Questions to ask any provider

The short version

Before you pay anyone for a peptide, ask who is prescribing it, which pharmacy makes it, and what kind of product it is. Then ask what follow-up you get, and who to contact if something goes wrong.

A prescriber is a clinician licensed to write prescriptions. A pharmacy is where the medicine is actually made or dispensed, and it is licensed by your state. Both can be looked up in public records, usually in a few minutes.

A real provider expects these questions. If a website cannot or will not answer them, that tells you something too.

1. Who is the prescriber, and are they licensed where I live?

In the United States, the clinician must hold a licence in the state where you are during the visit, not only where their office is. A careful service tells you who the clinician is and what they are qualified in.

How to check. Every state has a medical board that keeps a public record of who is licensed and whether the board has ever disciplined them. The Federation of State Medical Boards lists every board in one directory. A clean record means no public action has been taken. It is not a rating of how good the clinician is.

2. Will someone actually review my health, and can I ask questions?

A prescription should follow a real assessment. The national group of state medical boards says a fixed tick-box form, with nobody able to ask you a follow-up question, is not enough. In May 2026 it added that prescribing based solely on a patient's pick from a menu of options does not meet the standard of care, and that patients must be able to ask the clinician follow-up questions.

What to listen for. Questions about your conditions, your other medicines, past reactions, and pregnancy. A clear chance to ask your own. And the possibility of a "no".

3. Which pharmacy makes and sends my medicine?

This may be the single most useful question on the list. The FDA points out that people buying compounded medicines online often do not know who made them. Ask for the pharmacy's name.

How to check. The FDA's BeSafeRx page links to each state's pharmacy licence search, and it is plain about the result: if the pharmacy is not listed, do not use it. Most states also require an out-of-state pharmacy to hold a licence in your state before it can post medicine to you. If the name belongs to a larger outsourcing facility, the kind that makes batches of sterile medicines, you can also look for it on the FDA's list of registered outsourcing facilities. Two cautions: "FDA registered" is not "FDA approved", and a website address ending in .pharmacy is a good sign, but most legitimate pharmacies do not have one.

4. Is this FDA-approved, compounded, or research-only?

These are three very different things, explained on the basics page.

• FDA-approved means the FDA reviewed the evidence for that exact product.
• Compounded means a pharmacy made it to order from a prescription. It can be legal, but it is never FDA-approved. The FDA has told telehealth companies that it is false or misleading to call a compounded medicine FDA-approved, a generic, or the same as an approved drug.
• Research-only products are sold for lab research, labelled not for human use, and no one reviews your health. They are not medicines.

For the weight-management medicines semaglutide and tirzepatide, an FDA-approved version exists, and compounded versions are not FDA-approved. Since the FDA says neither medicine is in national shortage, pharmacies are limited in making copies of the approved versions. The legal page goes further.

5. What monitoring and follow-up come with it?

Whether tests are needed depends on the medicine, your health and the rules that apply. Some medicines have specific testing requirements. If an assessment needs a test, the prescriber should arrange it or refer you.

What to ask. Will I need tests, and who arranges them? Who checks in with me after I start, and how? Can I reach a licensed clinician once the medicine arrives? The FDA lists a provider with no licensed clinician available after delivery as a warning sign.

6. What happens if I have a bad reaction?

Ask who you contact, how, and at what hours. Then know the routes that work whatever the provider says:

• A severe allergic reaction can come on within seconds or minutes. It is an emergency: call 911.
• Taking the wrong amount of a medicine: Poison Control answers at 1-800-222-1222. It is free and confidential, day and night.
• Reporting a problem to the FDA is open to anyone through its MedWatch program, online and free. The FDA counts a side effect as serious if it led to death, a threat to life, a hospital stay, disability or permanent damage, a birth defect, or treatment needed to prevent lasting harm.

The FDA says an injectable GLP-1 medicine that arrives warm, or with its ice packs melted, should not be used. Ask what the provider does if that happens.

7. What exactly am I paying for?

Many online services charge a monthly membership, with the medicine billed on top. Ask what the membership includes, what the medicine costs, and whether the first-month price lasts. The peptide therapy page shows how the parts add up.

Warning signs. A price far below everyone else's, alongside other red flags. Payment only by wire transfer, cryptocurrency, a payment app or gift card, which the Federal Trade Commission says is the mark of a scam. And any offer to sell a prescription medicine without a prescription, which is against the law.

Good signs and warning signs

Promise Peptides

Neo may earn money when readers become Promise patients.

Ask Promise these questions too. Promise Peptides is a U.S. telehealth platform. Promise prescribes peptides now through licensed U.S. providers. A licensed U.S. provider reviews every request and your health history, then decides whether to prescribe. Not everyone qualifies, and the answer can be no. Prescribed medicines are prepared by licensed U.S. compounding pharmacies. Each pharmacy separately decides whether it can lawfully prepare a prescription; a prescription does not guarantee it will be filled. Compounded medicines are not FDA-approved. U.S. patients only. Availability varies by state and by treatment. Promise is LegitScript-certified. That certification is not FDA approval.

Visit Promise Peptides for energy

Sources

1. Contact a State Medical BoardFederation of State Medical Boards
2. Information for ConsumersFederation of State Medical Boards
3. The Appropriate Use of Telemedicine Technologies in the Practice of Medicine (2022)Federation of State Medical Boards
4. Guidance on Recent Trends in Prescribing and Dispensing (2026)Federation of State Medical Boards
5. Compounding and the FDA: Questions and AnswersU.S. Food and Drug Administration
6. BeSafeRx: Locate a State-Licensed Online PharmacyU.S. Food and Drug Administration
7. Registered Outsourcing FacilitiesU.S. Food and Drug Administration
8. BeSafeRx: Frequently Asked QuestionsU.S. Food and Drug Administration
9. Buy SafelySafe.Pharmacy (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy)
10. Is It Really 'FDA Approved'?U.S. Food and Drug Administration
11. FDA to Telehealth Companies: What to Know When Promoting Compounded DrugsU.S. Food and Drug Administration
12. FDA's Concerns with Unapproved GLP-1 Drugs Used for Weight LossU.S. Food and Drug Administration
13. FDA clarifies policies for compounders as national GLP-1 supply begins to stabilizeU.S. Food and Drug Administration
14. A way to spot scams: how someone asks you to payFederal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice
15. Anaphylaxis, MedlinePlus Medical EncyclopediaU.S. National Library of Medicine
16. Medication errors: What to knowPoison Control (National Capital Poison Center)
17. MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting ProgramU.S. Food and Drug Administration
18. What is a Serious Adverse Event?U.S. Food and Drug Administration