Bioregulatory Medicine
Peptide therapy
Peptide therapy is the use of short amino-acid chains that act as signaling molecules, given by subcutaneous injection or slow infusion to modulate immune function, tissue repair and cell signaling. St. George Hospital uses a small number of defined peptides inside an inpatient program, chosen per patient from the findings, with the evidence for each one stated as it is.
What is peptide therapy?
Peptides are short chains of amino acids, shorter than proteins, that the body uses as messengers: insulin, oxytocin and the thymic hormones are all peptides. Therapeutic peptides copy or modify these messages. St. George Hospital gives them by subcutaneous injection or slow infusion as one block inside the programs listed under our therapies, most often in longevity medicine and in the immune work-up of chronic infection.
The class itself is established medicine. Peptides are selective, effective at low doses and comparatively well tolerated, and roughly 140 peptide drugs were in clinical trials when the field was last surveyed in this way (Fosgerau et al., Drug Discov Today, 2015). What is sold online as "peptide therapy" is a different thing: compounds without licensing, without trials in people, bought from unregulated sources. This page separates the two. We use a small number of defined peptides, state the evidence for each, and give any peptide outside a licensed indication as an individual treatment attempt decided with the patient after medical consultation.
How does it work?
Each peptide binds a specific receptor on its target cells and starts an intracellular signal. Thymosin alpha-1 acts on Toll-like receptors on dendritic cells and on T-cell maturation, which is why it is studied in states where the cellular immune response is weak or misdirected. Organ-specific bioregulator peptides from the European tradition are short sequences derived from particular tissues, used on the premise that they modulate gene expression in the tissue of origin; that premise rests on laboratory and animal work. BPC-157 is a fragment of a gastric protein that, in animal models, raises growth-hormone-receptor expression, supports new vessel growth and lowers inflammatory cytokines in injured tissue.
The choice of peptide, dose and route is a physician decision made from your findings. Immune peptides are usually preceded by an immune panel from the laboratory and immune testing; growth-axis peptides by a hormonal work-up; repair peptides by an examination of the injury.
Clinical applications
A supportive block for immune dysregulation in chronic infections, immune recovery after COVID, tissue repair and age-related changes. Peptides are an adjunct, never the lead therapy, and never replace standard cancer treatment.
Show all applications
Peptide therapy at St. George Hospital may be considered as a supportive block for:
- Immune dysregulation in chronic infections such as chronic Lyme disease
- Post-infection immune reconstitution, including Post-COVID syndrome
- Tissue repair following injury or surgery, with regenerative medicine
- Age-related hormonal and metabolic changes, within the healthy aging program and men's health
- Chronic inflammatory conditions where an immune panel shows a target
Peptides are an adjunct to the program, never its lead therapy, and in oncology they are complementary to standard treatment, not a replacement.
Could this belong in your plan?
That depends on your findings, not on the therapy. Write to the International Office with a short history; it requests your records afterwards, and a physician reviews them before the video consultation and tells you whether a peptide belongs in your program, which one, and what the evidence for it is.
What a session feels like
Before the first dose
Your physician explains the route, the evidence grade and the course length. You sign a consent form, and baseline bloods are taken.
The dose
A subcutaneous injection takes seconds, usually in the morning. An infusion is a quiet 15–30 minutes in a chair on the infusion unit.
Week two
Immune and inflammatory values are repeated, and the course is continued, adjusted or stopped on that basis. A red spot at the injection site usually settles within a day.
At home
If the course continues at home, a nurse teaches you the injection technique and you leave with a written schedule and a physician contact.
Evidence and safety
The evidence differs by compound, so each peptide is graded on its own. We use only pharmacy-compounded peptides with a certificate of analysis, never products from unregulated online sources.
Show studies, risks and side effects
The evidence differs by compound, and it is the compound, not the class, that we grade.
Thymosin alpha-1 (thymalfasin) is a licensed drug in several countries, among them Italy and China, for chronic hepatitis B and as a vaccine adjuvant, and it has been used in immunocompromised states, in malignancies alongside standard treatment, and in severe infections; its safety profile across these uses is well documented (Dominari et al., World J Virol, 2020). The trial record is mixed. The largest randomized trial to date, 1,106 adults with sepsis in 22 centers, found no difference in 28-day mortality between thymosin alpha-1 and placebo (23.4 versus 24.1 percent) and no difference in safety outcomes (Wu et al., BMJ, 2025). We grade thymosin alpha-1 as moderate inside its licensed indications and limited outside them, including in chronic Lyme disease and Post-COVID, where there are no controlled trials.
