Cosmetic / skin
GHK-Cu
Copper Tripeptide-1 · GHK copper
Fastest-growing peptide search term of 2026 (+1,016% YoY); mass-market topical (skin/hair) audience; core of GLOW/KLOW blends.
Evidence
Bhuman trials
Status
Removed from Cat 2 · pending PCACas of 2026-06
Approval
Not approved
Category
Cosmetic / skin
Route
Topical · Subcutaneous · Microneedling
Demand rank
#5 most-searched
01Dosing & Protocol
Typical · reference only
Topical 0.2-2% (evidence-based cosmetic); injectable SC 1-2 mg/day (community/anecdotal only)
Titration
Topical: start <=0.05% if sensitive, advance nightly; avoid layering with L-ascorbic acid (degrades complex)
Reconstitution — illustrative, not a recommendation
50 mg vial + 2 mL BAC = 25 mg/mL; 1 mg = 4 U, 2 mg = 8 U on U-100.
Reconstitution calculatorlive tool
4units
on a U-100 syringedraw to the 4 mark
Concentration25 mg/mL
Draw volume0.04 mL
Illustrative, not a recommendation. mg vs mcg confusion drives 5–1000× overdoses — always recompute for your own vial and syringe.
Units are not milligrams. mg-vs-mcg confusion drives documented 5–1000× overdoses — always recompute for your own vial.
02Regulatory Status
Removal from Category 2 ≠ legal to compound ≠ FDA-approved. Injectable GHK-Cu remains gray-market RUO; removal != legal/approved.
Status
Removed from Cat 2 · pending PCAC
503A bulks
Not on the bulks list
Category 2
Removed from Category 2 Apr 2026
PCAC review
~2027-02 (NOT the Jul 2026 meeting)
WADA
Not listed
03Evidence — the honest read
What the evidence actually shows
Modest topical cosmetic evidence (small, often industry-funded); injectable/systemic = animal/mechanistic. A 511-patient Phase III (Iamin, 1994) FAILED; FDA Class I device clearance as wound dressing (1996, no healing claims). Two widely-cited 'recent studies' appear fabricated.
04Safety
Contraindications
- Wilson disease / copper-overload disordershard stop
- Copper allergy
- Concurrent copper chelation (penicillamine/trientine)
- Active malignancy (systemic; precautionary)
- Pregnancyhard stop
Key interactions
- L-ascorbic acid (topical stability incompatibility)
- Copper/zinc antagonism with chronic systemic use
Serious signals
- Systemic copper overload risk (IOM elemental copper ceiling 10 mg/day)
- Injectable: no evidence-based max
Monitoring
Systemic use: serum copper, ceruloplasmin, zinc (clinic-extrapolated).
05Related in Cosmetic / skin
06Sources
The primary sources behind this monograph — each opens the registry so you can verify the claim yourself. Last verified 2026-06-13.
Secondarypeptidex.app GHK-Cu 2026Market / secondary context · peptidex.appHow we source & verify — the full method →Beyond these primaries, every monograph is distilled from TrackurStack’s research dossier — 584 de-duplicated sources across 4 research iterations, adversarially verified against primary sources.
Not medical or legal advice. Educational / harm-reduction reference. Regulatory and dosing claims in this field move monthly — re-verify against primary sources (FDA docket FDA-2025-N-6895, DailyMed, ClinicalTrials.gov) before acting.
Last reviewed — 2026-06-13 · confidence: moderate