{"slug":"ahk-cu","seoKey":"ahkcu","displayName":"AHK-Cu","codes":["AHK-Cu","AHK:Cu","Cu-AHK"],"synonyms":["Ala-His-Lys copper complex","alanyl-histidyl-lysine copper","L-alanyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine copper(II)","copper tripeptide-3 (trade name used by suppliers; NOT an entry in the binding EU glossary)","Alanine/Histidine/Lysine Polypeptide Copper HCL (glossary entry no. 1468, which fits the substance by description but cannot be proved to be it)","AHK (the copper-free tripeptide is a DIFFERENT substance with its own registry number and its own UNII)"],"legalClass":"cosmetic","identifiers":{"cas":"682809-81-0","pubchemCid":168431292,"inchikey":"DTNUNAICWDULHO-UVEFGIHYSA-L","formula":"C15H24ClCuN6O4-","molecularWeight":451.39,"sequence":"AHK"},"approvals":[{"market":"US","status":"not_approved","note":"No approved medicinal product; the Drugs@FDA substance query returned no result on 2026-09-20 (control query for semaglutide returned records). The label database and the medicines database likewise returned nothing. The substance is NOT named on the list of bulk drug substances that may present significant safety risks and not on the 503A bulks list — an absence that records official unfamiliarity, not an all-clear, because nobody ever nominated it for compounding. Cosmetic use is a separate track: cosmetic ingredients other than colour additives need no pre-market approval, and no expert panel has ever assessed this one. The 2018 Cosmetic Ingredient Review report on copper peptides covers Tripeptide-1 and Hexapeptide-12, not AHK.","source":"https://api.fda.gov/drug/drugsfda.json"},{"market":"EU","status":"not_approved","note":"No marketing authorisation and no monograph in the European Pharmacopoeia. As a cosmetic ingredient it is neither prohibited nor restricted: the consolidated cosmetics regulation of 2026-05-18 was searched in full on 2026-09-20 and contains no hit for tripeptide, AHK or alanyl in any annex (copper appears only as colourant complexes and as nano/colloidal copper in Annex II). The labelling side is unresolved: the binding glossary has no entry Copper Tripeptide-3, the name suppliers print, while entry 1468 Alanine/Histidine/Lysine Polypeptide Copper HCL fits the substance by description. The glossary lists names without sequence, CAS or EC number, so neither match can be proved from the legal text. No SCCS opinion exists.","source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A02009R1223-20260518"},{"market":"DE","status":"not_approved","note":"No national or EU marketing authorisation; a substance with a medicinal purpose may not be placed on the market without one, and advertising for an unapproved medicinal product is prohibited. Permitted as a cosmetic ingredient under the directly applicable EU cosmetics regulation, with the labelling problem described under EU. Cosmetic advertising claims must be substantiated — particularly weak here, since the entire substance-specific evidence is one cell and organ culture paper. Not named in the schedule to the anti-doping act: the full text (BGBl. 2023 I Nr. 67) was searched on 2026-09-20 for AHK, Alanyl, Kupfer and Tripeptid with no relevant hit, and the closing sentence extending the listed groups to salts, complexes and derivatives does not reach it because no listed group applies.","source":"https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/amg_1976/__21.html"},{"market":"UK","status":"not_approved","note":"No marketing authorisation identified — not verified against an MHRA product database on 2026-09-20, so the drug side rests on the absence of any development programme rather than on a primary regulator document. Permitted as a cosmetic ingredient: the retained Annex II was checked on 2026-09-20 and holds no entry for tripeptide, AHK or alanyl; copper appears only as a colourant complex.","source":"https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2009/1223/annex/II"},{"market":"AU","status":"not_approved","note":"No marketing authorisation and not named in the Poisons Standard: the full text of the June 2026 instrument was searched on 2026-09-20 for AHK, tripeptide and alanyl with no hit. Decisive here is the generic entry instead. Schedule 4 catches copper compounds for human use except, among others, in preparations containing five per cent or less of copper compounds. A finished cosmetic falls far below that and stays outside; raw powder and reconstituted injection vials intended for human use exceed it and would be prescription-only. That is a subsumption under a generic entry, not a substance-specific decision. Whether the substance is listed on the industrial chemicals inventory could not be checked — the database was unreachable on 2026-09-20.","source":"https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026L00633"},{"market":"CA","status":"not_approved","note":"No marketing authorisation identified — not verified directly in the drug product database on 2026-09-20. The cosmetic ingredient hotlist (page modified 2025-08-13) was checked in full on that date: no entry for copper compounds, peptides or tripeptides, either prohibited or restricted; control checks for cadmium, lead and zirconium succeeded, so the null finding holds. Unlike the Australian standard, the Canadian hotlist has no generic copper entry.","source":"https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredient-hotlist-prohibited-restricted-ingredients/hotlist.html"},{"market":"CH","status":"not_approved","note":"No authorised medicinal product identified — not verified directly in the Swissmedic register on 2026-09-20. Not prohibited as a cosmetic ingredient: the ordinance on cosmetic products (VKos, SR 817.023.31, version of 2026-01-01) was searched in full on that date with no hit for copper, peptide, tripeptide or AHK. Switzerland refers to the EU annexes for prohibitions and, for labelling, to the glossary as published in OJ L 127 of 2022-04-29 — the very text without a Copper Tripeptide-3 entry, so the Swiss finding mirrors the EU one including the labelling gap.","source":"https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2017/165/de"}],"devStage":"preclinical","strongestEvidence":"in_vitro","wada":{"status":"unclear","section":"S0","listYear":2026,"source":"https://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibited-list"},"trials":[],"sameAs":["https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/168431292"],"lastVerified":"2026-09-20","version":"1.0","published":true,"locale":"en","title":"AHK-Cu: what the studies show, status and safety","summary":"AHK-Cu is a copper complex of a lab-made peptide of three building blocks, sold as a cosmetic raw material and, separately, as an injectable research powder. Exactly one peer-reviewed study has ever tested it, in cells and in hair follicles kept alive in a dish. No study in people exists, no expert panel has assessed its safety, and the name sellers print on labels is not the one the binding EU glossary carries. It is a different substance from GHK-Cu, and no GHK-Cu result counts as evidence for it.","updated":"2026-09-20","url":"https://mypep.app/peptides/ahk-cu"}