The Pep Edit Newsletter

Cheat sheet

Status: Not FDA-approved Reviewed

ARA-290

Nicknamed the nerve repair peptide. If you found it by searching for nerve pain, here is what the studies actually did and did not show.

The evidence rail

How to read this
  1. Mechanistic: reached
  2. Cell research: reached
  3. Animal research: reached
  4. Human observational: reached
  5. Human clinical trial: reached, limited data
  6. Established clinical use: not reached
Evidence
Small controlled trialsRung 5 of 6, limited data. A designed trial in people with a comparison group. The bar for a real claim.
Status
Not FDA-approvedNot approved for use as a drug. Often sold as a research chemical.

Why people are talking about it

Its nickname, the nerve repair peptide, travels well in small fiber neuropathy and chronic pain communities, where good options are scarce.

What has it been studied for?

  • Neuropathic pain and inflammation in early human work
  • Innate repair receptor signaling in preclinical models

What we know

  • Small randomized, placebo-controlled trials exist, mostly in small fiber neuropathy. The nickname is more famous than the sample sizes

What we don’t

  • Whether those small trials become a durable, replicated clinical story in larger ones

What is known about safety

  • In two small placebo-controlled trials in sarcoidosis-related nerve pain, investigators reported no safety concerns
  • Those trials treated people for about four weeks, with 22 and 64 participants, so rare or long-term side effects would not show up yet
  • It is not approved, and versions sold online have not been tested the way trial supplies were

Bottom line

A nickname is not a proof.

Education only. Not medical advice. Not a protocol.

Sources

  1. Human trial, 22 people, placebo-controlledSafety and efficacy of ARA 290 in sarcoidosis patients with symptoms of small fiber neuropathy: a randomized, double-blind pilot study (opens in a new tab)Heij and colleagues, Molecular Medicine, 2012
  2. Human trial, 64 people, placebo-controlledCibinetide improves corneal nerve fiber abundance in patients with sarcoidosis-associated small nerve fiber loss and neuropathic pain (opens in a new tab)Culver and colleagues, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 2017

We link to the paper, the trial registry, or the regulator, never to a seller. A study type in the label tells you who or what was actually studied.

Spotted an error or a newer study? Tell the editors. Corrections are noted on the page. Our standards.

Keep reading

  • KPV

    A fragment of alpha-MSH studied for inflammation and skin. Research so far is in cells and animals.

    Evidence: Animal research. Reached rung 3 of 6, Animal research.Not FDA-approved
    InflammationGut healthSkin + hair
    Inflammation

  • BPC-157

    Widely discussed for gut and recovery. The animal literature is large. Human clinical evidence is still thin.

    Evidence: Limited human data. Reached rung 4 of 6, Human observational, with limited data.Not FDA-approved
    Gut healthRecoveryInflammation
    Gut / Recovery

Every new sheet, once a month.

One email a month. The study type named, every time.