A guide to finding care in the US
This guide uses “metabolic care” to mean help with weight or blood sugar, including questions about peptide medicines.
Begin with a clear treatment name, a person whose licence you can check, and a full price.
You can ask for written answers. You can take time to read them.
Start the care checks
Name the treatment
Check the person
Price the whole plan
Name the care
Ask for the exact medicine name before reading claims about it.
The tiny parts that make proteins can also form a short chain called a peptide.
Some peptide medicines copy a hormone, a message made by the body, that affects hunger and blood sugar.
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a medicine, it has reviewed that medicine for a named use.
Medicines for weight loss or blood sugar control use ingredients such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) or tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound).
As of September 2026, products containing these ingredients have FDA approval.
Ask which health problem the prescription is meant to treat.
A pharmacist or doctor makes a compounded medicine to order for a patient.
The FDA has not approved compounded medicines as of September 2026.
Before these medicines go on sale, FDA does not check how well they were made, their safety, or how well they work.
According to FDA, a medicine prepared to order may meet a patient's need when an approved medicine cannot.
Ask why this is needed for you, and which pharmacy will make it.
As of September 2026, FDA warns against unapproved weight-loss products sold for research; the quality of these products is unknown, and they could cause harm.
Ask whether this is a prescription medicine or a research product.
A generic version of a brand-name medicine has separate FDA approval.
As of September 2026, the US has no generic versions of semaglutide or tirzepatide that may be sold.
As of September 2026, FDA says calling a compounded drug a generic of an approved medicine is misleading.
Check a licence
In person or online, ask who will check your health and decide on treatment.
For an in-person clinic, ask what the first visit involves.
Telehealth means care by video, phone, or messages sent through an online form.
Ask how the doctor will review your answers and ask any further questions.
As of September 2026, online care requires the doctor's licence or other permission from the state you are in at the time of the visit.
Each state sets its own rules for online care.
Ask for their full name, role, and licence number.
The state medical board licenses doctors and keeps public records of their licences and any punishment by the board.
Even if the board has never publicly punished a doctor, its record is not a rating of the care you will receive.
Use the link below to find your state's board, then search for the doctor by name.
Find your state medical boardSource: Federation of State Medical Boards, the group representing those boards.
Ask which pharmacy will make and send any medicine.
The state board of pharmacy is the office that licenses pharmacies and keeps their licence records.
FDA says to avoid an online pharmacy if it is not listed in your state's pharmacy licence search.
On the FDA page below, choose your state, then search for the pharmacy by name.
Find your state's pharmacy licence searchSource: FDA's links to state pharmacy licence searches.
Keep the name, the board record, and the date you checked it together in your own notes.
Question the metabolic care pitch
If an answer is unclear, ask for an explanation before paying.
As of September 2026, US law requires a valid prescription for prescription medicines.
FDA registration means the agency has recorded the business.
As of September 2026, that registration or a medicine's entry in FDA records does not prove the medicine is approved.
Medical board guidance checked in September 2026 rejects care based only on a set list of online questions.
Before choosing treatment, the doctor must be able to ask further questions and gather enough information to check your health.
This is guidance from the group of state medical boards; each state's rules still matter.