Peptides and Drug Testing: What the WADA Prohibited List Covers

Is BPC-157 banned by WADA? Yes. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s 2026 Prohibited List names BPC-157 in class S0, Non-Approved Substances, and it is prohibited at all times, in and out of competition. Most other popular peptides, including CJC-1295, ipamorelin and TB-500, are named in class S2, which carries a heavier default penalty.

How the Prohibited List works

The Prohibited List is a mandatory standard under the World Anti-Doping Code. WADA updates it every year, and the current edition took effect on January 1, 2026. In the United States, USADA enforces it for Olympic and Paralympic sport.

Three terms on the list matter most for peptides:

• Prohibited at all times means the substance is banned in competition and out of competition. S0 and S2, the two classes that name peptides, both fall under this rule.
• Specified Substances are, in WADA’s words, those “more likely to have been consumed or used by an Athlete for a purpose other than the enhancement of sport performance.” The list adds that they “should not in any way be considered less important or less dangerous.”
• Non-Specified Substances carry a higher default sanction. USADA states that use and possession of non-Specified Substances carries a default sanction of four years.

Is BPC-157 banned by WADA, and under which class?

BPC-157 is listed in S0, Non-Approved Substances. S0 covers any drug that is not addressed elsewhere on the list and has “no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use”, such as drugs still in development or discontinued, designer drugs and veterinary-only products. The 2026 list says the class covers “many different substances including but not limited to BPC-157”.

All S0 substances are Specified. USADA adds that BPC-157 is not approved for human clinical use by the FDA, and that a Therapeutic Use Exemption is “unlikely” to be approved because permitted alternatives exist. For what the research on BPC-157 does and does not show, see our BPC-157 guide.

Where common peptides sit on the 2026 list

Source: WADA 2026 Prohibited List, sections S0, S2.2 and S2.3. For the health side of the GH-releasing peptides, see ipamorelin and CJC-1295 risks and TB-500 risks.

Why the class changes the penalty

The class a peptide sits in decides the starting point for a ban. For a Specified Substance such as BPC-157, the arbitrator in the 2024 speedskating case applied a two-year period of ineligibility as the starting point, under Article 10.2.2 of the Code, before any reduction. That rises to four years if the anti-doping organization proves the use was intentional. For non-Specified S2 peptides such as TB-500, CJC-1295 and ipamorelin, the default is four years unless the athlete can show the use was not intentional.

Either way, results can be disqualified and medals, points and prizes forfeited, as USADA’s charging letter in that case sought.

Can peptides be detected?

Anti-doping laboratories publish methods to find peptides and the pieces they break down into. The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s racing laboratory described a test that confirmed TB-500 and its breakdown products in horse urine and plasma. A 2024 study from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology’s doping control center found one TB-500 breakdown product in rat urine up to 72 hours after dosing. Those are animal results, and detection windows in people are not established in these papers. The practical point is that the list is enforced by laboratories looking for these molecules, not only by paperwork.

Why “not on the list” does not mean allowed

Athletes sometimes search the list for a product name, find nothing and assume it is permitted. For peptides that assumption is often wrong, for three reasons built into the list’s wording.

1. S0 is a catch-all. Any pharmacological substance without government approval for human therapeutic use, and not covered by another section, is banned. A new “research” peptide does not need to be named to fall under S0.
2. S2 covers lookalikes. The S2 heading bans the named substances “and other substances with similar chemical structure or similar biological effect(s).”
3. Examples are not the full list. S2 subsections use the phrase “including, but not limited to”. A peptide that raises growth hormone or acts as a growth factor is covered whether or not its name appears.

FDA approval does not make a peptide allowed in sport either. Tesamorelin is FDA-approved as Egrifta and is named in S2.2.4. Conversely, a product sold as “research use only” is, by design, not approved for human use, which is exactly the S0 definition. Our guide to research use only peptides explains that label.

What recent cases show

Under the World Anti-Doping Code, “it is the Athletes’ personal duty to ensure that no Prohibited Substance enters their bodies,” and intent does not need to be shown, as an arbitrator quoted in a 2024 USADA arbitration award. This is called strict liability. Three US cases show how it plays out with peptides.

• A doctor’s prescription (2023). A UFC athlete was prescribed BPC-157 by a doctor for a medical condition. She self-reported after learning it was prohibited, and still received a four-month sanction. USADA noted a Therapeutic Use Exemption did not apply because BPC-157 is a Non-Approved Substance.
• A supplement (2024). A 19-year-old short track speedskater admitted using a supplement that contained BPC-157 and DHEA. The arbitrator found she had not shown she was free of significant fault, so the starting point stayed at two years. It was reduced to one year because she admitted the violation.
• Possession and promotion (2025). After a whistleblower tip, USADA found a triathlete had possessed and used BPC-157 and TB-500 and had used social media to encourage followers to buy prohibited substances. He received a four-year ban.

Note what triggered these cases: a self-report, an athlete’s own declaration on a doping control form, and a whistleblower. A clean test is not the only way a violation is found.

Checks before using any peptide product

• Search the ingredient, not just the brand, on Global DRO, the drug-status lookup USADA teaches athletes to use.
• Treat any product listing BPC-157, TB-500, a “-relin” or “-morelin” peptide, or GHRP as prohibited.
• Remember that supplements and “research” vials are not tested as drugs. A certificate of analysis does not show that a product is free of a banned substance; see what a COA can prove.
• If a doctor prescribes a peptide, ask about a Therapeutic Use Exemption before the first use, not after a test.

A new Prohibited List takes effect every January 1, so check the edition in force on the day you compete; the 2026 list is the one that applies until December 31, 2026.

Sources

• World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List, World Anti-Doping Code International Standard.
• US Anti-Doping Agency. BPC-157: What Athletes Should Know About the Prohibited Experimental Peptide.
• US Anti-Doping Agency. Cortney Casey Accepts Sanction for Violation of UFC Anti-Doping Policy (September 14, 2023).
• US Anti-Doping Agency. Triathlon Athlete Anthony McCauley Accepts Sanction for Anti-Doping Rule Violations (September 17, 2025).
• New Era ADR. USADA v. Lute, Case No. 24062102, Reasoned Award (August 20, 2024).
• Global DRO. Global Drug Reference Online.
• DailyMed (National Library of Medicine). Egrifta WR (tesamorelin) prescribing information.