2024 RAADFest: Taking a Gamble on Untested Peptides
What happened when you order off a menu not fit for human consumption?
Our second guest essay is by science journalist Jason Collins, who sheds some helpful light on the dangerous peptide incident at 2024 RAADFest in Las Vegas.
Whatever your feelings on alternative healing practices and federal regulatory agencies, there’s no denying that empirical science must play a role in our evidence-gathering on peptides. That two women got sick from the peptide injections at Kent Holtorf’s RAADFest booth isn’t proof that peptides cannot be part of effective health protocols, nor that they don’t deserve a place within our research infrastructure. Quite the opposite: the RAADFest disaster is proof that we need more peptide studies with human subjects and more research interest at every level — from federal to founder (we’re looking at you, Bryan!)
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2024 RAADFest: Taking a Gamble on Untested Peptides
by Jason Collins
RAADFest describes itself as “the world’s largest longevity event for a general audience — part science conference, part festival, part grassroots community movement.” [12] It would be easy – maybe too easy – to file the 2024 Las Vegas RAADFest away as another strange dispatch from the weird wellness-meets-longevity frontier. But the seriousness of what happened in 2024 makes this impossible.
In 2024, at the longevity conference in Las Vegas, two female attendees who had received peptide injections became critically ill. So ill that they were taken to local hospitals. According to ProPublica, the RAADFest booth where the women received peptide injections was overseen by Kent Holtorf, a Los Angeles physician focused on “age reversal” therapies, who did not have permission to practice medicine or dispense prescriptions in Nevada.
The cautionary tale practically writes itself: biohacking, anti-aging ambition, and the hazards of treating medicine like an upgrade menu. [1], [2] But here the focus is not on the two women and their horror story, but the menu itself. What exactly sits inside these so-called injections, and where does the science stand now? Unsurprisingly, many of the names on Holtorf’s menu aren’t the kind of ingredients most patients can easily identify.
In March 2024, Holtorf Medical Group listed BPC-157 as an $85 IV add-on, which appeared beside Thymosin Beta-4 and Thymosin Alpha-1, each with the same price point and the same “1mL IV only” notation. The Holtorf menu claimed BPC-157 “has been found to modulate pain” and have “regenerative, anti-inflammatory, gastroprotective and neuroprotective properties.” It also claimed the peptide could “promote wound healing” in bones, tendons, ligaments, musculature, the central nervous system, skin, and other organs. [3]
It sounds almost miraculous, which is exactly why the evidence matters. These were peptide injections that were being sold through a conference booth and promoted with clinical-sounding claims on an IV menu. Holtorf was comfortable making those claims even though, for peptides like BPC-157, the published human evidence remains limited and the broader safety picture is still unsettled.
RAADFest attendees walking through the convention center could easily see the presumed benefits of these peptides and naturally wanted to get their hands on them. Holtorf Medical Group had clearly visible prices for the compounds, an easy point of access, and offered time slots during which firsthand experiences of live ‘repair injections’ could be observed. Of course, the uncertainty remained, but the setup on the floor made these injections look more consumer-ready than the evidence warranted.
BPC-157 is a useful case study to dig deeper into, as it was one of the offerings on the RAADFest menu. It’s also a good example of the unresolved questions around peptide compounding, safety, marketing, and how much human evidence should exist before a compound is offered in a clinical-looking setting. [2], [3], [4], [6].
Those questions became harder to separate from the conduct around the RAADFest injections once Nevada regulators got involved. These regulators didn’t settle the medical question of what made the women sick, of course, since the specific cause of the illnesses was not determined. But they did document a chain of conduct around who supplied, shipped, recommended, and administered the injections.
According to Anjeanette Damon writing for ProPublica, Holtorf and Han Bao Nguyen, a pharmacist working with the Holtorf Medical Group, were cited for practicing in Nevada without state licenses, Forgotten Formula was accused of sending the peptides into Nevada in what regulators described as unlicensed wholesaling of drugs, and McNeal was accused of recommending or prescribing one of the peptide cocktails without a health care license. The regulators also fined Holtorf, pharmacist Han Bao Nguyen, and private membership association Forgotten Formula each $10,000 and health coach Michael McNeal $5,000. [2]
So, although there was no official verdict on BPC-157, the incident did shine a very bright light on the pathways that allowed non-FDA-approved peptide injections to be offered in person at a longevity conference in the first place. When one takes a closer look at this regulatory record, Holtorf’s RAADFest menu doesn’t look so harmless. Instead, it offers a primer on how peptides are moving through the wellness and beauty markets, without the regulatory guidance and oversight needed to match these experimental interventions with the patients who might actually benefit from them.
