Alpha-MSH-derived tripeptide
KPV is a three-amino-acid fragment associated with alpha-MSH. Cell and mouse studies explore inflammatory signaling, colitis, and targeted delivery, but FDA found no KPV administered to humans by any route. Human benefits, safety, dose, and route remain unknown.
Built by the community
Every structured report adds useful context about research setup, outcomes, and unwanted effects as the community dataset grows.
Publicly anonymous by default. Your account keeps reports editable and helps reduce duplicate submissions.Research at a glance
Depth and confidence summarize the research record—not effectiveness, safety, or a recommendation.
Cell, mouse, engineered-delivery, and ex-vivo skin studies exist, but FDA located no administration to living humans.
Research depth describes how large and mature the overall record is. It does not tell you whether the results were positive.
Human exposure, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, effectiveness, acute safety, and repeated-use safety remain unknown.
Confidence describes how reliable and consistent the conclusions are. It can be high for one outcome and low for another.
The strongest evidence type shows what the best-supported conclusions are actually based on.
Human findings are more directly relevant than animal or laboratory results, but they still apply only to the populations and outcomes studied.
Route-specific record
These are exposures used in cited research for a specific route and population—not a suggested amount.
Half-life describes how long it takes the measured amount in the body to fall by half. It is not a dosing recommendation.
Evidence can change by administration method. Findings from one route should not automatically be applied to another.
Evidence boundary: Passive permeation was poor and enhancement required microporation or iontophoresis. Ex-vivo delivery does not establish wound benefit, tolerability, or systemic exposure. Amounts shown describe cited research exposure—not a dosage recommendation.
Practical starting point
Common goals and questions—not recommendations or promises of benefit.
The overview, studies, and source ledger below explain what supports each label—and where the evidence stops.
The short version
KPV is a three-amino-acid fragment associated with alpha-MSH. Cell and mouse studies explore inflammatory signaling, colitis, and targeted delivery, but FDA found no KPV administered to humans by any route. Human benefits, safety, dose, and route remain unknown.
Includes FDA's May 2026 KPV review and safety notice, the July 23, 2026 PCAC vote, and peer-reviewed cell, animal, nanoparticle, and cadaver-skin studies. No human KPV intervention study was identified.
What the evidence says
None. The closest human-derived evidence is an ex-vivo cadaver-skin permeation study, which is laboratory evidence—not administration to living participants.
This is the strongest supported conclusion in the current human evidence—not a summary of every claim made about the compound.
Whether KPV produces any clinically meaningful human effect; human bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, acute and repeated-use safety, immunogenicity, dose-response, route differences, and combination effects.
Keeping the main uncertainty visible prevents an early or promising finding from looking more settled than it is.
The evidence story
Importance shows how much an item changes the evidence story. Quality shows how much confidence the design deserves. A strong negative study can score highly on both.
Importance and quality answer different questions. A rigorous study can be highly important even when it challenges a popular claim.
The formulation was reported to improve mucosal-healing and inflammatory outcomes in preclinical colitis models.
Passive KPV permeation was poor; microporation and iontophoresis increased delivery into or across the excised skin.
KPV reduced tumor development in wild-type mice, while the reported effect was absent in PepT1-knockout mice.
The specialized nanoparticle/hydrogel system delivered KPV to the colon and reduced experimental colitis measures in mice.
KPV reduced several measures of inflammation in both mouse colitis models.
Administration and handling
FDA found no KPV free base or acetate administered to humans by oral, topical, nasal, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intravenous, or any other route. Animal doses, cell concentrations, nanoparticle protocols, cadaver-skin delivery methods, and promoted online practices are not human dosing guidance. No approved reconstitution, injection, titration, cycling, or combination procedure exists.
FDA's review cites reported bulk-material conditions—up to three years at -20°C for free base and 2°C to 8°C for acetate—but also found both substances insufficiently characterized and raised unresolved impurity, aggregation, microbiological-quality, formulation, and solubility questions. Those observations are not consumer storage instructions and should not be transferred across salts, concentrations, formulations, containers, or suppliers.
Primary-source ledger
2026-07-24
2026-05-12
2017-07-05 · PMID 28143741 · DOI 10.1016/j.ymthe.2016.11.020
2017-07-01 · PMID 28343991 · DOI 10.1016/j.xphs.2017.03.017
2016-05-01 · PMID 27458604 · DOI 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2016.01.006
2010-03-01 · PMID 19909746 · DOI 10.1053/j.gastro.2009.11.003
2008-03-01 · PMID 18092346 · DOI 10.1002/ibd.20334
2008-01-01 · PMID 18061177 · DOI 10.1053/j.gastro.2007.10.026