Peptides / GHK-Cu / United Kingdom

GHK-Cu in the United Kingdom

Legal status, what it is, and the listed suppliers in the United Kingdom that list it.

Legal status in the United Kingdom

Not an approved medicine. Used as a cosmetic ingredient.

As understood at 2026-09-22. Verify with the MHRA.

What GHK-Cu is

GHK-Cu is a naturally occurring three-amino-acid peptide bound to copper. It is found in human plasma, saliva and urine, and its concentration declines with age. It is long-established as a cosmetic skincare ingredient, which makes it unusual among the substances on this site.

Full GHK-Cu page: targets and research →

Clinical Research

In vivo stimulation of connective tissue accumulation by the tripeptide-copper complex glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu2+ in rat experimental wounds
Maquart FX, Bellon G, Chaqour B, et al. (1993). Journal of Clinical Investigation. animal rats with wound chambers implanted under the skin, given repeated injections of GHK-Cu or saline
Regenerative and protective actions of the GHK-Cu peptide in the light of the new gene data
Pickart L, Margolina A (2018). International Journal of Molecular Sciences. review n/a (review)
Middle-aged mice treated with GHK-Cu peptide administered intraperitoneally or intranasally show behavioral rescue but divergent hippocampal aging programs
Mazzola J, Rosenfeld M, Tucker M, Wezeman J, Ladiges W, Liao GY (2026). bioRxiv (preprint). preprint aged C57BL/6J mice (20–21 months), both sexes