A report in India Today says the popularity of weight-loss medicines has pulled a second, unapproved peptide market into the open, with research chemicals promoted online for fat loss, muscle building, hair regrowth and skin improvement. The piece quotes Dr Ranjit Bhosale, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Sculpt Sublime in Mumbai, who cautions that small chemical modifications can create compounds whose effects in the human body are not fully understood.

The approved drugs in the frame are semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, and tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro. Both work through hormone pathways involved in appetite and blood sugar regulation, and the article is careful to separate them from research peptides sold by online vendors: these are prescription medicines with established medical uses and medical supervision attached.

How a research chemical appears

Bhosale describes the mechanics plainly, which is the useful part of this story. A manufacturer can alter the chemical structure of an existing compound, adding or modifying groups such as hydroxy or methyl, producing a new substance that retains some properties of the original.

He uses delta 9 THC, the active compound in cannabis, as the illustration: modifying the molecule creates related compounds that may act similarly but are chemically different. Those modifications, he says, can sometimes be used to bypass existing regulatory systems, which is a large part of why the research chemical supply keeps expanding.

The FDA's vision warning

Separately, the FDA has flagged a potential association between GLP-1 medicines and non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, a rare condition in which reduced blood flow damages the optic nerve and can cause sudden vision loss. The article treats that as a reason to understand the risks of approved drugs, not as evidence about unapproved ones.

The shortcut market

Bhosale's broader argument is cultural rather than pharmacological: demand for fast physical transformation is pushing people toward substances whose long-term effects have not been established. He also points to reported deaths in Australia involving peptides.

The piece notes he mentioned Aamir Khan's transformation for Dangal while discussing the trend, then states flatly that there is no established evidence peptides were involved. That correction is worth more than the anecdote.

Bottom line

Bhosale calls for stronger regulation so that people are not exposed to compounds whose safety and effectiveness have not been adequately studied. What remains unsettled is everything downstream of a modified molecule: how it behaves, what it does over time, and who is checking.