The short version: I'm giving Research Peptides SA 3 out of 10. Two of their product pages are genuinely careful about side effects, and they publish their company and VAT numbers, which plenty of shops don't. But the blog cites nothing and hasn't changed since 2023, the lab reports their FAQ promises don't exist on the product pages, and the site sells “research use only” vials with results described in human subjects, dose plans and cancer claims. That's why there's a warning on the grade.
What I looked at: peptides.co.za, all 7 blog posts, 6 product pages, the “Cancer” product listing, their FAQ, dosage instructions, disclaimer, refund and privacy pages. All on 14 October 2026.
The score, broken down
| What I marked | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Is it clear? | 1 / 2 | Plain, simple layout. But peptide names are misspelled and the dosing units contradict each other from page to page. |
| Is it useful? | 1 / 2 | The GLP-1 and survodutide pages explain how they work and what's unknown. The blog is short benefit lists ending in “Visit our website”. |
| Are the facts right? | 0 / 2 | The headline claims fail: a drug that isn't a peptide called a peptide, an Alzheimer's claim the big trials didn't back, a liver disease “without any approved treatment” that has one. |
| Does it show the evidence? | 0 / 2 | Not one source in 7 blog posts. One unlinked citation on the product pages, and it's about rat cells. |
| Is it honest about downsides? | 1 / 2 | The GLP-1 and survodutide pages list side effects and cautions. The blog and the BPC-157 and GHK-Cu pages list none. |
| Total | 3 / 10 | A couple of careful pages buried in a lot of unsupported claims. |
The supplier checks
| Check | Result | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lab reports | Red | The FAQ says certificates are under a “test results tab”. None of the 6 product pages I checked has one. Testing is “in house” with no named lab, batch, date or way to verify. |
| Claims & dosing | Red | “Not intended for human ingestion” in the disclaimer, but “Human Subjects” results, injection instructions, capsules to take before breakfast, and cancer claims on the products. |
| Basics | Amber | Company, registration and VAT numbers, email, WhatsApp and a written refund policy. But no street address, no shipping policy page, and a refund policy the blog contradicts. |
What they got right
Two product pages are honest about side effects. The GLP-1 page says plainly that “there is a risk of side effects, some serious”, lists the stomach ones, and gives the thyroid and pancreatitis cautions from the official labels. The survodutide page lists its side effects too and says to start low under medical supervision. That's more than most shops do.
They say who they are. The FAQ gives a company registration number, a VAT number and the bank account name, and every page has an email and a WhatsApp number. You know who you're dealing with.
What dragged it down
“Research use only”, then written for people. The disclaimer says the products are “not intended for human ingestion” and that every buyer is assumed to be a qualified researcher. Then every product page opens with “Clinical Test Expectation” for “Human Subjects”. The BPC-157 page says where to inject it. The BPC-157 capsules say to take one each morning before breakfast. There's a dosing page with over a hundred entries, injection how-to videos, and free insulin syringes with orders. I'm not repeating any of their doses here.
“They are not intended for human ingestion”
Cancer claims on a research shop. The menu has a “Cancer Aids” section. One product there is described as one that “Induces Tumor Cell Necrosis”, and others as helping to stop cancer spreading. No source is given for any of it.
The lab reports aren't there. One FAQ answer says certificates can be found by “selecting the test results tab” on each product. The very next answer starts “As we don't offer certificates of authenticity”. None of the 6 product pages I opened has a test results tab, just Description, Additional information and Reviews. Purity rests on “in house” testing with no lab named, no batch, no date and nothing to verify.
