I spent a week with the Croatian research team that discovered the experimental peptide BPC 157 decades ago and has been studying it ever since. Ask me anything.

I spent a week with the Croatian research team that discovered the experimental peptide BPC 157 decades ago and has been studying it ever since. Ask me anything.

I'm Sara Talpos ( u/sarakate88) , a science journalist writing for u/UndarkMagazine. For months, I’ve been talking with Predrag Sikiric, the lead researcher behind the experimental peptide BPC 157. In May, I visited his team at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine. This project was supported by the Pulitzer Center and co-published by STAT news. Read my story here: https://undark.org/2026/05/29/stress-test-bpc-157-history/ Here's what I found: -The idea for BPC 157 came to Predrag Sikiric in 1975, when he was a second-year medical student listening to a lecture about stress. Overwhelming stress can damage the lining of the stomach. Surely, he thought, the stomach must produce a substance that counteracts the damage and helps the body return to normal. -Eight years later, he inspired a small band of colleagues to search for this hypothetical compound in gastric juice. -To collect the juice, they fanned out across the region, collecting it in glass bottles and plastic bags from clinics, hospitals, and even slaughterhouses. -In 1989, they found what they were looking for: a substance that seemed to possess a wide range of healing effects. -This substance has never been approved by the FDA and there is not much in the way of human data. -Nevertheless, BPC 157 is now in the middle of an effort to reform U.S. drug regulation. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has said that Americans should be able to access about a dozen peptides -- including BPC 157 -- that have not been fully vetted by the FDA. -This potential “peptide pivot” has alarmed many scientists and clinicians who say the FDA plays an important role as gatekeeper, helping to ensure that drugs are safe and effective. -How, exactly, did BPC 157 make its long journey to the FDA’s doorstep? The answer runs through communism, war, pharma companies, a gray market, and now North American peptide researchers who are asking a foundational question: -Is BPC 157 really made by the human body at all? -Sikiric’s team, they say, may have made an honest mistake all those years ago, accidentally yielding a sequence of amino acids that’s not actually produced in gastric juice. I’m here to answer your questions about BPC 157 history, science, and policy. Proof: https://x.com/Sara_Talpos; https://www.saratalpos.com/ https://preview.redd.it/utghwod2nv4h1.png?width=1164&format=png&auto=webp&s=a88760e90b953c89059edea0049b69f84bc5e669 submitted by /u/UndarkMagazine [link] [comments]