What is GHK-Cu?

What sources report

What GHK-Cu is

GHK is a tripeptide of glycine, L-histidine and L-lysine, which ChEBI classes as a metabolite, a chelator and a vulnerary (wound-healing agent).¹ It occurs naturally in human plasma, saliva and urine, and its discoverer's group reports plasma levels of about 200 ng/mL at age 20, falling to 80 ng/mL by age 60.² Loren Pickart isolated GHK-Cu in 1973 as an activity in human albumin.²

A 1980 paper in Nature reported that the tripeptide readily binds copper(II) and helped cultured liver cancer cells take up the metal.²⁹ PubChem lists the 1:1 complex at 401.91 to 402.92 g/mol, against 340.38 g/mol for copper-free GHK.¹⁸³⁰³¹ Studies of plain GHK, such as a 2012 analysis of lung gene signatures, are not direct evidence for GHK-Cu.³² Researchers who need the compound itself can find GHK-Cu for sale as a 50 mg research vial.

Lab and animal findings

• Cell culture (1988): GHK-Cu raised fibroblast collagen production starting at 1 to 10 picomolar and peaking at 1 nanomolar, with no rise in cell count.³³
• Rat wounds (1993): in wound chambers under the skin, it increased collagen, glycosaminoglycans, DNA and total protein, more at higher concentrations.³⁴
• Gene activity (2012): a Connectivity Map analysis identified GHK as a compound that can reverse a gene-expression signature linked to emphysema.³²
• Endotoxin lung injury in mice (2016): with injected pretreatment, lower reactive oxygen species, TNF-alpha and IL-6, and higher superoxide dismutase activity.¹⁴
• Lung scarring in mice (2020): less inflammation, myeloperoxidase activity and collagen deposition after bleomycin.¹⁵
• Muscle in mice (2023): less smoke-induced muscle loss and weakness.¹⁶ The same paper found lower plasma GHK in 9 people with COPD than in 11 age-matched healthy controls (70.27 against 133.0 ng/mL).¹⁶
• Knee ligament grafts (2015): in 72 rats after ACL reconstruction, knee injections improved graft healing, but the benefit did not last after the injections ended.¹⁷

Human studies

Every human trial in the sources reviewed applied GHK-Cu to the skin, and most enrolled few people.⁶³⁵

A 2026 systematic review counted Loren Pickart or Anna Margolina of Skin Biology Inc. as authors on about 35% of the primary GHK-Cu literature in its window, and noted that Pickart held commercial interests in the field for decades. It calls the group's work scientifically substantive, but says this concentration of authorship limits the independence of the evidence.⁶ The cream results above are known from meeting abstracts summarized by that group.³⁶

Getting through the skin

In lab diffusion cells, copper from a 0.68% copper tripeptide solution crossed dermatomed human skin at 136.2 micrograms per square centimeter over 48 hours, and about 97 micrograms per square centimeter stayed in the tissue.³⁸ A 2026 review cautions that finding copper on the far side cannot show that the intact GHK-Cu complex crossed.²⁰

GHK-Cu, BPC-157 and TB-500

Two blends on this site combine GHK-Cu with other peptides: the Glow Peptide Stack and the KLOW Peptide Blend. WADA's 2026 list names BPC-157 in class S0 and TB-500 among thymosin beta-4 derivatives in class S2, but not GHK-Cu.¹¹³⁹ See the BPC-157 profile and the TB-500 profile.

Goal pages: skin and hair, healing and recovery and muscle, where the GHK-Cu data come from mice only.¹⁶

Side effects

Human safety data on GHK-Cu are limited.⁷²⁰

Reported in human studies

• Eyebrow trial, 2026 (18 adults, 2% serum twice daily for 12 weeks): no serious adverse effects or allergic reactions were reported.²³
• Hair-loss trial, 2016 (45 people with male pattern hair loss, once daily for 6 months): no adverse events in any group, though the product combined GHK with 5-aminolevulinic acid and was not GHK-Cu.²⁵
• Both trials were small, as most GHK-Cu trials are, so they cannot show how often uncommon reactions occur.⁶