BPC-157 has no human efficacy trials. A systematic review of 36 studies found 35 preclinical and one clinical study, a retrospective series of twelve patients with knee pain, and no clinical safety data at all (Vasireddi et al., HSS J, 2025). A second review counted three human pilot studies, for knee pain, interstitial cystitis and intravenous safety, reported no adverse effects in them, and concluded that BPC-157 should be considered investigational until proper trials exist (McGuire et al., Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med, 2025). It is not licensed anywhere and is banned in professional sport. We grade it as limited. The bioregulator peptides of the European tradition sit in the same category: mechanism and animal data, case series, no controlled trials. What the evidence does not show, for any of these peptides, is a change in long-term outcome for a chronic condition.
Contraindications and side effects
- Active cancer is a contraindication for growth-axis and repair peptides, because signals that promote vessel growth and cell proliferation are not given where a tumor could use them. Thymosin alpha-1 in oncology is decided with the treating oncologist.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding; known allergy to a peptide or its excipients; autoimmune disease in an active flare for immune-stimulating peptides.
- Side effects we see are injection-site redness, transient tiredness or flushing after thymic peptides, and, with growth-axis peptides, water retention or joint ache that resolves on dose reduction.
- Products: we use pharmacy-compounded peptides with a certificate of analysis. Peptides bought from unregulated online sources vary in purity and dose, and we do not administer them.
How it fits the program
Peptides are a supporting block. In the Lyme program thymosin alpha-1 is scheduled alongside immune therapy and whole-body hyperthermia where the immune panel shows a cellular deficit. In the Long COVID and ME/CFS program it sits beside H.E.L.P. apheresis and IHHT. In the healthy aging program peptides are combined with NAD+ infusions and, where indicated, the senolytic protocol, with hormonal and inflammatory markers measured at baseline and in week two. Our article on what peptide therapy can and cannot do goes through the individual peptides in more depth.
Costs: peptides are billed per preparation and per administration as a therapy block inside your written, itemized cost overview. Costs are a package price plus individual add-ons, and a deposit is paid before admission. Treatment is self-pay; the invoice is itemized in English with diagnoses and procedure descriptions for out-of-network review. Details are on Costs and insurance and in the Information for international patients.
Frequently asked questions about peptide therapy
Is peptide therapy safe?
Peptides as a drug class are selective and generally well tolerated, and thymosin alpha-1 has a long safety record in trials. For BPC-157 and most bioregulator peptides there are no clinical safety data beyond small pilot studies, which is why we use pharmacy-compounded products with a certificate of analysis, start at low doses, and check liver, kidney and inflammatory values during the course. Injection-site redness is the most common effect we see.
Does BPC-157 work in humans?
Nobody knows yet. The evidence is almost entirely from animal studies; the human data are three pilot studies and one retrospective series of twelve patients with knee pain. There is no randomized trial of BPC-157 in people for any indication. We say that plainly before it is prescribed, and it is given only as an individual treatment attempt with that understanding.
Which peptides do you use?
Thymosin alpha-1 for immune modulation in chronic infection and after viral illness; thymic and organ-specific bioregulator peptides from the European tradition; BPC-157 for tissue repair in selected patients; and, where a hormonal indication has been measured, peptides that act on the growth-hormone axis. Which, if any, belong in your plan follows from your findings, not from a list.
How much does peptide therapy cost?
Peptides appear in your itemized cost overview as an add-on to the package price. You receive the estimate in EUR after a physician has read your findings and before anything is booked. Treatment is self-pay; the invoice is itemized in English for out-of-network review.
Can I continue peptide therapy at home?
Some subcutaneous courses can continue at home after a nurse has taught you the injection technique and you have a written schedule and a physician contact. Supply depends on the regulations of your home country; several peptides cannot be shipped to or imported into the United States, and we tell you before you travel what can and cannot continue after discharge.
If you want to know whether a peptide belongs in your plan, write a short inquiry to the International Office, free of charge; it asks for your findings afterwards. A physician reads them before the video consultation and tells you which peptide, for how long, and where its evidence stands. You can also read how a stay runs before you decide.
References
- Peptide therapeutics: current status and future directions.. Drug Discov Today 2015. PMID 25450771
- Thymosin alpha 1: A comprehensive review of the literature.. World J Virol 2020. PMID 33362999
- The efficacy and safety of thymosin α1 for sepsis (TESTS): multicentre, double blinded, randomised, placebo controlled, phase 3 trial.. BMJ 2025. PMID 39814420
- Emerging Use of BPC-157 in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine: A Systematic Review.. HSS J 2025. PMID 40756949
- Regeneration or Risk? A Narrative Review of BPC-157 for Musculoskeletal Healing.. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med 2025. PMID 40789979
Send a free inquiry
The initial inquiry is free of charge. The International Office reviews your message and your case directly and gets back to you.
- Phone
- +49 8061 398-0
- Hours
- Mon–Thu 08:00–17:00, Fri 08:00–14:00 German time (CET/CEST); in the US Mon–Thu 2–11 a.m. ET, Fri 2–8 a.m. ET.
Munich Airport (MUC), about 60 minutes by car.