Women's health
Peptides and women's health: what is approved, what is studied, where the evidence is thin
Most writing about peptides assumes a male reader — muscle, testosterone, recovery. Yet many of the peptide drugs FDA has approved were approved for women: for fertility treatment, labour, endometriosis, sexual desire and postmenopausal bone loss. This page sets out those approvals from the labels themselves, then what has been studied without an approval, then the large territory where women have simply not been studied.
Updated 2026-10-01 · By the Grey Peptides Editorial Board · Every approval read from its current label
Approved: 11 peptide drugs with women's-health indications
Each line below is our plain-language summary of the indication in the drug's current FDA label, linked to the label on DailyMed. The summaries are checked against the labels' own wording every time this page is built, so a revised label cannot leave an outdated summary here. Approval for one use says nothing about any other; several of these labels go out of their way to exclude uses people assume.
| Drug | Approved for, per its label | Label | Evidence grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bremelanotide | Acquired, generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder in premenopausal women. Its label states it is not indicated for postmenopausal women or for men. | Vyleesi | High |
| Oxytocin | Starting or strengthening contractions when there is a medical reason to deliver, and controlling bleeding after delivery. Its label states it is not indicated for elective induction of labor. | Pitocin | High |
| Leuprolide | Endometriosis, including pain relief and reduction of lesions, and, with iron, anemia caused by uterine fibroids before surgery; both strengths' labels carry both uses. | Lupron Depot 3.75 mg, Lupron Depot 11.25 mg | High |
| Nafarelin | Endometriosis, and central precocious puberty in children. | Synarel | High |
| Ganirelix | Preventing a premature LH surge in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for fertility treatment. | Ganirelix acetate | High |
| Cetrorelix | Preventing a premature LH surge in women undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation. | Cetrotide | High |
| Follitropin alfa | Inducing ovulation in oligo-anovulatory infertile women, and developing multiple follicles as part of assisted reproductive technology. | Gonal-f | High |
| Menotropins | Developing multiple follicles in ovulatory women as part of an assisted reproductive technology cycle. | Menopur | High |
| Human chorionic gonadotropin | Inducing ovulation in anovulatory infertile women (Novarel), and final follicular maturation in assisted reproductive technology (Ovidrel, the recombinant form). | Novarel, Ovidrel | High |
| Teriparatide | Postmenopausal osteoporosis at high risk of fracture, or after other osteoporosis therapy has failed or not been tolerated; the label states it reduces vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in this group. | Forteo | High |
| Calcitonin (salmon) | Postmenopausal osteoporosis when alternative treatments are not suitable. Its label states that fracture-reduction efficacy has not been demonstrated. | Miacalcin | High |
The fertility drugs form a working system rather than a list. Gonadotropins — follitropin alfa, menotropins — develop the follicles; ganirelix or cetrorelix keep the pituitary from releasing an early LH surge while they do; and hCG supplies the final maturation signal before egg retrieval. Our guide to the reproductive axis and the peptides that act on it explains why rhythm, not just dose, governs how these hormones behave.
Approved for women's health, but not peptides
Three drugs often discussed alongside these are small molecules, not peptides: Elagolix (Orilissa), approved for moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis; Fezolinetant (Veozah), approved for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms due to menopause; Elinzanetant (Lynkuet), approved for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms due to menopause. They matter here because they are the approved alternatives in two of the areas where peptides are most heavily marketed to women — endometriosis pain and menopausal hot flushes.
Studied, but not approved for these uses
- Collagen peptides for skin. Three meta-analyses, covering 26, 19 and 14 trials, agree on improvements in skin hydration and elasticity — measured by instruments rather than by visible change, and one of the three was criticised in a published letter for pooling very different trials. Collagen is sold as a supplement, not approved as a drug. Our review of the collagen evidence.
- Bremelanotide after menopause. The one approved peptide for sexual desire is limited by its own label to premenopausal women; use after menopause is outside it. Peptides for menopause.
- Oxytocin gel for vaginal atrophy. A 2023 meta-analysis found no significant difference from control on painful intercourse, vaginal pH or tissue findings. Peptides for menopause.
- GLP-1 drugs and hormone therapy. A 2026 Spanish Menopause Society statement called the reported association between hormone therapy and greater weight loss on GLP-1 drugs hypothesis-generating, and said it should not by itself justify starting hormone therapy. Peptides for menopause.
Where the evidence is thin
For many of the peptides most heavily marketed for energy, recovery, body composition or anti-ageing, we found no trials in menopausal women at all: BPC-157 Low, CJC-1295 Medium, Ipamorelin Medium, Sermorelin Medium, MOTS-c Low, NAD+ Medium. The grades shown are for each compound's whole human evidence base, which is small to begin with; for women specifically, it is smaller still, and often zero. That absence is the finding, and our menopause review sets out what we searched.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
For approved drugs, the label's pregnancy and lactation sections are the authority, and they can be specific: semaglutide's labels advise stopping at least two months before a planned pregnancy because of its long half-life, and the label for Wegovy tablets advises against breastfeeding because the absorption enhancer in the tablet passes into human milk. For research peptides there is no label, no pregnancy registry and no lactation study — an absence of data, not a reassurance. Peptides, GLP-1s, pregnancy and breastfeeding sets this out drug by drug.
Read next
- Peptides for menopause: what the evidence shows
- Peptides, GLP-1s, pregnancy and breastfeeding
- Collagen peptides: what the evidence shows
- Every FDA-approved peptide drug
- For clinicians: a neutral reference for prescribers
Sources
Approvals are cited to each drug's current label; the findings under "studied" and "thin" are cited, with their primary sources, in the linked articles.
- Vyleesi prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 1, effective 2025-11-13; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Pitocin prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 15, effective 2026-05-05; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Lupron Depot 3.75 mg prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 1478, effective 2025-09-18; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Lupron Depot 11.25 mg prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 1517, effective 2025-09-10; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Synarel prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 23, effective 2026-03-05; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Ganirelix acetate prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 2, effective 2026-05-11; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Cetrotide prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 18, effective 2025-09-22; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Gonal-f prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 15, effective 2025-09-02; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Menopur prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 47, effective 2018-05-31; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Novarel prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 41, effective 2025-08-27; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Ovidrel prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 10, effective 2023-12-26; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Forteo prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 44, effective 2026-08-03; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Miacalcin prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 5, effective 2024-09-15; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Orilissa prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 112; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Veozah prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 8; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
- Lynkuet prescribing information, DailyMed SPL version 10; read 2026-10-01. DailyMed
This page reports regulatory facts and published evidence. It is not medical advice and does not recommend any treatment.