BPC-157 for Bladder Pain and Interstitial Cystitis
Twelve women with moderate to severe bladder pain, every one of whom had already failed an approved treatment, received BPC-157 in a single procedure. Ten of them reported that their symptoms had resolved completely. The 2024 pilot study, published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, has the same first author as the 2021 knee-pain report, and it adds a second tissue to the small but growing human literature on BPC-157.
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- A 2024 pilot study treated 12 women with moderate to severe interstitial cystitis (bladder pain syndrome), aged 39 to 76, none of whom had responded to pentosan polysulfate, an approved treatment for the condition.
- BPC-157 was injected around the inflamed area of the bladder during a single cystoscopy.
- 10 of 12 reported complete resolution of symptoms after that one treatment and rated their success at 100%.
- The other 2 of 12 rated their success at 80%, with most symptoms gone.
- All 12 scored 5 out of 5 on the Global Response Assessment. No one dropped out and no adverse events were reported.
- A 2026 review with pain-medicine authors from Johns Hopkins lists the pilot as one of three human studies of BPC-157, alongside the knee-pain report.
Interstitial cystitis, briefly
Interstitial cystitis, also called bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS), is pain, pressure or discomfort felt in the bladder and pelvis, usually with frequent urination and a strong urge to go. The American Urological Association’s 2022 guideline describes it as a heterogeneous syndrome with distinct subgroups. The pilot’s authors describe the moderate to severe form as “a disabling disease with no effective treatment”.
Pentosan polysulfate is the approved treatment every woman in the pilot had already tried. The authors note that some patients find it stops working after a year, and that long-term use has been linked to pigmentary maculopathy, a change in the retina. That gap is what the pilot set out to explore.
The study, plainly stated
Edwin Lee, Christopher Walker and Bahram Ayadi ran the pilot at a private clinic. Twelve women took part, aged 39 to 76 with an average age of 58.3; ten were White, one Asian and one Latina. All had interstitial cystitis that had not responded to pentosan polysulfate.
Each woman had one cystoscopy, a camera examination of the bladder, during which BPC-157 was injected around the inflamed area. The peptide came from a US 503A compounding pharmacy. The result was measured with the Global Response Assessment, a questionnaire in which patients rate their overall response to treatment.
What it reported
- Complete resolution (10 of 12, 83%): symptoms resolved after one treatment, and these women rated their success at 100%.
- Most symptoms resolved (2 of 12): success rated at 80%, with about a fifth of their symptoms lingering.
- Global Response Assessment: all 12 scored 5 out of 5.
- Tolerability: no dropouts, and no adverse events reported.
Every woman in the study, then, reported that a single procedure had cleared most or all of a condition an approved drug had not touched. It is a small pilot without a placebo group, and the 2026 review below calls for controlled trials to follow.
Same first author, a second tissue
Edwin Lee is also first author of the 2021 BPC-157 knee-pain study, a chart review at an Orlando primary-care clinic. There, 11 of 12 patients given BPC-157 alone, injected directly into the knee, reported significant improvement, as did 3 of 4 who received it with thymosin beta-4: 14 of 16, or 87.5%, overall.
The two studies share a method: deliver the peptide where the problem is, then ask patients how much it helped. One target is a joint, the other the bladder, and in both a large majority reported relief: 87.5% in the knee series, and all 12 women in the bladder pilot, ten of them completely. Two reports from the same author, in two unrelated tissues, pointing the same way: that is what makes them worth reading side by side.
Why the bladder
BPC-157, short for Body Protective Compound 157, is a synthetic 15-amino-acid peptide derived from a protein in gastric juice. The 2026 review below summarises its laboratory profile: support for new blood-vessel growth, collagen synthesis and fibroblast activity, modulation of the nitric oxide system, and reduced inflammatory cytokine activity.
The bladder has come up in that early-stage research more than once. Laboratory models from a University of Zagreb pharmacology group report BPC-157 counteracting chemically induced haemorrhagic cystitis and returning bladder leak-point pressure to normal (2019), counteracting the loss of leak-point pressure in two stress urinary incontinence models (2013), and closing established vesicovaginal fistulas, with treatment started two weeks after they formed (2021). The 2024 pilot’s authors describe their study as the first report of BPC-157 injected into the bladder to help patients with moderate to severe interstitial cystitis.
A 2026 review reaches the same reading
In March 2026 the International Journal of Molecular Sciences published From Regeneration to Analgesia, a ten-author review of BPC-157 in tissue repair and pain, with authors from the pain division at Johns Hopkins among them. It lists three human studies: the knee-pain chart review, this interstitial cystitis pilot and a small intravenous safety study. Its summary of the bladder pilot matches the paper: 10 of 12 patients reported total symptom relief after one injection into the bladder, the remaining 2 rated their resolution at 80%, and no adverse effects were seen.
