‘So ... can I get this peptide?’: the loophole making way for the US’s ‘wild west’ of untested drugs

A century ago, compounding pharmacies helped people get bespoke drugs. Now under RFK Jr, these less-regulated businesses are fueling the peptide boom

Robert F Kennedy Jr is sitting stiffly in Joe Rogan's podcast studio, inside the influencer's enormous Texas mansion. Atypically for Rogan's guests, Kennedy still cloaks himself in the trappings of authority; in a blue suit and pink novelty tie featuring kayakers paddling upstream, he is a stark contrast from Rogan, who sports a biceps-hugging T-shirt depicting a cowboy and an outline of Texas, from the regenerative wellness" brand Ways2Well.

This was in February, when Kennedy, amid his nationwide Take Back Your Health tour, was pushing his new red-meat-heavy food pyramid on to Americans. For an hour and a half, the two chatted casually about everything from soda pop to medical scams that supposedly fund Boko Haram.