If a peptide product was not prescribed or recommended by your usual healthcare professional and not supplied through a registered Australian pharmacy, do not buy or use it.
Unapproved peptide products can pose serious health risks. Harms include liver damage, severe allergic reactions, and hospitalisation. A professional-looking label, website, review or influencer endorsement is not proof of safety.
You can check to see if your product is a registered medicine, with quality and safety checks. Registered medicines in Australia have an “AUST R” listing from the TGA.
Talk to your GP or pharmacist before using any peptide product.
Call Triple Zero (000) if someone:
Seek urgent medical attention if you suddenly experience:
Do not wait for symptoms to become severe before seeking help.
For advice after a suspected reaction, call the NSW Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 (24 hours a day).
For non-emergency health advice, call healthdirect on 1800 022 222.
If you are using, considering using, or are concerned about someone using a peptide product, speak to your GP or pharmacist.
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that are naturally found in our bodies. They act as chemical messengers that help regulate many important processes such as metabolism and appetite, hormone activity, tissue repair and growth, and skin health and elasticity.
The body naturally produces peptides, such as insulin, while other peptides come from proteins in animal or plant foods. Peptides can also be made in a lab and are designed to mimic or amplify effects seen in naturally occurring peptides.
While some peptide products are approved and regulated for specific medical uses, many peptide products available for purchase are unapproved and have not been assessed for safety, quality, or effectiveness.
Do not buy or use peptide products from social media, informal sellers, or unverified online suppliers. A professional-looking label, website, review or influencer endorsement is not proof of safety.
There is no reliable way to know what is in an unapproved peptide product, how strong it is, or whether it is sterile. Claimed benefits such as weight loss, muscle gain, injury recovery, performance enhancement, tanning, or anti-ageing are often unsupported by evidence. Unapproved peptide products have not been assessed by Australia's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), for safety, quality or effectiveness.
The contents and strength of these products may vary between products or batches carrying the same label. Products may contain too much, too little, or none of the ingredients claimed. They may also contain other substances, contaminants, or may not be sterile.
Serious adverse effects associated with unapproved peptide products include liver damage, severe allergic reactions requiring hospital treatment, protracted vomiting, and other significant health complications.
Unapproved peptide products have not been assessed by health regulators for safety, quality, or effectiveness.
Some peptide medicines are approved for use in Australia. These medicines are prescribed by healthcare professionals and supplied through registered Australian pharmacies. They have an “AUST L” or “AUST R” number on their packaging.
Unapproved peptide products are not included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG), which means they have not been evaluated by the TGA for safety, quality or effectiveness.
If a peptide product was not prescribed for you and not supplied through a registered Australian pharmacy, do not use it. Talk to your GP or pharmacist before using any peptide product.
If a peptide product was not prescribed for you by a GP or other medical specialist and supplied through a registered Australian pharmacy, do not use it.
Do not buy peptide products from social media, informal sellers, or unverified online suppliers. You cannot be sure what these products contain. They may contain the wrong ingredients, incorrect doses, contaminants, or may not be sterile.
A professional-looking label, website, customer review or influencer endorsement does not guarantee a product is safe or genuine.
Talk to your GP or pharmacist before using a peptide product. They can provide advice on safe, evidence-based options to achieve your goals.
If you are currently using a peptide product bought online, through social media or from an informal seller, do not take another dose before speaking with your GP or pharmacist.
Do not wait for symptoms to appear. Unapproved peptide products can cause serious health problems that may require hospital treatment.
Tell your GP or pharmacist as much as you can about the product, including:
Also tell them about any other medicines or substances you are taking.
If you are having surgery or a procedure involving anaesthesia, tell your healthcare professional that you have used a peptide product. Some peptide products can affect how your body responds to anaesthesia. Your health professional needs to know you are using an unapproved product to ensure you stay safe. They will keep this information confidential.
If you are injecting peptide products, never share needles, syringes, or other injecting equipment. Sharing equipment can spread blood-borne viruses, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV.
Young people may hear about peptide products through social media, fitness communities, peer networks, or online influencers.
If you think a young person may be considering or using an unapproved peptide product, start a conversation. You do not need to be an expert or have all the answers.
Ask what they have heard about peptides, what they hope to achieve, and where they are getting their information.
Listen without judgement and encourage them to speak with a GP or other trusted health professional.
NSW Health is working with our clinicians and community, as well as regulators such as the TGA and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), to reduce the harms from peptide use and to monitor the impact on our community.
We are seeing more people present to our emergency departments in NSW after using unapproved peptides – often with vomiting that is difficult to control, sometimes with allergies, sometimes with infections and sometimes with liver injuries.
If you believe someone is illegally supplying peptides in NSW, please contact the NSW Ministry of Health Pharmaceutical Services via email at MOH-PharmaceuticalServices@health.nsw.gov.au.
If you see peptides being advertised, sold online, or promoted by influencers-particularly products promoted for weight loss, muscle growth, anti-ageing or cosmetic purposes- you can help by reporting them to the TGA.
Peptides, such as insulin or semaglutide, are important medicines that, when prescribed safely and manufactured to high standards, can help people with illnesses such as diabetes live longer and healthier lives.
For many people with overweight or obesity, peptides such as semaglutide and tirzepatide are helping them maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of heart disease.
People may also be using products that are promising in clinical trials. However, products must undergo clinical trials prior to registration, as it is through those clinical trials that uncommon complications or side effects and the best regimen for safe dosing are established.
It is unlawful to import, advertise, manufacture and supply unapproved peptide products in Australia. See the TGA warning on the risks of importing unapproved peptide products for more advice.
Products that have an “AUST-R” or “AUST-L” number on their packaging can be checked on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.
No. There is no standard for manufacturing these products, so even if you or someone you know had a positive experience once, it does not mean that this will happen again.
There are numerous reports of products that have been tested that have inconsistent dosing within the same “batch”, that have contaminants or have a completely different medicine.
Do not use the product. See your GP to discuss other safe ways to achieve the goal you were hoping to achieve with the peptide product.
The TGA and AHPRA are currently investigating practitioners who are not providing care of an acceptable standard. Be particularly careful if:
The prescriber should be able to answer questions about what each product does, what the evidence is for that product, where the product will come from, where you could order the product apart from through that clinic, and how the medicines might interact with other health products.
You should also be able to talk to the pharmacist dispensing the medicine, who can explain where the medicine has come from, any precautions you need to take, and how to report any side effects.
Generally, it’s best to talk to your usual GP, who can help you find safe, evidence-based ways to achieve the outcomes you are hoping to achieve from peptide use.
If you have a complaint about the care provided by a health practitioner in NSW, you can report them to the Health Care Complaints Commission.
