'Removed from Category 2 means BPC-157 is legal to compound/buy now'

A claim-check on the single most common conflation in peptide coverage. Verdict: misleading.

What was said

A claim that spread widely after April 2026: because FDA removed BPC-157 from the Category 2 "do not compound" list, it is now legal for pharmacies to compound and for consumers to obtain S1.

What the record shows

• Category 2 placement reflected FDA-identified risk during review; several peptides, including BPC-157, had their nominations withdrawn, moving them out of the active list. Removal from Category 2 is a procedural step — it does not place a substance on the 503A Bulks List and does not make it eligible to compound S2.
• A substance becomes compoundable under 503A only via a USP monograph, being a component of an approved drug, or appearing on the 503A Bulks List — and the latter is exactly what the July 23–24, 2026 PCAC is convened to consider, with any change following FDA decision and rulemaking S3.
• BPC-157 remains not FDA-approved; it cannot be lawfully sold or prescribed as a finished medicine for human use S2.

Reconciliation

The claim collapses three separate frameworks — Category 2 removal, 503A compounding eligibility, and drug approval — into one. Removal from Category 2 is real; "therefore legal to compound/buy" does not follow, which is why the verdict is misleading rather than simply false: it starts from a true fact and draws an unsupported conclusion S2S3.

What would change this verdict

If the PCAC recommends BPC-157 for the 503A Bulks List and FDA acts to add it (via rulemaking), then compounding under 503A could become lawful — at which point this claim would move toward partly-accurate, scoped precisely to what FDA authorizes S3.