Consumer
The Evidence-Based GLP-1 Shopping Checklist
Everything this site teaches, condensed into one pre-purchase routine.
Everything this site teaches, condensed into one pre-purchase routine. Work through this checklist before paying any compounded GLP-1 provider, and you'll have normalized the price, verified the pharmacy, and applied the clinical cautions that matter — in one pass.
Step 1 — Normalize the price
Don't compare headlines. For each provider, compute effective monthly cost at your expected maintenance dose: medication plus required membership plus fees plus shipping, divided by months supplied. Separately note the amount due today, which on a prepaid plan is the whole term. Get the renewal price, not just the intro. The true-cost calculator and commitment calculator do the arithmetic. Only compare providers on effective monthly cost — never on advertised headlines.
Step 2 — Verify the pharmacy
Get the dispensing pharmacy's legal name, confirm its home-state license is active, confirm it holds a nonresident license for your state, verify any 503B claim on FDA's registered-facility list, and search its enforcement history. An unnamed pharmacy fails this step. The four-step workflow takes about fifteen minutes and is the highest-value safety check you can do.
Step 3 — Apply the clinical cautions
Confirm the product form and, for semaglutide, whether it's base or a salt form. Confirm dosing instructions per vial and how concentration changes are communicated — the units-versus-milligrams issue is a documented dosing-error source. Don't read approved-product trial results as applying to a compounded, microdose, or oral version. And keep a licensed prescriber in the loop for the medication and dose decision, which is not a shopping choice.
Step 4 — Read the terms
Get the cancellation policy, the refund policy for unshipped and shipped medication, and the auto-renewal terms in writing before paying — especially on prepaid plans, where these terms decide whether the discount was worth the commitment.
| Step | Do this | Pass condition |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Normalize price | Effective monthly at maintenance dose; due-today; renewal rate | Compared on effective cost, not headline |
| 2. Verify pharmacy | Named; licensed; nonresident; 503B if claimed; record checked | All verified at the source |
| 3. Clinical cautions | Form/salt; per-vial dosing; evidence limits; prescriber involved | Understood and confirmed |
| 4. Read terms | Cancellation, refund, auto-renewal in writing | Clear and fair before paying |
Primary sources
This article's regulatory and safety statements draw on the following primary sources from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:
- FDA — Understanding the Risks of Compounded Drugs
- FDA — BeSafeRx: Your Source for Online Pharmacy Information
Frequently asked questions
What's the one step I shouldn't skip?
Verifying the dispensing pharmacy. It determines what actually arrives, it's the highest-value safety check, and an unnamed pharmacy is close to disqualifying. Price normalization matters, but a great price from an unverifiable pharmacy isn't a good deal.
How long does the whole checklist take?
Roughly 20–30 minutes for a provider you're seriously considering — about fifteen for pharmacy verification and the rest for price normalization and reading the terms. That's a small investment against a multi-month, multi-hundred-dollar commitment where the traps are expensive.
Does passing the checklist mean a provider is safe?
It means you've done the diligence a consumer reasonably can, which substantially reduces risk — but it doesn't eliminate it, since compounded products aren't FDA-approved and verification samples rather than guarantees. Keep a prescriber involved and treat the checklist as risk reduction, not a warranty.
Evidence status. Pricing figures are provider-reported or independently calculated as of 2026-07-20, not checkout-verified. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. This article is consumer education, not medical advice. See the methodology for how figures are gated and the public evidence ledger for per-figure sources. Found an error? Use the corrections route.