PeptideSearch

Oxytocin

Approved medicine

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The FDA has approved a version of this as a medicine, so it has been through large studies in people.

Compiled and reviewed by the PeptideSearch Editorial Team · Status checked 2026-08-04

Also called Pitocin / Syntocinon

An approved hospital drug used in childbirth. Also studied for social behavior and bonding.

Official status: Pharmacies may compound it · Checked 2026-08-04

Can a doctor prescribe this?

Small pharmacy (503A)
Never put forward to FDA
Large outsourcing facility (503B)
Category 1 — under review, allowed for now

An approved prescription drug. Compounded intranasal forms are a separate and less settled question.

Why both lines above can be true: this compound is the active ingredient of a drug the FDA has already approved, and a pharmacy may compound with a bulk substance that is “a component of a drug approved by the Secretary” — a separate route in the law from the list of substances put forward for review. So it never had to be nominated for that list. The wording is in section 503A(b)(1)(A)(i)(II) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 353a). The substance must also be made by an FDA-registered establishment and come with a certificate of analysis for each lot.

503A is a pharmacy making a single prescription for one patient. 503B is a facility making batches. They are governed by separate lists. Where a category is shown, it is a position on the FDA's list of substances that have been put forward and are still being worked through — not the final list, which is set by rulemaking. Category 1 means the FDA does not plan to act against a pharmacy that makes it while the review runs.

Lab suppliers we list: 11

Doses used in research

Taken word for word from the studies and trials listed on this page. This is not a recommendation and not a dose for anyone to take.

This is a sample, not the whole literature.

About 72,000 papers mentioning this compound have been published. We show a selected sample of 110 of them, not the full literature. How we choose them · count checked 2026-08-23

Spot an error? corrections@peptidesearch.org

What has happened so far

  1. 21 March 2025503B

    FDA lists "Oxytocin" under 503B Category 1: Bulk Drug Substances Under Evaluation. Category 1 means FDA does not intend to act against an outsourcing facility compounding it while the evaluation continues; it is not the final 503B Bulks List. Read from the FDA 503B category document dated March 21, 2025.

    FDA

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