On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan sat down with healthcare entrepreneur Brigham Buhler to discuss what Buhler described as a deliberate effort by the outgoing Biden administration to classify peptides as dangerous, effectively banning them from the market without scientific justification.
Buhler, who has spent years advocating for access to peptide therapies, told Rogan that the move by the previous FDA leadership was no accident.
“The prior administration of the FDA put these things into place prior to Secretary Kennedy and this administration taking over,” he said. “It was almost like a Trojan horse. They just planted this little bo mb in the middle of everything and classified these peptides as dangerous.”
The classification affected 19 peptides, which Buhler argues were removed from access with no credible safety data to support the decision. To seek clarity, he submitted 17 Freedom of Information Act requests to the FDA asking for answers about their safety concerns. Not a single request received a response, despite being legally required to do so.
“I submitted 17 FOIA requests to the FDA. They have never once responded to a single FOIA request, just asking for clarity about safety and why did we make this decision,” Buhler said.
Buhler pointed to pharma lobbying as a major driver behind the peptide crackdown, particularly from companies with financial stakes in competing drugs. He described the lobbying pressure as intense and well-funded, with big pharma companies telling legislators that compounding pharmacies were violating patents and creating public safety risks.
“Dollars equal accessibility, accessibility equals impressionability, and impressionability equals outcomes,” he explained.
The consequences of the ban, according to Buhler, created a far more dangerous environment than the one regulators claimed to be preventing. With licensed compounding pharmacies unable to legally produce these treatments, patients turned to gray and black market sources.
He told Rogan that currently four out of five peptides being filled are going through unregulated channels, with no clinicians, no pharmacists, and no quality controls involved.
Buhler expressed optimism that the current administration, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at HHS and FDA Commissioner Marty McCary, is actively working to reverse the classification.
“I know the administration is still working diligently to reclassify peptides,” he said.
Rogan agreed, adding that Kennedy’s personal familiarity with and use of peptides has been a significant factor. “Someone who is actually fit, takes care of himself and uses peptides and understands what millions of people know,” Rogan noted.
Buhler’s proposed solution is straightforward: restore the regulatory framework that existed before the Biden-era changes, placing peptide access back in the hands of licensed clinicians and compounding pharmacies with proper oversight.
“My message to Marty and the FDA is if you want to fix this, how you fix it is you bring back where we were prior to the mistake of the Biden administration,” he said.
