Peptides and German law: what the Arzneimittelgesetz says

Under § 2, a medicine is a substance meant for use in or on the human body. It is presented as something that heals, relieves or prevents disease. A substance is also a medicine if it can be used in or on the body, or given to a person, to restore, correct or influence body functions. The effect must be pharmacological, immunological or metabolic.¹²

Two more terms matter on this page:²

• Fertigarzneimittel (“ready-made medicine”): a medicine made in advance and sold in a pack meant for the user. A vial sold online is a typical example, in our reading.
• Inverkehrbringen (“placing on the market”): keeping stock to sell or hand over, offering it, and handing it to others. All of these count, not only the sale itself.

An administrative fine (Ordnungswidrigkeit) is a fine from an authority. It is not a criminal conviction. These are maximums. They say what the law allows, not what usually happens.

• The main rule (§ 73(1)). A medicine that needs a licence may only be brought in if it is licensed for Germany. The person receiving it must be a drug company, a wholesaler or a pharmacy. Or, for parcels to a private person, it must come from an EU or EEA pharmacy that may sell by mail.⁵
• Fakes (§ 73(1b)). Bringing falsified medicines or active substances into Germany is forbidden.⁵
• Research (§ 73(2) no. 2). The main rule also does not apply to medicines for the own needs of research and science institutions, needed for scientific work. The text is about institutions, not private buyers.⁵
• Personal exceptions (§ 73(2) no. 6 and 6a). The main rule does not apply to medicines brought in when you enter Germany, in an amount for normal personal need. It also does not apply to medicines from an EU or EEA country that may be sold there. They must be bought without a business in between, in such an amount.⁵
• What still applies (§ 73(4)). Under these exceptions, most of the AMG does not apply. But the bans on dangerous medicines (§ 5) and on fakes (§ 8) still do.⁵
• Pharmacy import (§ 73(3)). A pharmacy may bring in an unlicensed ready-made medicine in small amounts for one person’s order. It must be lawfully sold in the country it comes from, and no matching medicine may be available in Germany. From outside the EU or EEA, a prescription is needed.⁵
• The fine. Bringing in medicines against the main rule is an administrative offence, with a fine of up to €25,000.¹⁴

The rule on owning a large amount does not say you must be an athlete or take part in competitions. Those limits appear only in the self-doping rule.^9,20 It does require the purpose of doping in sport. How courts read “sport” for gym use is a question for our legal reviewer.

A separate regulation, the Dopingmittel-Mengen-Verordnung, sets the amount for each substance or group in the annex. It covers growth-hormone fragments, growth-hormone-releasing hormones, secretagogues, releasing peptides, and thymosin beta-4 and its derivatives.²¹

We do not print the amounts. This site gives no amounts of any kind. Below the amount, the rule on owning does not apply, but the other rules on this page still can.

The health ministry adds substances to the annex by regulation.²² The annex was last changed in March 2023. New peptides on the yearly doping list are not in it unless a regulation adds them.^10,22

From 2010 to 2013, the Cologne anti-doping laboratory tested 337 black-market products, working with German customs. Of what it found, 12.8% (about one in eight) was peptide hormones or growth factors, mostly growth hormone and growth-hormone-releasing peptides. Thymosin beta-4 was among the findings. The authors wrote that several substances were “of fake/non-approved nature”.²⁴

If your product did not come from a pharmacy, no regulator has checked what is in it. See product risk for what you can and cannot check yourself.