Evidence cards / Ask for the match
What backs the treatment claim?
Ask for evidence that matches the product being offered and the problem you want treated. A familiar name is not the whole answer.
Ask for a clear link to the evidence
Match the product and the use.
The US agency called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the job of reviewing medicines.
As of September 26, 2026, FDA approval applies to a specific drug and named uses, rather than the phrase peptide therapy.
Ask: What is the exact medicine name? Does it come as a shot, pill or something else? Which health problem would this medicine address? Can you show me the studies for that use?
Ask what was studied in people.
Ask whether the evidence comes from studies in people, and whether the product in those studies matches the one in the offer.
BPC-157 is the name of one peptide sold online; as of September 26, 2026, no medicine containing it has US drug approval.
If that name appears in an offer, ask what health problem the seller claims it treats and what studies in people support that claim.
The FDA reports too little information about its use in people to know whether it could cause harm.
A confident sales claim cannot fill that gap.
A business record is not drug approval.
A business registered with the FDA appears in its records; when a drug is listed, that product appears on the agency’s list.
As of September 26, 2026, neither record means the FDA approved the business or checked and approved the medicine.
As of September 26, 2026, a product’s National Drug Code (NDC) identifies the product; the code does not show FDA approval.
Ask to see the medicine’s entry in Drugs@FDA, the agency’s online list of drug approval records. The “FDA: product approval records” link below opens that list. Ask the person treating you to show how the medicine name and approved use match your offer. A picture of an online entry or an “FDA registered” badge is not enough.
Ask about the limits, too.
What is still unknown? How close is the evidence to my situation? What other care could address the same problem?
Write down any claim you want explained during the visit.
Keep the evidence attached to the claim
- Product
- Does the name match?
- People
- Who took part?
- Use
- Was my problem studied?
Ask for all of these details together, then discuss the limits with the person treating you.
Notes for this chapter
Use these sources to check the answers and ask more precise questions.
- FDA: product approval records
The product record is the place to check approval.
- FDA: concerns about peptide ingredients
Contains the limited human information behind the concern described above.
- FDA: what approval means
Explains why a business being on the FDA’s record does not mean drug approval.
- FDA: National Drug Code directory
Explains the limits of a product code and a directory entry.