GHK-Cu: what the evidence actually shows

GHK-Cu is a copper complex of the tripeptide glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine, used topically in cosmetic formulations.

Also known as copper peptide, copper tripeptide-1, GHK.

Evidence and regulatory status

Animal or laboratory evidence only. No published human trial.

Sold as a cosmetic ingredient. Not approved by the FDA as a drug for any indication.

Half-life

No published human pharmacokinetic study reports a half-life for GHK-Cu. Figures circulating on vendor and forum pages are not traceable to a human trial, so this page does not repeat them.

What published trials used

No published human dosing trial exists for GHK-Cu.

Reported for reference only. What a trial administered under supervision is not a recommendation, and Gireta does not make one.

How much research exists

PubMed records
180
Tagged human
65
Clinical trials
3

A PubMed search for GHK-Cu returns 180 records, of which 65 are tagged as human research and 3 are typed as a clinical trial.

Counted on . Counts drift, so the exact query is linked rather than described, and you can re-run it.

Common questions

Is GHK-Cu FDA approved?
GHK-Cu appears in cosmetic products, which are regulated differently from drugs and are not approved by the FDA for an indication. It has no drug approval.
What kind of research exists on GHK-Cu?
Most of the published work is laboratory and cell-culture research on gene expression and wound healing. Three records are typed as clinical trials, which is a small human literature for a widely sold ingredient.
What is the half-life of GHK-Cu?
No published human pharmacokinetic study reports a half-life for GHK-Cu, so this page does not state one. It is applied topically rather than injected, which is a different absorption question again.

Sources

  1. GHK in skin regeneration · BioMed Research International, via PubMed, 2015

Related compounds

Others graded preclinical here

Held to the same standard on this site. Each page prints its own literature counts, so where a record is typed as a clinical trial you can see it rather than take our word for the grade.

  • BPC-157 no records typed as a clinical trial
  • TB-500 1 record typed as a clinical trial
  • Epitalon 1 record typed as a clinical trial

Planning a schedule?

Gireta turns a compound and a cadence into a twelve-week timeline with the reconstitution maths worked out and a monthly cost.

Plan a GHK-Cu schedule

Last reviewed .