Know what the word means.

Peptide describes what it is made of.

Peptides consist of short chains of the small parts that build proteins; one example is insulin.

The word peptide does not establish a product’s safety or its lawful sale as medicine, as checked on September 26, 2026.

Some are approved medicines.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews each medicine for specific uses.

As of September 26, 2026, semaglutide has FDA-approved products named Ozempic and Wegovy; tirzepatide has FDA-approved products named Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Get the full product name and discuss why it is being considered. Approval for a named use does not answer every personal care question.

Some are made to order.

With compounding, a doctor or pharmacist makes medicine for one patient instead of providing a finished product made in a factory.

As checked on September 26, 2026, these compounded preparations lack FDA approval.

The FDA does not review how well these preparations work, their safety or their quality before patients receive them.

For patient needs that approved products cannot meet, the FDA says compounding can help, as of September 26, 2026.

A research-labelled bottle does not give you a care plan.

Here, a research label may say “not for human consumption”; another example is “for research purposes”. These words on a product do not offer you a place in a medical study.

As of September 26, 2026, the FDA warns that weight-loss drugs sold to people with these research labels have unknown quality and may harm people.

The FDA urges people not to purchase these products.

Bring the product name to the person treating you and ask about medicine for your own care.