KPV

Definition

KPV is the tripeptide lysine-proline-valine, the C-terminal fragment of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone — alpha-MSH(11–13). The parent hormone has broad anti-inflammatory signaling roles, and the fragment retains a measurable share of that activity in laboratory models without the pigmentation effects of the full hormone ^[1].

It is studied principally in models of intestinal inflammation, where the peptide transporter PepT1 — induced in the colon during inflammatory bowel disease — carries KPV into epithelial and immune cells ^[2].

Evidence

The record is preclinical without exception. The central paper showed PepT1-mediated KPV uptake reducing NF-κB–driven inflammatory signaling in human cell lines and improving two models of mouse colitis ^[2]; a parallel murine inflammatory-bowel-disease study reached a similar conclusion the same year ^[3].

A PubMed search restricted to clinical trials of the tripeptide returns nothing: no human efficacy trial of KPV, for any indication, has been published as of August 2026. The compound is nonetheless sold widely as an oral and injectable supplement, which is a larger gap between marketing and record than most molecules in this index carry.

That search has since been printed rather than described. Across four name variants the tripeptide returns 97 indexed papers, of which 0 carry the clinical-trial publication type and 0 the randomized-controlled-trial type, on a filter that returned 8,904 records for a control term in the same run ^[4]. The parent hormone, searched the same way in the same session, returns 6,405 papers, 86 clinical trials, and 48 randomized trials ^[4] — which is the comparison that makes the fragment's zero legible rather than merely small.

Thirty-two of the 97 records carry the Humans subject heading, and that number is a trap rather than a finding. All 32 were read: they are melanocortin receptor pharmacology, assays run in human cell lines, nanoparticle and hydrogel delivery work, and one iontophoresis study conducted across microporated human skin outside the body ^[4]. The heading marks human tissue and human receptors. It does not mark a person who was given the compound and followed.

Lawful access

KPV was removed from Category 2 of the interim 503A bulks list in April 2026 without Category 1 listing. In July 2026 the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted to recommend adding it to the section 503A list. The margin is reported as 8–6 with one abstention — the same margin BPC-157 received — by McDermott Will & Schulte and by LumaLex Law, whose separate accounts of the meeting agree substance by substance ^{[5, 6]}; the FDA has published no minutes, transcript or vote summary, so the figure is secondary and this page says so wherever it appears. The vote is advisory; no FDA final rule has issued, and no licensed pharmacy may lawfully compound KPV as of August 2026.

Material sold online today is research-use-only supply, outside pharmacy oversight. The pending page explains what an advisory vote does and does not change.

FDA's stated safety concern is an absence of data rather than an observed harm: its safety-risk page states that FDA has not identified any human exposure data on drug products containing KPV by any route, and that the agency lacks important information on whether KPV would cause harm if given to humans ^[7].

Related molecules

KPV is filed with the repair peptides, where BPC-157 carries the same April-removal-then-July-vote history at the same reported 8–6 margin, and TB-500 the same history at the same reported margin as well ^{[5, 6]}; the three molecules stand or fall together if FDA acts on the recommendation. The class's fourth position belongs to ARA-290, which has five completed human trials and no route either — the inverse case, and the one that shows a trial record does not buy a listing. KPV is also sold as the fourth ingredient of the KLOW injectable blend; the review of GLOW and KLOW blends covers what that combination has been tested for.

Elsewhere in this index