INDEPENDENT PEPTIDE EDUCATION · UPDATED ON REVIEW · NOT MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE
Your two-minute supplier check

The supplier-vetting standard

One objective, published standard for evaluating any peptide supplier — yours, ours, or one you've never heard of. Seven quick yes/no checks: four on whether the product is real, three on whether the supplier is honest about its legal lane. Run it in two minutes. Send the result to a colleague. Hold every supplier to the same bar.

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Why two layers, and why we publish it.
Roll quality and legal status into one number and a great-looking product can hide a gray legal pathway — or a fully legal product gets dinged over a paperwork gap. We keep them separate so you see both. The criteria are public and we apply them the same way to every supplier, including the ones we work with. A standard quietly written to wave through a favorite vendor isn't a standard, and you'd see right through it. This one holds up to that scrutiny.

Your supplier check 0 of 7 answered

Is the product real?0%
Are they straight about the legal lane?0%

Seven yes/no checks. You want every box ticked in both rows. A blank in the second row is the red flag — that's where a supplier hides the legal risk.

Is the product real?

Four things a serious supplier — including a 503A pharmacy — can actually show you.

1An independent, third-party Certificate of Analysis for every lot — confirming identity and purity.
2Sterility and endotoxin testing on injectable products.
3Discloses who actually made the active ingredient (API), and the country it came from — the original manufacturer, not just the pharmacy or facility that re-bottled, reconstituted, or compounded it.
4Made under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) quality systems, with the facility and country disclosed. US cGMP manufacturing is the gold standard — and most peptide suppliers, including many 503A pharmacies compounding from imported API, can't show it.

Are they straight about the legal lane?

This is the row that matters most — and the one a dishonest supplier fails. If a supplier won't be straight here, that's your answer.

5Is upfront about each product's true FDA status — and never lets a label like "503A-compounded" or "cGMP" imply a peptide is FDA-approved or on the 503A bulks list when it isn't. (BPC-157, NAD+, and the peptides removed from Category 2 are unapproved and unlisted no matter who makes them or how well; research-use-only product is labeled "not for human use.")
6Makes no efficacy, disease, or dosing claims, and leaves the human-use decision to you.
7Clear about what it is NOT — e.g. not a 503A pharmacy, and products are not FDA-approved, where that applies.
Next: the three legal lanes →

How to read your two scores

A supplier worth working with clears a high bar on both layers. High quality with low transparency means a good product sold dishonestly — walk away. High transparency with low quality means an honest seller you still can't verify — also a pass. The combination is the point.

Note what the standard deliberately does not do: it does not reward a supplier for being on any particular legal pathway. A research-use-only importer and a 503A pharmacy are both scored on the same things — not on which lane they're in. Two points keep it level: a supplier must name who actually made the active ingredient (re-bottling imported API in a clean room is not "making it"), and "503A-compounded" describes who prepared a product, not whether the substance is FDA-approved. For an unapproved, unlisted peptide — BPC-157, NAD+, and the rest — both paths begin from the very same unapproved substance.

Use it on your own terms

The result is yours. This page has a permanent link and a one-page PDF, so you can keep it on file, share it with your medical director or a partner clinic, and re-run it on any supplier — the one you use now or one you're weighing — whenever you're evaluating. No login, nothing to buy, no one watching what you score.

Not legal advice. This standard is an educational tool, not a legal document. It does not establish what is lawful for your clinic or for any supplier — obtain your own legal counsel before acting on it.
Important — please read This standard is an educational framework for evaluating suppliers; it is not medical, legal, or regulatory advice, and a passing score is not a guarantee of legal compliance, product safety, or fitness for any use. Independent verification and your own professional and legal judgment are required. Regulatory status changes frequently — verify current federal and state status independently before acting.