GHK-Cu and the Glow stack
GHK-Cu is a copper-binding peptide found in skincare products and, increasingly, sold as an injection. The two forms are not equivalent. Topical use has modest human evidence. Injected use has almost none.
- Legal lane: topical is a cosmetic ingredient. Injectable is not FDA-approved and awaits FDA review.
- Evidence grade: C for topical skin use. D for injection.
- Forms: creams and serums; injection under the skin
- Established injectable dose: none
What it is
GHK is three amino acids (glycine, histidine, lysine) that bind a copper ion. It occurs naturally in human plasma and was first identified in 1973. On ingredient lists it appears as copper tripeptide-1.
What the evidence shows
- Topical: strong cell data and small, short human cosmetic studies suggesting improvements in skin texture and firmness.
- Wound healing: supportive animal data, but no evidence yet that topical or injected GHK-Cu heals wounds in people.
- Hair: some animal signals and limited human evidence.
- Injected, for skin, joints or recovery: no controlled human trials.
Legal status
Topical GHK-Cu is a long-standing cosmetic ingredient. For compounding, the non-injectable form sits in the FDA's Category 1, which gives pharmacies some interim room to make it.
The injectable form is different. It was removed from the FDA's restricted category in April 2026 but is not on the list of substances pharmacies may compound, and it was not covered by the October 2026 policy. An FDA advisory committee is due to consider it by the end of February 2027. Some clinics and websites describe injectable GHK-Cu as freely compoundable; the sources we trust most do not support that.
Reported dosing
No injectable dose has been established in human trials. Topical products are used as directed on the product.
Injection protocols circulate in online communities. We have not found one that traces to a human study, so we are not repeating a figure.
Safety
- Injecting GHK-Cu puts copper directly into the body. Too much copper can build up and damage organs, and nobody knows what injected dose would cause that.
- Injected products add risks that creams do not: sterility, impurities, immune reactions and dose accuracy.
The Glow stack
"Glow" is a marketing name for a blend of GHK-Cu with BPC-157 and TB-500, sold as a single injection for skin and recovery. There are no human studies of the combination.
It also sits outside the October 2026 policy on two counts. The policy requires each compounded product to contain a single active ingredient, and it does not cover injectable GHK-Cu at all. Read the pages for each component; a blend carries all of their unknowns at once.
What it costs
Listings we have seen put topical products at $40 to $100 a month and injectable programs at roughly $100 to $350 a month.
Sources
- GoodRx: what is GHK-Cu
- BSCG: GHK-Cu evidence and legal status
- PepEasy wiki: GHK-Cu evidence by outcome
- National Law Review: single-ingredient condition in the HHS policy
- FormBlends: GHK-Cu history and cost
Glow, and the four-peptide KLOW version of it, are covered in more detail on the blends and stacks page, including why a multi-peptide vial sits outside the 2026 compounding policy.