Not an approved medicineThe FDA reports that emideltide and its salt are "not registered drugs in any country searched".[3] It also raised the possibility that "stimulation of the opioid system by emideltide-related [substances] could lead to development of addiction".[3] This page does arithmetic and reports the record; it does not suggest amounts.
What is the DSIP peptide?
DSIP is a nine-amino-acid peptide that the FDA describes as "naturally occurring" and "originally found in rabbit cerebral venous blood"; its International Nonproprietary Name is emideltide.[3]
- Sequence
- WAGGDASGE (Trp-Ala-Gly-Gly-Asp-Ala-Ser-Gly-Glu), 9 residues, free ends[3][17]
- Formula and weight
- C35H48N10O15, 848.8 g/mol free base; the acetate salt is 908.8[3]
- Our engine
- C35H48N10O15, 848.82 g/mol average, 848.3301 monoisotopic
- Half-life
- About 8 minutes in plasma, per the FDA[3]
- Names
- DSIP, delta sleep-inducing peptide, emideltide[17]
Paste WAGGDASGE into the peptide molecular weight calculator with no modifications and the formula matches PubChem; this page refuses to build if it ever stops matching. The name is literal: it was named for an effect on delta-wave sleep in animals, not for a proven effect in people.
Is DSIP FDA-approved?
No. There is no U.S. application, no U.S. orphan designation, and the FDA found no registration "in any country searched" and no pharmacopoeia monograph.[1][2][3]
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Sept 29, 2023 | Added to 503A Category 2, substances raising "significant safety risks"[6] |
| Apr 22, 2026 | Removed because both nominations were withdrawn; moved to the FDA's "nominated but withdrawn" safety table[6][5] |
| July 24, 2026 | FDA proceeds anyway and proposes not adding emideltide or its acetate to the 503A bulks list[3][4] |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Not covered by the HHS enforcement-discretion policy[7] |
- FDA's reasons. Not well characterized; no data at all for injection under the skin, the route that was nominated; intravenous efficacy "inconclusive and at best preliminary"; approved insomnia treatments exist; and a possible addiction risk through the opioid system.[3]
- Safety page wording. The FDA "lacks sufficient information to know whether the drug would cause harm if administered to humans".[5]
- Adverse event reports. Zero through March 2024, which reflects how rarely it is reported, not that it is safe.[3]
- Enforcement. A 2020 FDA warning letter listed DSIP among substances a pharmacy's compounded products were "not eligible" to use.[8]
- The vote. The FDA has posted no minutes or transcript for the July 24, 2026 session, so we do not state a tally. HHS did not include emideltide in its October 2026 policy.[4][7]
The are peptides legal? page explains what withdrawal from the list does and does not change.
What the DSIP sleep studies found
The human record is five or six small studies from 1981 to 1998, all intravenous, and the two properly controlled insomnia studies found no significant benefit over placebo.[11][12]
| Study | Design and people | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Schneider-Helmert 1986[10] | Chronic insomnia, 9 middle-aged and 9 elderly adults | Sleep measures improved against each person's own baseline; the FDA notes there was no adequate control group |
| Monti 1987[11] | Randomized, double-blind, placebo crossover, 6 adults with severe chronic insomnia | No significant difference from placebo; the authors called the changes "of little clinical significance" |
| Bes 1992[12] | Double-blind, placebo-controlled, 16 adults with chronic insomnia | No significant difference; "at best some weak effects" |
| Dick 1984[13] | Open-label, no control, 47 people in alcohol and 60 in opioid withdrawal | Symptoms reported as improved. Adverse events: 9 minor (sweating, headache, nausea, vertigo) and 3 serious, including a case of progressive low blood pressure |
| Backmund 1998[14] | Open-label opioid detox, 7 people | Only 2 of 7 completed; withdrawal symptoms returned |
- Total exposure. The FDA counts 209 people given DSIP intravenously for 1 to 15 days across the whole literature.[3]
- No injection under the skin has been studied. Every published study used an intravenous drip or injection in a clinic.[3]
- No registered trials. ClinicalTrials.gov lists no study with DSIP or emideltide as an intervention.[9]
Put together: a peptide named for sleep, whose two blinded sleep studies were negative, and whose only serious reported harms came from an uncontrolled withdrawal study.