The review’s reading of the human work is that the small pilot studies all suggest potential value without reported major adverse effects. Its conclusion: BPC-157 remains a promising candidate for regenerative medicine, with controlled trials as the next step.
BPC-157 three ways
Vistara Labs stocks BPC-157 in three formats, shipped from within Canada to every province:
- BPC-157, the single peptide studied in this pilot, as lyophilised vials. It is reconstituted with bacteriostatic water; the BPC-157 reconstitution guide walks through it and the peptide calculator does the arithmetic.
- BPC-157 + TB-500 blend (the Wolverine or Healing Blend), which pairs BPC-157 with TB-500, the research form of thymosin beta-4: the combination given to the second group in the knee study.
- BPC-157 Nasal Spray, the same peptide ready-mixed in a metered atomiser, with no reconstitution step. A BPC-157 + TB-500 Nasal Spray carries the pair in the same format.
BPC-157 is supplied for laboratory research use only. For more on this peptide, see BPC-157 research and the knee-pain data, BPC-157 + TB-500: blend or separate vials? and the Injury Recovery Research page.
Frequently asked questions
What did the BPC-157 interstitial cystitis study find?
In a 2024 pilot of 12 women with moderate to severe interstitial cystitis who had not responded to pentosan polysulfate, 10 reported complete resolution of symptoms after a single treatment and the other 2 rated their success at 80%. No adverse events were reported.
What is interstitial cystitis?
Interstitial cystitis, also called bladder pain syndrome, is pain, pressure or discomfort felt in the bladder and pelvis, usually with frequent urination and a strong urge to urinate.
Is this the same researcher as the BPC-157 knee-pain study?
Yes. Edwin Lee is first author on both: the 2021 knee-pain chart review, in which 14 of 16 patients reported relief, and this 2024 bladder pilot. Both appeared in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.
How was success measured in the bladder study?
With the Global Response Assessment, a questionnaire in which patients rate their overall response to treatment. All 12 women scored 5 out of 5; ten rated their success at 100% and two at 80%.
Where can I buy BPC-157 in Canada?
Vistara Labs supplies BPC-157 as lyophilised vials, as a ready-mixed nasal spray and in a blend with TB-500, shipped from within Canada to every province. Laboratory research use only.
Sources: Lee E, Walker C, Ayadi B. Effect of BPC-157 on symptoms in patients with interstitial cystitis: a pilot study. Altern Ther Health Med. 2024. PMID 39325560. Lee E, Padgett B. Intra-articular injection of BPC 157 for multiple types of knee pain. Altern Ther Health Med. 2021. PMID 34324435. Yuan C, Demers A, Silva-Ortiz V, et al. From regeneration to analgesia: the role of BPC-157 in tissue repair and pain management. Int J Mol Sci. 2026. PMID 41898733. Clemens JQ, Erickson DR, Varela NP, Lai HH. Diagnosis and treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. J Urol. 2022. PMID 35536143. Sucic M, Luetic K, Jandric I, et al. Therapy of the rat hemorrhagic cystitis induced by cyclophosphamide. Stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, L-arginine, L-NAME. Eur J Pharmacol. 2019. PMID 31401154. Jandric I, Vrcic H, Jandric Balen M, et al. Salutary effect of gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 in two different stress urinary incontinence models in female rats. Med Sci Monit Basic Res. 2013. PMID 23478678. Rasic D, Zenko Sever A, Rasic F, et al. Stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 heals established vesicovaginal fistula and counteracts stone formation in rats. Biomedicines. 2021. PMID 34572392.
References
Most published BPC-157 work is preclinical. A 2025 systematic review screened 544 records and included 36 studies — 35 preclinical and one clinical. The human reports below are small and uncontrolled, and all three appear in the same journal.
- Emerging Use of BPC-157 in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine: A Systematic ReviewSystematic review; 544 records screened, 36 studies included — 35 preclinical and 1 clinical.
- Intra-Articular Injection of BPC 157 for Multiple Types of Knee PainRetrospective chart review, 17 patients (16 followed up by telephone); no control group, no blinding, no validated outcome instrument.
- Effect of BPC-157 on Symptoms in Patients with Interstitial Cystitis: A Pilot StudyUncontrolled pilot, 12 women with interstitial cystitis; no placebo group or blinding.
- Safety of Intravenous Infusion of BPC157 in Humans: A Pilot StudySafety pilot, 2 adults given intravenous BPC-157; preliminary tolerability observations only.
Links open the study record on PubMed so the source can be checked directly. Listing a study is not a claim that its findings apply to any other use, product or route of administration. Research use only.
