[Skip to the briefing](/briefings/evidence-brief/#main) [Care, considered.](/) Plain-language guide Care briefing # What can a source actually tell you? Look for a source that answers the claim being made. A licence record, a medicine label and a sales page do different jobs. FDA is short for Food and Drug Administration, the US agency that reviews medicines. [Browse the briefings](/briefings/at-a-glance/) ![An open blank notebook and a folded sheet beside a dark ceramic slab.](/assets/media/questions.webp) Match the source to the question it can answer. Source-linked ## A useful record and its limits [Read sources](/briefings/evidence-brief/#source-file) Medicine record #### What it can answer An FDA-approved label describes a reviewed product and its stated uses, as of September 2026. #### What it leaves open Ask the clinician how that information applies to your goal and health. Board guidance #### What it can answer As of September 2026, the doctor-licensing boards’ group gives advice on online care. That advice is not itself a state law. #### What it leaves open Each state sets its own enforceable rules for online prescribing, as of September 2026. A report of harm #### What it can answer A medicine-problem report records an unwanted experience associated with use. #### What it leaves open The FDA says a report alone cannot prove cause or show how often a problem occurs. The source needs to support the same product, use and kind of claim. A familiar name alone is not a match. ## A discussion is not a rule change As of September 2026, an FDA advisory committee’s advice does not itself change which ingredients can be compounded. This panel advises the FDA about which ingredients to allow for pharmacy-made medicine. If a seller says the meeting made its medicine legal, ask to see the final FDA rule and have the pharmacist explain it. The July 2026 meeting concerned adding peptide ingredients to the list allowed for compounding. As of September 2026, the FDA had posted no official written record of the panel’s votes. A headline about a vote does not show that the law changed. The meeting alone did not give a pharmacy permission to use an ingredient. ## Advertisements are a different kind of evidence The Federal Trade Commission says government agencies do not approve health advertisements before they appear. The Federal Trade Commission is the US consumer-protection agency. Ask for the record behind a claim rather than treating an advert as the record. ## Ask for the missing connection ### Does this source concern the same product? Check that a claim about a ready-made medicine has not been applied to a compounded preparation. ### What date does the claim cover? Ask when the price terms were checked and when they end. For a claim that medicine can legally be supplied, ask the pharmacist to show the current rule and explain how it applies. Sources for this briefing Choose the source for your question. For a doctor’s licence, use the state licence search. For a medicine’s approval, ask to see the FDA approval and approved label for that exact product. FDA · Product label Check the product name and uses in the label. [Read the source](https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2026/215256s025lbl.pdf) Group of doctor-licensing offices · Remote-care guidance This group’s advice on online care is different from a state law that can be enforced. [Read the source](https://www.fsmb.org/siteassets/advocacy/policies/fsmb-workgroup-on-telemedicineapril-2022-final.pdf) FDA · Report limitations The FDA explains what problem reports cannot establish. [Read the source](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/fda-adverse-event-monitoring-system-aems/fda-adverse-event-monitoring-system-aems-public-dashboard) FDA · Ingredient-list process The FDA explains how an ingredient can be added to the legal list for compounding. This concerns which ingredients may be used, not adding something such as a vitamin to a mixture. [Read the source](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/bulk-drug-substances-used-compounding-under-section-503a-fdc-act) FDA · Peptide-compounding meeting record The meeting page is the primary record for documents the FDA had published. [Read the source](https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/july-23-24-2026-meeting-pharmacy-compounding-advisory-committee-07232026) Consumer-protection agency · Health advertising The consumer-protection agency explains why an advert is not government approval. [Read the source](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0167-miracle-health-claims) Continue with a related question [Bring questions that need real answers.](/briefings/question-brief/) Use these pages to compare peptide care; this is a guide and no treatment is prescribed or sold here. [All briefings](/briefings/at-a-glance/) [Questions to bring](/briefings/question-brief/) [Source records](/briefings/evidence-brief/#source-file) [Text copy](/briefings/evidence-brief/index.md) [Start](/) [Care](/briefings/care-routes/) [Costs](/briefings/cost-brief/) [Checks](/briefings/licence-brief/) [Briefings](/briefings/at-a-glance/)