compound should be used.
The count
| Compound | Registered trials | Phase 3 | Completed | Recruiting or active | First trial start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semaglutide | 538 | 165 | 253 | 237 | 2007 |
| Tirzepatide | 210 | 50 | 67 | 137 | 2016 |
| Thymosin alpha 1 | 55 | 8 | 22 | 14 | 2002 |
| Cagrilintide | 44 | 22 | 24 | 18 | 2021 |
| Retatrutide | 33 | 14 | 22 | 11 | 2019 |
| Tesamorelin | 20 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 2002 |
| NAD+ | 18 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 2015 |
| Thymosin beta 4 (TB-500) | 18 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2006 |
| Bremelanotide (PT-141) | 10 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2006 |
| BPC-157 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2015 |
| Ipamorelin | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2008 |
| GHK-Cu | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2026 |
| MOTS-c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2026 |
| CJC-1295 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2005 |
| AOD-9604 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Selank | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Semax | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Epithalon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| KPV | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pinealon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, queried September 21, 2026. Statuses such as terminated, withdrawn and unknown are in the total but not in the two status columns.
Three tiers
Hundreds. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are approved drugs with large sponsors behind them, and the registry shows it. Semaglutide has 237 trials recruiting or active right now, which is more than the lifetime total of the other 18 compounds put together.
Dozens. This tier is compounds with a real development program. Cagrilintide and retatrutide are late-stage candidates with 22 and 14 Phase 3 entries. Thymosin alpha 1, tesamorelin and bremelanotide each reached approval somewhere. Thymosin beta 4 was developed as an eye and wound candidate under the RGN code names. NAD+ itself, as opposed to precursors such as nicotinamide riboside, is named in 18 trials.
A handful or none. BPC-157 has three entries: a 2015 Phase 1 study whose status is now unknown, and two newer ones, including a Phase 2 trial that is recruiting. Ipamorelin finished two Phase 2 trials more than a decade ago. CJC-1295 has one Phase 2 trial, and it was terminated. GHK-Cu and MOTS-c each got a first interventional entry in 2026, a topical gel study and an injection study.
What a zero means
Zero registered trials is a statement about one US database. It is not a statement that no research exists.
Semax and Selank were developed in Russia, and their human studies were run and published there. Epithalon and Pinealon come from the same St. Petersburg research tradition. AOD-9604 went through human trials in Australia in the 2000s, before and outside this registry. KPV has a laboratory and animal literature. Our compound profiles cover each of these records in detail, for example the Semax research history and the MOTS-c trial breakdown.
What the registry does show is where prospective, registered human work is happening today. For most compounds sold as research materials, the published record is preclinical: cell culture, rodents, and sometimes a small older human study.
How we counted
- For each compound we searched the intervention field of the registry for the compound name and its known code names and brand names. For BPC-157 that means BPC-157, BPC 157, Bepecin and PL 14736.
- We kept only interventional studies. Observational studies were dropped.
- We kept a study only if the compound is named in the study's own list of interventions or their listed other names. A search hit alone was not enough.
- We counted unique registry numbers. A trial that tests cagrilintide with semaglutide appears in both rows and once in the 896 total.
Step 3 matters. A raw search for NAD+ returns 264 studies, most of which test nicotinamide riboside or another precursor. Only 18 name NAD+ as the intervention. A raw search for MOTS-c returns 5 studies, and 4 of them only measure the peptide in blood. Our statistics page reports the raw search figure of 4 for BPC-157. The stricter rule here gives 3, because one of the four is a gummy product that does not name BPC-157 as its intervention.
Limits. Intervention names are typed by sponsors, so an unusual spelling can be missed. The registry is US-centred. Registration tells you a study was planned. It does not tell you the study finished or published.
Why this matters for documentation
When a compound has three registered trials, the quality of the material used in laboratory work carries more weight, because there is less published human data to fall back on. Each Curo lot ships with its own certificate of analysis, and the help center explains how to verify a lot and what our testing standard covers.
Cite this data
You may quote the table and the figures with a link to this page. Please cite ClinicalTrials.gov as the underlying source. We rerun the count each quarter and mark the date at the top.
Frequently asked questions
How many clinical trials does BPC-157 have?
Three interventional trials on ClinicalTrials.gov name BPC-157 as an intervention, as of September 21, 2026: a 2015 Phase 1 study with unknown status, a Phase 1 study that has not started recruiting, and a Phase 2 study that is recruiting. None is Phase 3 and none is marked completed.
Which peptide has the most registered clinical trials?
Of the 20 compounds counted here, semaglutide, with 538 interventional trials and 165 Phase 3 entries. Tirzepatide is second with 210.
Why do Semax, Selank and Epithalon show no trials?
The count covers one registry, ClinicalTrials.gov. These compounds were developed and studied in Russia, and that work is published in the literature but is not recorded in the US registry.
Does a registered trial mean the compound is approved?
No. Registration records that a study was planned. It says nothing about the result. Retatrutide has 33 registered trials and no approval anywhere as of September 2026.
Can I reproduce this count?
Yes. The method section lists the four rules. The registry API is public and free, and the counts will move as sponsors add and update records.