Possible risks named by regulators and reviewers

• Immune reactions: FDA says compounded injectable GHK-Cu may pose a risk of immunogenicity because the peptide can clump (aggregate) and carry peptide-related impurities, and that human data are limited.⁷
• Copper allergy: copper is a recognized contact sensitizer in susceptible people.²⁰ A 2026 review says broken skin or penetration enhancers raise exposure, and recommends metal-allergy screening for wound, implant and injectable products.²⁰
• Copper build-up: the same review says repeated injection or chronic large-area skin use should be checked for copper accumulating in the liver and, at high exposures, the nervous system.²⁰ MedlinePlus notes that large amounts of copper are poisonous and that Wilson disease, a rare inherited disorder, deposits copper in the liver, brain and other organs.²¹
• Contamination: an FDA Form 483 issued in September 2026, after an inspection of a Texas compounding pharmacy, recorded microbial contamination in its ISO 5 sterile area and listed a compounded GHK-Cu 10 mg/mL lot among products made in a hood where one colony-forming unit was found.⁴⁰ A Form 483 lists an investigator's observations, not a final FDA determination.⁴⁰

Gaps in the safety data

• No validated human safety threshold exists for GHK-Cu: no NOAEL, no skin exposure limit and no limit for free copper.²⁰
• A 2026 review of unapproved peptides marketed directly to patients, GHK-Cu among them, found rigorous human safety data scarce and warned of potential for serious harm.⁴¹

General points on weighing safety claims are in Peptide safety basics.

Dosage information

No human dose of GHK-Cu has been established, for injection or on the skin.¹³²⁰ The human studies below tested topical products, and every injected amount comes from mice or rats. None of these figures is guidance for people.

One microgram per gram of body weight equals 1 mg/kg, so the mouse studies span 0.2 to 20 mg/kg per dose (our arithmetic). Peptide dosage basics explains how study doses are read.

Reconstitution and storage

The supplier ships GHK-Cu as a blue freeze-dried solid and gives a shelf life of 36 months at -20 °C or 30 days at 2 to 8 °C.⁹ These are its own figures, not independent stability data.⁹

• Stability: a 2016 preformulation study found GHK-Cu stable in water and in pH 4.5 to 7.4 buffers for at least two weeks at 60 °C, and broken down by hydrolysis under basic and oxidative stress and, to a lesser extent, acid.⁴³
• Copper chemistry: copper can take part in redox reactions, and added ingredients or antioxidants may protect GHK-Cu or change its chemical form.²⁰
• Vial contents: the supplier's certificate notes that injectable peptides may contain salts and sugars that UV testing does not detect, and it reports no net peptide content.¹² The supplier lists 340.4 g/mol, the value for copper-free GHK rather than the 1:1 complex near 402 g/mol, which matters for any calculation in moles.⁹¹⁸³¹

No source reviewed gives a shelf life for a mixed GHK-Cu vial or a GHK-Cu-specific reconstitution method. The general lab steps are in the reconstitution guide, the reconstitution calculator does the concentration math, and How to store peptides covers sealed and mixed vials.

Regulatory status

United States

GHK-Cu is not an approved drug.⁵ In an April 2020 warning letter, FDA listed GHK-Cu among the bulk substances a compounding pharmacy used, and said such drugs did not qualify for the section 503A exemptions because they have no USP or NF monograph and are not a component of an FDA-approved human drug.⁵

FDA removed GHK-Cu from compounding Category 1 on April 22, 2026 after its nominators withdrew, and on May 5 one nominator said it had meant to withdraw only the injectable route.¹⁰ FDA's list updated May 14, 2026 puts non-injectable GHK-Cu back in Category 1, the substances under evaluation for the 503A bulks list.¹⁰ For Category 1, FDA says it does not intend to act against compounders who meet the conditions in its guidance.²² Injectable GHK-Cu stays on FDA's list of withdrawn nominations previously in Category 2.⁷

FDA intends to consult its Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee on GHK-Cu before the end of February 2027.¹⁰⁴⁴ As of October 24, 2026, no meeting date is posted.¹⁰⁴⁴

Canada

Health Canada's April 2026 advisory lists GHK-Cu among unauthorized injectable peptide drugs it has seized. It says marketing such products as for research use only and not for human consumption does not make them legal.⁴⁶

Europe

A 2026 review notes that in the European Union, a finished product with copper tripeptide may be sold as a cosmetic only when its purpose and claims fit the cosmetic definition and it meets Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009.²⁰

Sport

GHK-Cu is not named on the WADA 2026 Prohibited List.¹¹ Class S0 bans at all times any pharmacological substance not covered elsewhere on the list and with no current government approval for human therapeutic use, and the list does not say whether GHK-Cu falls under it.¹¹

Research-use labeling

The supplier states that its products are for research purposes only, not for human consumption, and not evaluated by FDA.⁹ Vials sold here carry the label: For research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.