According to the ProPublica report, one woman received a cocktail containing MOTS-c, P21, BPC-157, and TB4, while the second received injections of Humanin, B-12, ACE-031, and CJC peptide. [2] And these ingredients should give clinicians pause, especially since these peptides were administered as multi-agent injections that arguably did not belong stacked together in the same syringes.
These are multiple peptides formulated together, and only three of them fall roughly within the FDA’s compounding review process, meaning regulators are at least considering whether licensed compounders should be allowed to use them.
BPC-157, TB4 (more formally TB-500), and MOTS-c have all been nominated for inclusion on the FDA’s Section 503A Bulks List, which governs which raw drug substances licensed compounders are permitted to use in patient-specific prescriptions, and all three are scheduled for discussion at the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee’s meeting on July 23 of this year. [5]
On February 27, 2026, it was reported that 14 of the 19 peptides that were previously restricted under the FDA’s Category 2 list would be officially moved back to Category 1. [10] This move restored legal access through pharmacies that participate in compounding. However, a physician’s prescription would be a necessity. That list includes BPC-157, TB-500, CJC-1295, Ipamorelin, Thymosin Alpha-1, KPV, and MOTS-c — most of the peptides in the RAADFest cocktails
This means that regulators are now in the middle of deciding whether peptides like these can be legally compounded at all. But while they are deliberating in 2026, the reality is that these concoctions were already being injected in combination into paying RAADFest attendees back in 2024, a practice that persists to this day. The FDA has classified substances of this type as those that “may present significant safety risks,” and has declined to add several to the bulk list in past reviews. [4] These risks could include immune reactions, peptide-related impurities, challenges in characterizing the active pharmaceutical ingredient, and gaps in human safety data, depending on the substance.
It’s also important to bear in mind that published human evidence for BPC-157 specifically remains limited. What is known is drawn primarily from animal studies and a small subset of orthopedic case reports rather than randomized trials with human subjects. [6] To put it more bluntly, a 2025 review in the HSS journal screened 544 articles on BPC-157 and identified only one human study among the 36 it ultimately included.
This study included twelve participants with knee pain who relied on self-assessment to gauge improvement; it also had no control group. The authors concluded that the compound “shows promise,” but were also explicit that the entire evidence base sits at Level IV and V, the lowest tiers of the orthopedic evidence hierarchy. No clinical safety data were identified at all. [6]
Still, the wellness market got to BPC-157 first, way back in 2024, and the market has accelerated, not paused, in response to the recent regulatory shift. Because of this, commercial peptide sites are now openly describing ‘unlocking’ stacking at the pharmaceutical-grade level – this despite the fact that these peptides’ reclassification is not the same as FDA approval.
The BPC-157 + TB-500 combination (”Wolverine stack”) is currently being marketed by companies such as Our Family Health Wellness Center. [11] It is being sold for $330 and is one of the most commonly prescribed combinations. This means that these peptides remain off-label therapeutics. Only at the PCAC meeting in July 2026 will any real rule-making transpire about their use.
And to bring things full circle, BPC-157, TB-500, and MOTS-c are the peptides in the RAADFest cocktails with the clearest pathway into FDA compounding review. Thin as the evidence for broad-spectrum clinical use may be, the evidence at least exists. The other names on those two injections, including P21, Humanin, ACE-031, and CJC peptide, sit further out. B-12 is the exception, but its familiarity only makes the rest of the cocktail look more medical.
Take ACE-031, which appeared in the second woman’s injection. It’s a soluble activin receptor fusion protein, originally developed by Acceleron Pharma as a candidate therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Its Phase 2 trial in ambulatory boys with DMD was terminated in 2011 after participants developed nosebleeds and dilated skin vessels. Acceleron and Shire then formally discontinued development of the compound altogether in 2013. The mechanism, it turned out, was too broad.
