Short answer
Very few. Three small studies in people are indexed on PubMed, with 16, 12 and 2 participants, and none had a control group. The FDA's 2026 review counted five clinical studies in total, including two conference abstracts, and called them short, small and limited on safety. Larger placebo-controlled trials are registered but have no results yet.
The three published studies
A 2021 chart review at one Florida clinic reached 16 people who had knee injections; 14 reported less pain. A 2024 pilot gave BPC-157 to 12 women with interstitial cystitis; 10 reported their symptoms resolved. A 2025 safety pilot gave it intravenously to 2 healthy adults and found no change in tested blood markers.
All three come from the same lead author, appeared in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, relied on self-reported results and had no comparison group. That makes them signals, not proof.
What reviewers concluded
A 2025 systematic review in HSS Journal screened 544 articles and included 36 studies: 35 in animals or cells and 1 in people. It found no clinical safety data. A 2026 review in the American Journal of Sports Medicine described the human evidence as a single case series with significant flaws and no controls.
The FDA's own briefing document for its July 2026 committee meeting counted five clinical studies, adding an older ulcerative colitis trial and a phase 1 study published only as abstracts. It found no human data on how the body absorbs and clears the drug.
Trials that could change the picture
ClinicalTrials.gov lists a placebo-controlled phase 2 trial in hamstring strains, recruiting since February 2026 with completion expected in 2028, and a planned pilot after rotator cuff surgery due to start in 2027. A 2015 phase 1 trial never posted results.
Until those report, the honest summary is that BPC-157 looks interesting in animals and is barely tested in people. We do not cover dosing or sourcing. Educational content, not medical advice.
Related questions
Why is there so much animal research but so little human research?
In the 2025 systematic review, 35 of the 36 included studies were in animals or cells. Placebo-controlled human trials are only now registered, and none has reported results.
Does 'no evidence' mean it doesn't work?
No. It means the question has not been properly tested in people. That cuts both ways: benefits and harms are both unknown.
Read next
Sources
- Lee and Padgett, Altern Ther Health Med, 2021 (knee pain chart review), PubMed 34324435
- Lee, Walker and Ayadi, Altern Ther Health Med, 2024 (interstitial cystitis pilot), PubMed 39325560
- Lee and Burgess, Altern Ther Health Med, 2025 (intravenous safety pilot), PubMed 40131143
- Vasireddi et al., HSS Journal, 2025 (systematic review)
- Mayfield et al., Am J Sports Med, 2026
- FDA briefing document on BPC-157 for the July 2026 committee meeting
- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07437547 (hamstring strain, phase 2)
Published 2026-10-03 · Last checked 2026-10-03
Educational content, not medical advice. Made for the United States.