Peptide Graded

Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4

Is Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 legal in the US?

No prescription; it is a cosmetic ingredient.

BSome human evidenceCosmetic ingredientas of 2026-10-26

Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 is a cosmetic ingredient, sold under trade names such as Matrixyl. It is not approved by the FDA as a drug for any use; the FDA regulates cosmetics but does not approve their ingredients. 34

No, and it does not need to be. It is sold as a cosmetic ingredient. The FDA regulates cosmetics for safety and labeling but does not approve them in advance. A product that claimed to treat a skin disease would count as a drug and would need approval. 45

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More on Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4

Citations

  1. Robinson 2005, Int J Cosmet Sci: topical palmitoyl pentapeptide provides improvement in photoaged human facial skin doi.org
  2. Katayama 1993, J Biol Chem: a pentapeptide from type I procollagen promotes extracellular matrix production pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  3. SpecialChem: palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 INCI ingredient entry specialchem.com
  4. FDA: how cosmetics are not FDA-approved but are FDA-regulated fda.gov
  5. FDA: is it a cosmetic, a drug, or both? fda.gov

Reference information only, not medical advice. Drawn from the Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 article, fact-checked against the cited sources. No dosing anywhere on this site.