Peptide therapy: questions to ask a clinic before you start

Peptide and GLP-1 clinics range from careful medical practices to websites with a checkout button. The questions below are the ones a consumer-protection lawyer would ask. None of them are about which compound or how much. They are about whether the people and the product are what they claim to be.

1. Is the prescriber licensed in my state?

Ask for the prescriber’s full name, credential and the state where they hold a license. Then check it yourself. Every state medical board runs a public lookup. California’s board publishes a profile for every licensed physician, including license status and enforcement actions [1]. Texas offers the same through its “Look Up a License” tool [2]. Your state’s board will have an equivalent. If the clinic will not name the prescriber, that is your answer.

2. Is there a real prescription and a real evaluation?

The FDA’s own list of telehealth red flags includes a company that “does not require a screening and prescription by a licensed doctor before providing medicine” and one that “does not have a licensed doctor available to answer questions after you receive your medication” [3]. The agency’s baseline advice is plain: get a prescription from your doctor and fill it at a state-licensed pharmacy [3]. Ask who evaluated you, what they reviewed, and whether you can reach them afterward.

3. Which pharmacy makes it, and what kind is it?

Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved. The FDA does not verify their safety, effectiveness or quality before they are sold [4]. The law recognizes two settings. A 503A pharmacy is a state-licensed pharmacy compounding for individual patients, overseen day to day by the state board of pharmacy; its products are not required to follow current good manufacturing practice [4]. A 503B outsourcing facility registers with the FDA, is inspected by the FDA on a risk-based schedule, and must follow CGMP [4]. The FDA publishes the list of registered 503B facilities, updated weekly, with each facility’s last inspection date and any action taken [5].

Ask the clinic to name the pharmacy on your label. Then check: is it a state-licensed pharmacy (your state board of pharmacy can confirm), or is it on the FDA’s 503B list [5]? The FDA has found compounded GLP-1 products whose labels named pharmacies that do not exist, or named a real pharmacy that never made the product [3].

4. What does “research use only” or “not for human use” mean?

It means the seller is telling you the product is not a drug for people. The FDA has warned companies that sold unapproved semaglutide, tirzepatide, retatrutide, survodutide and mazdutide “falsely labeled ‘for research purposes’ or ‘not for human consumption’” while shipping them to consumers with dosing instructions, and urges consumers not to purchase these products of “unknown quality” [3]. A clinic that hands you a vial with that label is not providing a prescription drug. Retatrutide and cagrilintide, in particular, cannot be used in compounding under federal law and have not been found safe and effective for any condition [3].

5. Does the clinic claim its product is “the same as” the brand?

On March 3, 2026 the FDA issued warning letters to 30 telehealth companies for false or misleading claims about compounded GLP-1 products; the main violations were implying sameness with FDA-approved products and branding the product with the telehealth firm’s name so the real compounder was obscured [6]. “Same as Ozempic” or “same as Zepbound” is a claim the FDA has already acted on.

6. What do the FDA advisory-committee peptide votes mean?

On July 23–24, 2026 the FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee met to consider several peptides for the 503A bulk drug substances list [7]. The committee voted to recommend BPC-157, KPV, TB-500 and MOTS-c on day one, and Epitalon and Semax on day two, and voted against emideltide (DSIP) 6–7 [8]. Those votes are recommendations; the FDA decides [8]. Before any formal listing the FDA must complete notice-and-comment rulemaking, which could run into 2027 or later, and a place on the bulks list is not FDA approval [9]. As of September 24, 2026 no final FDA listing has been published. A clinic saying a peptide is now “FDA cleared” because of these votes is wrong.

7. How do I report a problem?

Patients and consumers can report side effects or product quality problems directly to the FDA through MedWatch, online or with the consumer version of Form FDA 3500 [10]. Your healthcare provider is not required to report for you [10]. The FDA also asks patients to report adverse events with compounded GLP-1 drugs specifically, because state-licensed pharmacies are not required to submit them [3].

What STACK adds

STACK records the pharmacy and prescriber you enter with each vial, the lot and date, and every dose and symptom on one timeline. If you ever need to make a report, the dates are already there. STACK does not evaluate clinics and does not recommend any.

Free tools

Sources

Every URL below was fetched and checked on 2026-09-24. Bracketed numbers in the text link here.

1. OtherLicense Verification — Medical Board of California
2. OtherLook Up a License — Texas Medical Board
3. FDAFDA's Concerns with Unapproved GLP-1 Drugs Used for Weight Loss — FDA
4. FDACompounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers — FDA
5. FDARegistered Outsourcing Facilities (503B list) — FDA
6. FDAFDA Warns 30 Telehealth Companies Against Illegal Marketing of Compounded GLP-1s (Mar 3, 2026) — FDA
7. FDAJuly 23-24, 2026: Meeting of the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee — FDA
8. OtherFDA advisory committee backs two more peptides, rejects one for compounding list (Jul 27, 2026) — RAPS
9. OtherBulk List Bound: PCAC backs majority of peptides in two-day public meeting — McDermott Will & Schulte
10. FDAReporting Serious Problems to FDA (MedWatch) — FDA