ANSM warns about the dangers of peptides bought online
Serious adverse events have been reported following the use of unauthorised and unevaluated peptides, particularly injectables, marketed as weight loss, performance or anti-ageing products. ANSM strongly advises against obtaining them.
Peptides are sold online for "cutting" and improving sports performance.
The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) is warning about the risks associated with peptides offered "on the internet, social media or via informal channels, notably from sports coaches or friends and family". Some are presented as medicines "even though they have not been evaluated or authorised", the health agency reminds us in a news update published on 2 July 2026. These illegal products, marketed as slimming, anti-ageing or sports recovery remedies, "pose significant risks to the people who use them", it warns, urging people not to use them.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and ANSM had already warned about the risks linked to buying counterfeit GLP-1 analogues on the internet as early as September 2025. The term "peptides" is broader and encompasses products such as retatrutide, a triple hormone receptor agonist of GLP-1, GIP and glucagon, but also BP180, TB500, GH, GHK-Cu, BPC-157 and NAD+. They are most often sold in the form of vials containing an injectable product or as injector pens. These unauthorised products are presented as dietary supplements, "whereas their action exceeds what is expected" for this category of products.
Severe adverse effects requiring hospitalisation
Their composition is uncertain and ANSM reports numerous notifications following their use, "particularly retatrutide", ANSM specifies. Serious adverse events requiring hospitalisation have been reported. The risks are higher with injectable products.
The reported adverse effects include:
nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain; significant loss of appetite, dehydration; intense fatigue, malaise, feeling dizzy; liver damage; dysaesthesia; infection at the injection site; severe allergic reaction.
ANSM indicates it is continuing investigations in order to "take the necessary measures, where appropriate, for products falling under (its) jurisdiction".
Healthcare professionals can pass on the following advice to their patients:
do not buy injectable, oral, or drinkable peptides on the internet, on social media or through acquaintances; do not inject a product that has not been prescribed by a doctor and obtained from a pharmacy; do not trust false promises (rapid weight loss, "cutting", recovery or "anti-ageing" effect); never use a product labelled "For research use only" or "Réservé à la recherche" or "Not for human use".
If products have been purchased outside the official medicine supply chain:
stop using them; consult a healthcare professional promptly in case of adverse effects; in a life-threatening emergency, call 15 (SAMU) or 18 (Fire Brigade).
Users are encouraged to report any adverse event associated with taking fraudulent peptides.
Even if no adverse effect was felt at the time of consuming or injecting the product, they can occur at any time.
If peptides are being sold on the internet and social media, make a report on Pharos. This news article, written by a scientific author, reflects the state of knowledge on the subject covered at the date of its publication. It is not an encyclopaedic page that is regularly updated. Subsequent developments in scientific knowledge may render it wholly or partly obsolete. Consult our ethical and professional conduct charter
