Compare prices and buy AHK-Cu from 18 research peptide vendors - also called suppliers or sources. Updated daily.
The copper(II) complex of the tripeptide L-alanyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine (CAS 682809-81-0), an analog of GHK-Cu with alanine in place of glycine at position 1. Its one published study, on human hair follicles and dermal papilla cells in culture, reported follicle elongation, more papilla cell proliferation and lower levels of cell-death markers. PeptideScouter found no published animal or human study of it, and it is not an FDA-approved drug.
For research purposes only. Not medical advice.
AHK-Cu is the copper(II) complex of the tripeptide L-alanyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine. It differs from GHK-Cu at one position, with alanine in place of glycine as the first residue. PubChem gives free AHK as C15H26N6O4 and free GHK as C14H24N6O4, one CH2 apart, which is the methyl side chain alanine carries. PubChem, FDA's substance registry and the 2007 study below all give the alanine as the L form.
The substitution leaves the copper site alone. PubChem's systematic names for the two complexes place the copper on the same three nitrogens: the first residue's amino group, the next backbone nitrogen and the histidine ring. A 2026 review in Pharmaceutics (Mateescu et al.) describes AHK-Cu as sharing GHK-Cu's motif while resting on a thin, poorly characterized evidence base. The copper-peptide background is on the GHK-Cu page, and the studies it describes used GHK-Cu.
AHK-Cu's biological record is a single paper. Pyo and colleagues in the dermatology department of Seoul National University tested it on human hair follicles kept in culture and on cultured dermal papilla cells, the specialized fibroblasts that help direct follicle growth (Archives of Pharmacal Research, 2007).
The authors proposed that AHK-Cu supports follicle growth by stimulating papilla cell proliferation and preventing apoptosis. No animals or people were tested.
As of October 2026, a PubMed search by name and by sequence returns no other study of the compound's biology, and ClinicalTrials.gov lists no registered trial of it. A 2026 hair-loss peptide review in Biomedicines (Fan et al.) cites only the 2007 paper for AHK-Cu and calls its signaling mechanism less characterized than GHK-Cu's.
A 2021 review in FASEB BioAdvances credits AHK-Cu with raising vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and lowering TGF-beta1, citing the 2007 paper. That paper mentions both effects only in its opening background, as earlier findings for copper tripeptide in dermal fibroblasts. The VEGF result it cites there is Pollard et al. (Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, 2005), a study of GHK-Cu on irradiated dermal fibroblasts. The 2007 abstract reports no VEGF measurement for AHK-Cu itself.
A second claim, that AHK-Cu prolongs anagen, the growth phase of the hair cycle, in rodents, has no study behind it that PeptideScouter could find in PubMed or Europe PMC. The only published experiments used human follicles in culture.
AHK-Cu holds no FDA approval, and DailyMed carries no label for it.
Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, a product's intended use decides whether it is a cosmetic or a drug, and FDA lists a claim that a product will restore hair growth among those that make it a drug. A 1989 rule, 21 CFR 310.527, makes any over-the-counter product promoted for external use as a hair grower or for hair loss prevention a new drug that needs an approved application. The rule records FDA's finding that labeling claims for such products were false, misleading or unsupported by scientific data.
AHK-Cu appears in neither table of FDA's Category 2 page for bulk drug substances that may present significant safety risks in compounding (April 22, 2026 revision), and the 503A bulks list at 21 CFR 216.23 does not name it. It was not among the seven substances the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee heard in July 2026, and it is not on the agenda FDA has published for the committee's next meeting, set for before the end of February 2027. GHK-Cu differs. Its Category 2 entry, limited to injectable routes, sits in the page's table of withdrawn nominations, and GHK-Cu is one of the five substances on that February agenda.
Vendors list it as AHK-Cu or AHKCU. The CAS number on this page, 682809-81-0, carries a PubChem record built from chemical suppliers' entries, which names the copper complex as its monohydrochloride salt. The free peptide has its own CAS number, 126828-32-8. Copper and chloride make up roughly a fifth of that salt's mass, so a milligram of the complex holds less peptide than a milligram of free AHK. One supplier entry calls the salt copper tripeptide-3 hydrochloride, but in the EU's CosIng cosmetic-ingredient database Tripeptide-3 is a different peptide, made of glycine, serine and valine.
