By now we’ve all heard of Ozempic and its GLP-1 sisters Wegovy and Mounjaro. But what you might not know is that they are part of a broader family of molecules called peptides, which the most cutting-edge doctors are using for potentially life changing preventative therapies.
Dr Mohammed Enayat, an east London GP and founder of the longevity clinic HUM2N, believes they could be the secret to longer, healthier lives, with newer peptide therapies being used to tackle conditions including brain related diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, cardiometabolic disease, which includes obesity and type 2 diabetes, along with cardiovascular complications such as heart disease and stroke, along with peptides that can help prevent musculoskeletal injuries – not just for athletes but anyone who works out.
Dr Enayat, who trained for a period in a Californian stem cell research laboratory, first heard about “peptides being used in longevity practice around three years ago from US colleagues”. Last year he became certified by The American Board of Age Medicine Management, and since then has been offering peptides as longevity treatments for his patients at HUM2N. “I find them really exciting,” he says. “In the right hands, for the right patients, they can be really effective as preventative treatment and promoting longevity.”
Read more: What are Ozempic feet? Side effects of the weight loss drug
What are peptides?
To back up for a minute, peptides are a generic name for short chains of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. They play various crucial roles in the body, including acting as hormones, enzymes, or signalling molecules that regulate complex biological processes, which are fundamental to everything working correctly at a cellular level.
Along with the GLP-1s, we’re familiar with other common peptides: insulin, for example, helps control blood sugar, while endorphins are peptides that help reduce pain and induce feelings of happiness. A 2022 review in The Lancet Psychiatry has explored the potential therapeutic effects of oxytocin in managing anxiety and social disorders.
There are now more than 80 therapeutic peptides which have reached the global market to date, according to a paper in Nature journal. It’s big business. The global peptide therapeutics market size is calculated at $52.59 billion in 2025 and forecasted to reach around $83.75 billion by 2034 according to Precedence Research.
The newest rockstars of the peptide world are ones likes ipamorelin and CJC, which Dr Enayat says he prescribes “for upregulating growth hormone production”, TA-1, for anti-inflammatory purposes, cerebrolysin “for prevention of common brain related conditions, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease progression” and BPC-157, the most commonly used peptide for soft tissue injury prevention for people that use their musculoskeletal system a lot” and TB-500, also known as thymosin beta four, “for soft tissue repair, musculoskeletal injury prevention, and for lean body optimisation.” He says that he does use GLP-1s in clinic for weight loss, Mounjaro in particular, but doesn’t like to use them as a first port of call. “There are often other levers we can pull.”
Is Retratrutide the new Ozempic?
But what could be exciting is a new breed of GLP-1s called Retatrutide. “It's triple action instead of dual action, so they work on three mechanisms to improve insulin and glucose sensitivity and showing accelerated fat loss in trials that have been published.” Peptide therapy isn’t without criticism though, including for the lack of long-term clinical trials. Another concern is that some peptides might have unintended consequences, such as dose related side-effects: nausea, hot flushes and local injection site irritation. Then there’s the fact that peptides can – falsely – be advertised as curing disease, which the research doesn’t (yet) support.
Dr Enayat points out that the research so far only supports preventative use, rather than therapeutic. Dr Enayat is literally taking his own preventative medicine. He has previously tried peptides himself and is due to restart taking BPC-157 (for soft tissue injury prevention) and CGC Ipomerululi (which promotes growth hormone production) ahead of an upcoming “intense” wedding training programme. “Even doctors have wedding body goals,” he laughs.
