WADA Prohibited List 2027: GLP-1s Off, BPC-157 On

The WADA prohibited list 2027 leaves the weight-loss drugs where they were. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are still not prohibited in sport, and they stay on the watch list WADA calls its Monitoring Program. The peptides people ask about most don't move either: BPC-157 is still named among the unapproved substances, and TB-500, the growth-hormone-releasing peptides and MOTS-c keep their places. WADA published the list on September 21, 2026, and it takes effect on January 1, 2027. If you're tested in your sport, a prescription doesn't change any of that.

What the WADA prohibited list 2027 changed

As of September 22, 2026, the day this article was written, the 2027 Prohibited List is on WADA's website with a summary of what changed. WADA's Executive Committee approved it on September 10, and the agency's announcement is dated September 21. The 2026 list stays in force until the new one starts on January 1.

Most of the edits are housekeeping in other drug classes: cannabinoids, diuretics, hormone modulators and anti-inflammatory steroids.

One change is aimed squarely at peptides. The first class on the list, S0, is a catch-all for any drug that no government health authority has cleared for human treatment: drugs still in trials, designer drugs, veterinary-only products. For 2027, WADA added the word "peptides" to those examples. Its note explains why: "Even if a peptide is not specifically named on the List, utmost caution should be taken as it may still be prohibited and may be harmful to health."

BPC-157 is still the peptide S0 names outright, and it is still prohibited at all times, in competition and out of it. Our BPC-157 drug-testing explainer covers how it's detected and what an exemption would take.

Semaglutide and tirzepatide: watched, not prohibited

The Monitoring Program is WADA's watch list. In the Code's words, it covers substances "which are not on the Prohibited List, but which WADA wishes to monitor in order to detect potential patterns of misuse in sport." Laboratories can look for them in samples. Finding one isn't a violation.

Semaglutide joined that program in the 2024 edition. For 2026, WADA clarified that its urine monitoring of semaglutide also covers tirzepatide. The 2027 Monitoring Program lists the two together under "GLP-1 Agonists," in and out of competition.

So why not prohibit them? A substance has to meet two of three tests: it enhances or could enhance performance, it poses an actual or potential health risk to athletes, or it violates the spirit of sport. Olivier Rabin, WADA's senior director of science and medicine, said in the announcement that "at this stage, there is not enough evidence available for us to conclude with confidence that the substances meet the criteria needed for inclusion on the List." One sport-related study is already running, and WADA has started a second on how these drugs affect athletes.

The research so far explains the caution. A 2026 review found that clinical trials show no consistent improvement in physical performance in people taking these drugs (La Vignera and Condorelli, International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2026). In a year-long Danish trial of 193 adults with obesity, an older GLP-1 drug, liraglutide, didn't improve fitness on its own; structured exercise did (Jensen et al., Sports Medicine 2026).

None of those people were competing athletes, which is the gap WADA's studies are meant to fill. Detection is moving regardless: one lab has published a urine test that spots semaglutide use from two of its breakdown products, citing weight-class sports such as wrestling and boxing (Timms et al., Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2026).

Where the other peptides sit for 2027

Every peptide below is prohibited at all times (kisspeptin's entry applies to male athletes), and none moved from its 2026 place.

Two of these peptides also get a quarterly roundup of what changed outside sport: the September updates for tesamorelin and MOTS-c.

TB-500 is built on a short fragment of a natural protein, thymosin beta-4; anti-doping chemists in Ghent found that fragment inside it in 2012, when it was already suspected of doping use (Esposito et al., Drug Testing and Analysis 2012). What it does in people is a separate question, answered in TB-500 benefits.

AMPK is an enzyme that works as the cell's fuel gauge, and WADA lists MOTS-c among the substances that switch it on. Being listed doesn't prove it improves performance. The MOTS-c exercise research is mostly from mice.

What it means if you're prescribed one of these

For semaglutide and tirzepatide, very little changes. They aren't prohibited in 2027, and USADA's athlete guidance says no exemption is needed for any GLP-1.

For the peptides in the table, a prescription isn't a pass. The only thing that makes a prohibited substance acceptable in sport is a Therapeutic Use Exemption, or TUE: a permission granted for a diagnosed medical condition. The 2027 standard for granting one, which also takes effect on January 1, asks, among other things, for a diagnosed condition, a treatment that is indicated for it with no reasonable permitted alternative, and no boost beyond a return to normal health.

Anti-doping also runs on strict liability: you're responsible for whatever turns up in your sample, whether or not you knew it was there. So what's really in a vial is a sport question too. FDA's page on unapproved GLP-1 drugs, current as of September 1, 2026, warns of fraudulent compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide with false labels, some naming pharmacies that don't exist.

That is the real difference between routes. A prescribed medication comes with a named prescriber, a licensed U.S. compounding pharmacy that can trace the lot, and a label that says what's inside; an anonymous online seller offers none of those. USADA goes a step further for athletes: it advises being prescribed the brand-name versions of GLP-1 drugs and counts compounded products among its red flags. If you're tested, that's worth raising in your visit.

Semaglutide through Promise is dispensed as a compounded medication, which is different from an FDA-approved product such as Wegovy: the formulation offered here is not FDA-approved. A licensed provider may still prescribe a compounded formulation; that decision is between you and your doctor. At Promise, a licensed provider reviews every request, and not everyone qualifies. If you compete, say so on your intake. It belongs in your history.

What the 2027 list does not mean

It isn't a safety verdict on GLP-1 drugs. The Monitoring Program tracks use in sport; it says nothing about whether a medicine is right for you. It isn't a promise about 2028 either: WADA calls the GLP-1 decision pending further data.

A peptide missing from the list isn't cleared. That's the whole point of the new S0 wording.

And FDA's compounding review wouldn't move these peptides. At a July 23–24, 2026 meeting, an FDA advisory committee weighed BPC-157, TB-500 and MOTS-c for the 503A bulks list of ingredients pharmacies may compound from. A listing there wouldn't approve a medicine (what that FDA decision is and isn't). BPC-157 sits in S0 because no health authority has approved it, and TB-500 and MOTS-c are listed for what they do.

What to watch next

WADA's two GLP-1 studies are the thing to follow; their results feed the next review, which runs from January to a published list by October 1. WADA also says an athlete guide to the 2027 list will arrive in December.

Before January 1, check what you take against the rules of whoever tests you. Competitions outside the World Anti-Doping Code write their own lists, and in the United States, USADA runs a drug reference line for exactly this question.