Side by side
GHK-Cu vs VIP
Both are discussed for healing & recovery. What this site records about each, side by side. Every figure is on the compound's own page with the source it came from.
| GHK-Cu | VIP | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A naturally occurring copper-binding tripeptide with a long history in topical skincare research. Injected use is not what the research studied. | A real human hormone with a real clinical history, including an emergency authorisation attempt during COVID. Its community use for mould illness has no trial behind it at all. |
| EvidenceHow much human evidence exists, not how well it works. | Preclinical | Clinical trials |
| Regulatory statusReviewed 2026-08-12 | Permitted as a topical cosmetic ingredient in the United States and widely sold as such. Not approved as an injectable medicine, and injectable material is a research chemical with no manufacturing standard behind it. | Not approved in the United States or the European Union. Synthetic VIP (aviptadil) has been through clinical trials including in critical COVID-19, without establishing benefit sufficient for approval. Nasal preparations sold for chronic inflammatory response syndrome are compounded or research-chemical products with no approval for that use. |
| Routes | Subcutaneous, Topical | Nasal, Intravenous |
| Half-life | 1 hours | Not recorded |
| Cheapest per mgVials only, read from vendors' own listings and dated on the price index. | $0.28/mg | $2.26/mg |
| Median per mg | $0.60/mg | $7.01/mg |
| Vendors with a price | 63 | 22 |
| Storage once mixed | Refrigerated at 2–8 °C. The solution is characteristically blue; that colour is expected and is not a fault. | Refrigerated at 2–8 °C. Nasal solutions are handled far more than injectables and are correspondingly easier to contaminate. |
Compare two other compounds · The full price index
This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on BioAlmanac is medical advice. Nothing here ranks these two against each other. A table can show that one has more human evidence behind it or costs less per milligram; neither of those is a recommendation, and the right comparison for any person is one their doctor makes with them.