What does peptide therapy mean?

Small parts joined together

A peptide is made of tiny parts joined together, like beads on a short string. Those same parts make up proteins.

One familiar example

Insulin is an example of a peptide.

Some are approved medicines

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration handles medicine approval and usually goes by FDA. Semaglutide has products sold under the names Ozempic and Wegovy. Tirzepatide products include Mounjaro and Zepbound. As of September 2026, these products have FDA approval for diabetes or weight management.

Ozempic and Mounjaro treat type 2 diabetes, a condition that causes high blood sugar. For losing weight and maintaining that loss, Wegovy and Zepbound can help. These examples do not tell you which medicine, if any, fits your health problem.

Ask which product is being discussed and what it is approved to treat. Ask whether it is a tablet or injection, who helps you use it, and how your age and other medicines affect the choice. Keep the name in your notes.

Some are made by a compounder

When medicine is compounded, it is made or mixed instead of being supplied as the drug maker’s finished product. As of September 2026, medicine made by compounding is not FDA-approved.

They can fill a need when an approved product cannot meet the patient’s medical need or is not commercially available. Ask why a medicine made this way is needed for you.

A label saying “For Research Only”

“For Research Only” means the product is offered for laboratory research, not as medicine for people. As of September 2026, FDA letters say that putting “For Research Only” on a label does not make it legal to sell an unapproved drug as treatment. Do not treat that wording as permission to take or inject it.