Metabolic
MOTS-c
Unusual among peptides because it isn't made from instructions in your regular DNA. It comes from the separate genetic code inside your mitochondria, the parts of your cells that produce energy. It rises naturally when you exercise, which is why it's studied as an "exercise in a vial" for insulin sensitivity, muscle ageing and endurance. The FDA's own scientists recommended against including it in this year's compounding review, and the advisory panel overruled them anyway. There's still no completed human trial testing MOTS-c itself, only a related but different compound.
Mitochondrial with strong mechanistic/preclinical interest but no completed human therapeutic efficacy dataset yet.
How well studied
Tier Guide: A = Well studied, B = Some good studies, C = Early evidence & D = Barely studied
Little to no real testing in humans at all. Mostly theory, lab results, or anecdote.
UK status
How you could legitimately come across it here, if at all
No authorised UK medicine contains this, and we have no record of a routine UK clinic route. Material sold online is unregulated.
Evidence strength and UK regulatory status answer different questions.
Heightened caution: this compound carries unresolved regulatory, safety or supply-chain concerns in the UK. Nothing here is a recommendation to use it.
Overview
How it works
Made inside your energy-producing cell structures and released when they're under stress, it flips an energy-sensing switch (AMPK) that tells cells to pull in more sugar for fuel and turn on their own antioxidant defences.
Activates AMPK via folate-cycle inhibition, promotes GLUT4 translocation for uptake, and translocates to the nucleus under metabolic stress to regulate antioxidant-response-element genes including NRF2 targets.
Reported benefits
- Preclinical studies support roles in metabolic adaptation, glucose handling and exercise biology
- A Phase 2a human study is registered, but registration is not evidence of efficacy and no results are available
Who it's typically used for
Timeline to results
Safety & UK access
Dosage
No established human dose for native MOTS-c. A registered Phase 2a protocol is research under supervision, not a self-administration schedule.
Side effects
- Injection site pain, redness or swellingreported anecdotally; no completed human trial has characterised this
- Manufacturing impurity and aggregation concerns for injectable productsregulatory concern, not a trial finding
- Effects on glucose regulationmechanism-based caution; unquantified in humans
Getting it in the UK
No authorised UK medicine contains this, and we have no record of a routine UK clinic route. Material sold online is unregulated.
Where it turns up
- Not routinely available in the UK
- Unregulated online market
No authorised UK medicinal product containing MOTS-c was identified. A clinical-trial registration does not create an authorised treatment route.
Not MHRA-licensed; part of the same July 2026 US compounding review as BPC-157, TB-500 and KPV. No UK licensing pathway exists
MHRA: the UK regulator that assesses whether a medicine is safe and works before it can be authorised for use here. Something not being MHRA-licensed does not automatically mean it is illegal, and it does not mean it is safe.
This is background information about UK regulation, not advice about what you can or should obtain.
Evidence & sources
Why this rating?
The A to D rating shown above comes from our earlier editorial review and is still waiting to be migrated into the structured review record below. That is a gap in our record-keeping, not a sign the rating is wrong.
Evidence fingerprint
No route and indication scope has been published for this profile yet, so no fingerprint is shown.
Sources
Structured source audit not yet published for this profile. The references behind this page are being catalogued one compound at a time, and this one has not been through that process yet.
Content freshness
- Last reviewed
- 24 Sept 2026
- Regulatory status last checked
- 21 Aug 2026