Vendors sell AHK-Cu in vials and as bulk raw powder, and PeptideScouter computes a per-milligram price for the vials only. Related copper peptides are catalogued in the Skin and Cosmetic category.
Both are copper(II) complexes of tripeptides whose second and third residues are histidine and lysine. They differ at the first residue, alanine in AHK-Cu and glycine in GHK-Cu, so the free peptides are one CH2 group apart, and each complex has its own CAS number. The copper binds at the same three nitrogens in both. Their research records differ far more than their structures. GHK-Cu has been studied since GHK was identified in human serum in 1973, while the published biology of AHK-Cu is one 2007 laboratory study of human hair follicles and dermal papilla cells.
One primary study. Pyo and colleagues at Seoul National University reported in Archives of Pharmacal Research in 2007 that AHK-Cu lengthened human hair follicles kept in culture and increased the proliferation of cultured dermal papilla cells. It also raised the ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax and lowered cleaved caspase-3 and PARP, markers of programmed cell death, although a flow cytometry count of apoptotic cells did not differ significantly. The study used no animals and no human participants. As of October 2026, ClinicalTrials.gov lists no registered trial of AHK-Cu.
Neither claim traces to a study of AHK-Cu that PeptideScouter could find. The VEGF claim comes from copper tripeptide work on dermal fibroblasts, including a 2005 study of GHK-Cu on irradiated fibroblasts, which the 2007 AHK-Cu paper cites as background. That paper's abstract reports no VEGF measurement for AHK-Cu. As of October 2026, PeptideScouter also found no rodent study of AHK-Cu in PubMed or Europe PMC, and the one published study used human follicles in culture.
No. AHK-Cu holds no FDA approval and is not a component of any approved drug. Under federal law a product's intended use decides whether it is a cosmetic or a drug, and FDA treats a claim that a product will restore hair growth as a drug claim. A 1989 rule, 21 CFR 310.527, classes any over-the-counter product promoted for external use as a hair grower or for hair loss prevention as a new drug that needs an approved application. AHK-Cu does not appear on FDA's Category 2 list of bulk drug substances for compounding, and it is not among the substances on the 2026 or announced 2027 agendas of FDA's compounding advisory committee. Material sold by research vendors is offered for laboratory research only, not for human consumption.
PeptideScouter computes a per-milligram price only for listings sold as vials with a stated milligram content. Some vendors also sell AHK-Cu as bulk raw powder, and those listings are indexed with their prices but left out of the per-milligram figures on the page. Any per-milligram comparison for AHK-Cu therefore reflects vial listings only.
AHK-Cu is sold by 18 research peptide vendors indexed on PeptideScouter, with 36 tracked listings compared per vendor in the table above. Pricing is normalized and refreshed daily.
All 18 indexed research peptide vendors currently have AHK-Cu in stock. Stock state is refreshed daily from each vendor's catalog.
Studz Peptides currently lists AHK-Cu at $0.22/mg, the lowest listed price across 18 tracked research peptide vendors. With current vendor discount codes applied, the lowest effective price is $0.15/mg.
Discount codes are issued per vendor rather than per peptide, so any code applies across that vendor's whole catalog. All 18 vendors listing AHK-Cu publish a PeptideScouter code, worth 5% to 20% off. Applied, the lowest effective price falls from $0.17/mg listed to $0.15/mg at Studz Peptides. Each vendor's code is shown beside its price in the table above.
AHK-Cu ranges from $0.17/mg to $3.50/mg across 36 listings from 18 research peptide vendors, normalized to USD per milligram and refreshed daily.
18 research peptide vendors currently list AHK-Cu on PeptideScouter. We track 36 listings across size and kit variants.
AHK-Cu's CAS Registry Number is 682809-81-0. It is also sold as AHKCU.
