Are research peptides legal in Germany?

The key provision is § 2 of the German Medicines Act (Arzneimittelgesetz, AMG). It knows two ways in which a substance becomes a medicinal product – and one is enough.

• Medicinal product by presentation: A product is presented as if it cures, relieves or prevents disease. Whether it actually works does not matter. What counts is how it is advertised and packaged.
• Medicinal product by function: A substance changes body functions through its composition – pharmacologically, immunologically or via metabolism. That is exactly why peptides such as tirzepatide, retatrutide or BPC-157 are bought in the first place.

For GLP-1 substances and most “biohacking peptides” there is therefore a lot to suggest that they count as medicinal products. How a specific product is classified is ultimately decided by the authorities and courts on a case-by-case basis.

In Germany, a medicinal product may in principle only be placed on the market with an approval (§ 21 AMG). Approved products include, for example, Mounjaro or Wegovy as finished medicines – but not powder vials from the internet, even if they carry the same drug name. Retatrutide is not yet approved anywhere; more on this in Retatrutide: studies and approval.

The AMG mainly penalises placing on the market (Inverkehrbringen). According to § 4(17) AMG, this includes not only selling but already keeping stock for sale, offering, and “supplying to others”.

Important in everyday life: passing something on to friends, your partner or people from a chat group also counts as “supplying to others” – whether for money, at cost or as a gift. Group orders, where one person orders and distributes to others, are therefore legally particularly risky.

Merely using a medicinal product yourself is generally not itself a criminal offence under the AMG. But that does not make it legally “safe”, because acquisition and import can cause problems of their own (see below).

Research peptides are almost always sold with notes such as “for research purposes only” or “not for human use”. Many buyers conclude that this makes the purchase legal. Criminal defence lawyers explicitly point out that this wording offers no automatic legal protection. For classification as a medicinal product by function, what counts is the effect of the substance – and if everyone knows what a product is bought for, a sticker changes little.

Health-wise, the label is even a warning sign: it means that nobody vouches for purity, sterility and content. There is no official quality control as there is for pharmacy products. What a certificate of analysis (COA) does – and does not – tell you is explained in Peptide quality and COA.

§ 73 AMG contains a general import ban (Verbringungsverbot): medicinal products that require approval in Germany may only be brought in if they are approved or registered here. According to German customs (Zoll), there are only narrow exceptions.

• Travel: If you enter the country yourself, you may bring medicines in a quantity corresponding to “normal personal needs” – according to customs and the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), usually for about three months at most. This is an exception for travellers, not a licence for parcel orders.
• Shipping from non-EU countries: According to the consumer advice centre (Verbraucherzentrale), consumers generally cannot order medicines from mail-order pharmacies outside the EU and EEA.
• Shipping from the EU: Only purchases via licensed mail-order pharmacies are allowed. An online shop for “laboratory chemicals” is not a pharmacy.

Customs can hold shipments, have samples tested and refer cases to the public prosecutor. Then it is no longer just about the parcel, but about a criminal investigation.

For certain peptides, a second law comes into play: the German Anti-Doping Act (Anti-Doping-Gesetz, AntiDopG). It does not only apply to professional athletes. Trading in and placing on the market the doping substances listed there are prohibited, as are acquiring, possessing and importing a “non-small quantity” (nicht geringe Menge) for doping purposes. According to specialist lawyers, this also covers growth-hormone-releasing peptides such as CJC-1295, tesamorelin or ipamorelin. The penalty range goes up to three years’ imprisonment, more in serious cases.

The WADA Prohibited List 2026 (in force since 1 January 2026) names:

• S0 – non-approved substances: explicitly BPC-157. S0 generally covers pharmacologically active substances without approval for human use.
• S2 – growth hormone releasing factors: for example CJC-1295, tesamorelin, ipamorelin, MK-677 and GHRPs such as hexarelin.

So if you take part in competitions with doping controls, you also risk a sports ban. GLP-1 substances such as semaglutide or tirzepatide are not named in the 2026 list. You can find more on the individual substances in the peptide index: BPC-157 and in the overview of biohacking peptides.

In brief, with no claim to completeness:

• Approved GLP-1 medicines are available legally with a prescription from a pharmacy – more in Mounjaro: cost and prescription.
• Research peptides are not approved, their quality is unchecked, and the law attaches to many steps: import, trade, passing on.
• Supplying something to others or ordering for a group is the legally riskiest part.