Doping: the WADA prohibited list and peptides

The World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list is a mandatory international standard. It is updated every year, and the 2026 list took effect on 1 January 2026. Peptides are covered mainly by two sections. S2 is titled "Peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances, and mimetics" and is banned at all times, both in and out of competition. Everything in S2 is a non-specified substance. The section opens by stating that the listed substances "and other substances with similar chemical structure or similar biological effect(s)" are prohibited, which makes the list open-ended rather than exhaustive.

S2 has three parts. S2.1 covers erythropoietins and agents affecting red blood cell production, including EPO receptor agonists, HIF activators, GATA inhibitors and TGF-beta signalling inhibitors. S2.2 covers peptide hormones and their releasing factors: testosterone-stimulating peptides in men such as chorionic gonadotrophin, LH, GnRH analogues and kisspeptin; corticotrophins; growth hormone along with its analogues and fragments, with AOD-9604 and hGH 176-191 named as fragments; and growth-hormone releasing factors. The last group includes GHRH analogues such as CJC-1293, CJC-1295, sermorelin and tesamorelin; growth hormone secretagogues such as anamorelin, ibutamoren (MK-677), ipamorelin, lenomorelin (ghrelin), macimorelin and tabimorelin; and the GHRP peptides hexarelin and GHRP-1 through GHRP-6. S2.3 covers growth factors and their modulators: FGF, HGF, IGF-1 (mecasermin) and its analogues, mechano growth factors, PDGF, VEGF, and thymosin beta-4 and its derivatives, where TB-500 is given as the example.

Peptides with no approval anywhere are caught instead by S0, "Non-approved substances", which also applies at all times. The wording is deliberately broad: any pharmacological substance not dealt with in another section of the list and with no current approval from any government health authority for human therapeutic use — for example drugs in preclinical or clinical development, discontinued drugs, designer drugs, and substances approved only for veterinary use. In the 2026 list, BPC-157 is named explicitly as an example under S0.

BPC-157 was added in 2022. WADA's own Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes for the 2022 list states, under S0: "BPC-157 is now prohibited under S0 following a recent re-evaluation and added as an example." That list took effect on 1 January 2022. USADA points out that because BPC-157 is not approved as a therapeutic agent in any country, there is no basis for granting a therapeutic use exemption. USADA also notes that the substance turns up illegally in some wellness and anti-ageing products, which means an athlete can be exposed without knowing it. A section applying "at all times" means a positive test out of season is treated exactly like one during competition.