“As we don't offer certificates of authenticity, we offer reviews”
Health claims that don't hold up. I checked the biggest ones against the original sources:
| What they say | What I found |
|---|---|
| Hair-loss peptides “include GHK-Cu and Minoxidil” (E13) | Minoxidil isn't a peptide. It's a small-molecule drug. |
| GLP-1 helps “slow or prevent the effects of Alzheimer's disease” (E5) | The two largest trials of a GLP-1 drug in early Alzheimer's, with 3,808 people, found it didn't slow the disease (results November 2025). The page also never says which GLP-1 is in the vial. |
| People “lost about 15.3 kilograms” (E6) | That number is real, but it comes from a trial of semaglutide at a higher weekly dose than anything the site's own plan goes up to, in a product they don't name. |
| The liver disease MASH “lacks any approved treatment options” (E14) | Out of date. The FDA approved the first MASH treatment, resmetirom, in March 2024. |
| BPC-157 healing in “Human Subjects”, citing “Chang et al. 2011, 2014” (E2) | Both papers studied rat tendon cells in a dish. Neither tested people. |
| “Peptide therapy is able to reverse hair loss” (E15) and peptides can help with “curing type 2 diabetes” (E16) | No source given for either, and I found no trials in people backing either claim. |
No sources, no updates. All 7 blog posts are dated 12 June 2023 and none cites a single study. They rest on lines like “Research has shown” and “There is no doubt”. None mentions a side effect or a limit.
The basics. There's no street address anywhere, and the shipping policy page returns an error. The refund policy says no refunds once a parcel has left their facility, while two blog posts promise “full refunds if you are not satisfied” (E17, E18). The FAQ calls them “a medically registered (with CIPC) company”, but CIPC registers companies, not anything medical (E10).
What would get them a better grade
- Pick a lane: either research use only, with no human dose plans, “Human Subjects” results or injection guides, or stop calling it research use.
- Take down the cancer and disease claims, or back each one with a real source.
- Publish real lab reports from a named lab, per batch, with a way to check them. Or fix the FAQ so it doesn't promise them.
- Fix the facts: Minoxidil, Alzheimer's, MASH, and what the BPC-157 papers actually tested.
- Add sources and side effects to the blog, and date the updates.
- Publish a street address and a shipping policy, and make the refund promise match the refund policy.
Do that and I'll grade it again, here, in public.
Their side
Research Peptides SA can reply any time through this form. If they do, I'll add it here word for word.
Spotted something I got wrong? Tell me. I fix facts fast and say what changed. I don't change a grade because someone complains, only when I've got a fact wrong or the supplier changes what they publish.
Evidence log
| Ref | What they said | Where | Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | “They are not intended for human ingestion” | disclaimer · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E2 | “Clinical Test Expectation – BPC 157 – Human Subjects”; “(Chang et al. 2011, 2014)” | BPC-157 · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E3 | Where on the body to inject BPC-157 | BPC-157 · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E4 | Capsules to be taken each morning “before breakfast” | BPC-157 capsules · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E5 | “slow or prevent the effects of Alzheimer's disease” | GLP-1 · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E6 | “lost about 15.3 kilograms” | GLP-1 · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E7 | “Induces Tumor Cell Necrosis” | Cancer listing · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E8 | “We do offer these certificates completed bi-annually” | FAQ · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E9 | “As we don't offer certificates of authenticity” | FAQ · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E10 | “medically registered (with CIPC)” | FAQ · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E11 | Free insulin syringes with orders | FAQ · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E12 | “tested inhouse via High Performance Liquid Chromatography” | home page · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E13 | “These include GHK-Cu and Minoxidil.” | blog · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E14 | “lacks any approved treatment options” | survodutide · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E15 | “Peptide therapy is able to reverse hair loss” | blog · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E16 | “curing type 2 diabetes” | blog · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E17 | “unable to offer refunds or exchanges” | refund policy · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E18 | “full refunds if you are not satisfied” | blog · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
| E19 | Dosing page with “(per application)” entries | dosage instructions · saved | 14 Oct 2026 |
Update log
- 14 Oct 2026: First published.
Sources
- PubChem: Minoxidil (CID 4201).
- Alzheimer Europe: evoke and evoke+ trials show no effect of oral semaglutide on Alzheimer's progression.
- Wilding et al. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity (STEP 1). NEJM, 2021.
- FDA: first treatment approved for MASH (resmetirom), March 2024.
- Sanyal et al. A Phase 2 Randomized Trial of Survodutide in MASH and Fibrosis. NEJM, 2024.
- Chang et al. The promoting effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on tendon healing. J Appl Physiol, 2011.
- Chang et al. Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 enhances the growth hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts. Molecules, 2014.