ACE-031 binds not only myostatin but also related TGF-β family ligands, and that lack of specificity was the safety problem the trial uncovered. So this is a compound that left the clinical pipeline because of adverse events in a closely monitored pediatric population, and turned up roughly a decade later in an injection administered in a Las Vegas convention hall. That is not a small distance to travel. [9]
The CJC peptide, likely CJC-1295, is a growth hormone-releasing hormone analog. Humanin, similarly, is another mitochondrial-derived peptide, mostly preclinical, with almost no controlled human safety data at the doses or routes being used in the wellness market.
P21, for its part, is a synthetic peptide derived from ciliary neurotrophic factor, marketed through research-chemical channels for neurogenic effects, with no FDA approval for any indication and effectively no published human trial data behind it. B-12, the one familiar name on either list, is the only ingredient with an established regulatory and clinical history. It is also fittingly the one that does the most work to make the rest of the cocktail look medical.
Essentially, the menu reads less therapeutic and more like an inventory of compounds at very different stages of clinical evidence-gathering. These differences are profound, and they matter.
After looking at the big picture, it’s clear as day that the menu isn’t actually about RAADFest at all. It’s a statement of proof that the market is willing to inject before the regulatory question has been answered. Also, it shows how readily the language and aesthetics of clinical care can be borrowed to make that injection feel routine.
However, it’s also important to keep in mind that no regulatory system can stop every FDA-approved or non-FDA-approved compound from being used outside its intended lane. But it isn’t the answer to treat convention-floor access, message-board enthusiasm, or wellness marketing as real substitutes for empirical evidence. So, unfortunately for some, the safer line is still the boring one, and that is to follow regulatory guidance while looking for licensed and clinical oversight alongside giving more weight to published research than hype.
Jason Collins is a freelance writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and more than 10 years of experience writing articles, essays, case studies, and editorial content. He writes across a wide range of niches, with a particular interest in medical topics, regulatory compliance, and the systems that influence public trust.
Research Links
[1] Damon, A. (2025, July 29). https://www.propublica.org/article/peptide-injections-raadfest-rfk-jr. ProPublica.
[2] Damon, A. (2026, March 13). https://www.propublica.org/article/raadfest-peptide-injections-nevada-fines. ProPublica.
[3] Holtorf Medical Group. (2024, March). https://holtorfmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Holtorf-Medical-Group-IV-MENU.pdf.
[4] U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (n.d.). https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/certain-bulk-drug-substances-use-compounding-may-present-significant-safety-risks.
[5] U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2026, April 15). https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/july-23-24-2026-meeting-pharmacy-compounding-advisory-committee-07232026.
[6] Vasireddi, N., Hahamyan, H., Salata, M. J., Karns, M., Calcei, J. G., Voos, J. E., & Apostolakos, J. M. (2025). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15563316251355551. HSS Journal.
[7] Perrone, M. (2025, November 14). https://apnews.com/article/peptide-injections-rfk-maha-4d48e78a5d65658b4d6eac87818352e3. AP News.
[8] Peptide Reporter. (2026, March 2). https://blog.peptide.partners/p/a-little-dose-of-healthy-skepticism. Peptide Partners Corner.
[9] Campbell, C., McMillan, H. J., Mah, J. K., Tarnopolsky, M., Selby, K., McClure, T., et al. (2017). Myostatin inhibitor ACE-031 treatment of ambulatory boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: Results of a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Muscle & Nerve, 55(4), 458–464. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35236763/
[10] Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society. (2026). FDA considers adding a dozen peptides to its bulk drug compounding list. https://www.raps.org/resource/fda-considers-adding-a-dozen-peptides-to-its-bulk-drug-compounding-list.html. RAPS.
[11] Our Family Health Wellness Center. (n.d.). Wolverine Stack peptide therapy (BPC-157 + TB-500). https://ourfamilyhealthcenter.com/blog/wolverine-stack-peptide-therapy/
[12] RAADFest. (n.d.). FAQ. https://www.raadfest.com/faq
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