DSIP weight math
At 848.8 g/mol, DSIP is one of the lightest peptides on this site: 1 mg is 1,178 nmol, roughly 3.7 times as many molecules as 1 mg of thymosin alpha 1.
| Vial + liquid | mg/mL | mcg per unit | nmol per unit | Units per 100 mcg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 mg + 1 mL | 2 | 20 | 23.56 | 5 |
| 2 mg + 2 mL | 1 | 10 | 11.78 | 10 |
| 5 mg + 1 mL | 5 | 50 | 58.91 | 2 |
| 5 mg + 2 mL | 2.5 | 25 | 29.45 | 4 |
| 10 mg + 1 mL | 10 | 100 | 117.81 | 1 |
| 10 mg + 2 mL | 5 | 50 | 58.91 | 2 |
If you are checking a label's strength, the peptide dosage calculator converts between milligrams, micrograms and syringe units, and bacteriostatic water covers the liquid itself.
DSIP and sport
The WADA 2026 list does not name DSIP.[15] Because it has no government approval anywhere, the S0 class for non-approved substances would appear to cover it, but WADA has not said so and we do not state it as fact. From January 1, 2027, USADA says the list names "peptides" in general under S0.[16] See are peptides banned in sports?
Other peptide pages
The peptides most often looked up alongside this one. Each page gives that peptide's FDA status, compounding status and published human evidence, with sources; the status table has all 23 in one place.
- PT-141 (bremelanotide)FDA-approved Vyleesi: a prefilled 1.75 mg autoinjector. No mixing needed.
- SemaxNot approved ACTH-based heptapeptide. Intranasal studies only.
- SelankNot approved TP-7 heptapeptide. Never reviewed by the FDA committee.
- MT2 (melanotan II)Not approved Melanotan II. Never approved; FDA cites melanoma reports.
- BPC-157Not approved 15-amino-acid peptide. Human data: a few tiny, uncontrolled studies.
- TB-500Not approved A 7-amino-acid fragment of thymosin beta-4. No human trials of TB-500 itself.
Frequently asked questions
Is DSIP FDA-approved?
No. The FDA found no registration for emideltide "in any country searched", and in July 2026 it proposed not adding the substance to the list pharmacies may compound from.[3]
Does DSIP work for sleep?
What does DSIP stand for?
What are the reported side effects of DSIP?
Is DSIP safe?
Nobody knows, and that is the honest answer. The FDA states it "lacks sufficient information to know whether the drug would cause harm if administered to humans", and it raised the possibility that stimulating the opioid system could lead to addiction.[5][3] Total published human exposure is 209 people, all intravenous, for 1 to 15 days, and no study has tested injection under the skin at all.[3] Zero adverse event reports means it is rarely reported, not that it is safe.
Sources
- openFDA Drugs@FDA searches for thymalfasin, thymosin, kisspeptin, emideltide, hexarelin, examorelin, GHRP, cathelicidin and Zadaxin (no match)
- Search orphan drug designations and approvals (thymalfasin: 4 designations; kisspeptin, hexarelin, emideltide, cathelicidin: none)
- FDA briefing document: emideltide (DSIP)-related bulk drug substances
- Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meeting, July 23–24, 2026
- Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks
- Bulk drug substances nominated for use in compounding under section 503A (category lists)
- Enforcement discretion policy regarding 503A compounding using certain peptide bulk drug substances (91 FR 68526)
- Warning letter: Tailor Made Compounding LLC
- ClinicalTrials.gov searches: hexarelin, GHRP-6, emideltide and DSIP as interventions (0 studies)
- Schneider-Helmert D. DSIP in chronic insomnia (Eur Neurol 1986)
- Monti JM et al. DSIP in severe chronic insomnia: double-blind crossover study (Int J Clin Pharmacol Res 1987)
- Bes F et al. DSIP in chronic insomnia: double-blind placebo-controlled study (Neuropsychobiology 1992)
- Dick P et al. DSIP in alcohol and opiate withdrawal: open study (Eur Neurol 1984)
- Backmund M et al. DSIP in opioid detoxification: open study (J Clin Psychopharmacol 1998)
- World Anti-Doping Code: Prohibited List 2026
- Athlete advisory: what's new on the 2027 WADA Prohibited List
- PubChem CID 68816: delta sleep-inducing peptide (emideltide)