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The product check
# Ask about the exact medicine.
Write down the ingredient name, the brand name if there is one, and the form it comes in: a pill or a shot. The ingredient name is sometimes called the generic name. Keep the medicine's name separate from the service's name.
As of September 2026.
A few words, made clear
The Food and Drug Administration reviews medicines as a federal agency; FDA is its short name. A generic medicine has its own FDA approval and copies a brand-name medicine. That is different from an ingredient's name or a compounded medicine, meaning one made to order.
Get clear
## Some products have FDA approval
As of September 2026.
FDA-approved medicines include Ozempic and Wegovy, which contain semaglutide, and Mounjaro and Zepbound, which contain tirzepatide. Ozempic and Mounjaro are approved for type 2 diabetes. Wegovy and Zepbound are approved for weight loss.
Ask which medical problem this product is approved to treat and whether that is the reason it is being offered to you.
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Source text
FDA semaglutide product label
FDA tirzepatide product label
Look closer
## Familiar peptide names may have no approval
As of September 2026.
The names BPC-157 and ipamorelin refer to peptide ingredients. If an offer uses either name, ask which health problem the ingredient is intended to address and what evidence backs that use.
As of September 2026, neither BPC-157 nor ipamorelin had an approved US medicine in FDA's records. Retatrutide is being studied for long-term weight management; it also had no approved US medicine.
Cagrilintide is another ingredient named in FDA's warning about unapproved weight-loss products. FDA says neither retatrutide nor cagrilintide may be made into medicine by compounding under federal law.
Compounded means made or mixed to order. Ask for the actual approval record if a page describes any of these as an approved medicine.
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Source text
FDA concerns about weight-loss products
FDA application records
Keep asking
## Made-to-order copies are not approved generics
As of September 2026.
FDA says describing a made-to-order medicine as an approved generic, or as identical to an approved medicine, is misleading.
As of September 2026, US marketing was not allowed for generic versions of tirzepatide or semaglutide.
Liraglutide is an ingredient in diabetes and weight-loss medicines. It does have FDA-approved generic copies, including some for weight loss.
An approval record does not promise the medicine is on a pharmacy shelf. Ask about the specific product and availability.
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Source text
FDA on misleading compounded-drug claims
FDA records of medicine applications
Carry it forward
## A product code cannot confirm approval
As of September 2026.
FDA explains that a National Drug Code is a number identifying a product; it does not confirm the medicine's approval.
A medicine's name or label on a government list is not proof of FDA approval either.
Ask for evidence of the product's approval, rather than accepting the presence of a code as the answer.
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Source text
FDA explanation of drug codes
Your next page
## Read the signs that call for a pause
Look at the wording on the offer before going further.
## Read the signs that call for a pause
This notebook helps you think through care choices; it does not provide clinic care or sell medicines.
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