Skip to content

Peptides / GHK-Cu

Review scheduledCopper peptideNot FDA approved

GHK-Cu

GHK-Cu is a three-amino-acid peptide (glycine, histidine, lysine) bound to a copper ion. It occurs naturally in blood, saliva and urine, and its levels fall with age. It was discovered in the 1970s and is widely used in skin creams and hair products. Clinics now also sell it as an injection.

Main use
Skin and wound repair
Committee review
Review by Feb 2027
Strongest evidence
Small human studies
Legal to compound in the US
Not yet

Effects studied or claimed

What it is promoted for, and where each effect has actually been seen

  • Firmer skin and more collagenSmall cosmetic studies
  • Faster wound healingAnimals
  • Hair growthClaimed
  • Less inflammation and oxidative damageLab studies

How it is thought to work

It carries copper into tissues and appears to switch on genes involved in making collagen and remodelling tissue.

What the evidence shows

In animals and the lab

Wound-healing studies in several animal species.

In people

Mostly small cosmetic studies of creams applied to the skin. Very little is known about injected use, which is what compounding mainly involves.

Safety and unknowns

Creams appear well tolerated. Injections raise different questions, including copper overload, reactions at the injection site and sterility.

FDA review

Scheduled for review by the FDA's compounding advisory committee before the end of February 2027, together with LL-37, Dihexa, Melanotan II and PEG-MGF. Until then the FDA treats it differently by route: creams and other non-injected forms sit in Category 1, where compounding is tolerated, while injections sit in Category 2, flagged for significant safety risks.

Committee votes are advice to the FDA. A peptide can only be compounded legally once the FDA adds it to the 503A bulks list through formal rulemaking, which has no fixed deadline.

Sources

Analysis

Strong skin science, weak evidence for injections

Peptide Evidence IndexBiology 6/10In people 3.5/10Index 4.1, rank 6 of 15See the full index

GHK is a three-amino-acid peptide that binds copper. It was discovered by Loren Pickart in 1973 in human blood, where levels are higher in young adults and fall with age. Bound to copper, it is one of the better-known active ingredients in skincare.

The evidence is strongest on the skin. Lab and animal studies show that GHK-Cu promotes wound healing and the production of collagen and other skin proteins. Small cosmetic trials of copper peptide creams in women reported firmer, thicker skin and fewer fine lines after about three months of use. Pickart's later work, drawing on gene expression databases, suggested GHK shifts the activity of thousands of genes towards a repair pattern (Pickart and Margolina, 2018), a finding often quoted online as evidence of broad anti-ageing effects.

Our view. as a topical cosmetic ingredient, GHK-Cu has a reasonable track record and few safety concerns. The injectable use now popular online is a different matter: there are no human trials of injected GHK-Cu, and the gene data show associations in cells, not benefits in people.

Studies and reports cited

  1. Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and protective actions of the GHK-Cu peptide in the light of the new gene data. Int J Mol Sci, 2018
  2. Pickart L et al. GHK peptide as a natural modulator of multiple cellular pathways in skin regeneration. Biomed Res Int, 2015

Summary of published research for general information. It is not medical advice and not a recommendation to use this substance.

← Emideltide (DSIP)All peptidesLL-37 →

General information, not medical advice. Do not buy or inject unregulated peptides.