Ask who will evaluate you, how to verify credentials, what exact product and use are proposed, which pharmacy is involved, what evidence and risks apply, how follow-up works, and what the total cost includes.
1. Can the practitioner explain, in plain terms, why a peptide is being compounded under section 503A and which pharmacy they work with?
They name the 503A pharmacy and discuss its North Carolina licensure and inspection history. If a clinic deflects, the deflection is the answer.
2. Will baseline labs (IGF-1, hormone panels, metabolic markers) be drawn before any peptide protocol begins?
A practitioner operating to a defensible standard will not write a sermorelin or CJC-1295 prescription without an IGF-1 baseline. Documentation that holds up to scrutiny is not optional.
3. What is the follow-up cadence (three months, six months) and who reviews the labs?
Anti-aging protocols are not one-and-done. The physician or a credentialed nurse practitioner under direct physician oversight must review repeat labs at fixed checkpoints and adjust dose, frequency, or cessation based on what the numbers show. Ask who reviews the labs and how that review is documented.
4. What conditions would cause the physician to stop the protocol and how is that decision made?
A practitioner who cannot describe their stop-criteria has not thought about them. Reasonable answers: out-of-range IGF-1, adverse event, lack of measurable improvement at a defined checkpoint, any new contraindication during follow-up. If the answer is "we just keep going," that is a position you, not the clinic, will be asked to defend.