A gentle warning about online peptide purchases
The expression "first do no harm" (derived from the Latin phrase, "primum non nocere") is a popular term used by health practitioners.
Although the full expression does not actually come from the Hippocratic oath verbatim, it can be argued that it does come from that text in essence. It is an essential ethical rule for the practice of medicine.
If I am referring to this sentence today it is because a few patients recently asked Carley and myself to do some tasks that would have been against our philosophy and in direct conflict with our oath. We had to decline helping them.
Let me explain what I am referring to.
We have for several years been prescribing peptides for various indications and have seen fantastic results with their use. Both Carley and I are currently using some for our own health.
Our source for these peptides comes from accredited compounded pharmacies with strict quality control measures in place. These pharmacies are licensed by their pharmacy board in each state and regularly inspected at least once a year by government agencies. They keep detailed documentation of every batch they compound and use 3rd party laboratories to test every batch that is compounded.
These pharmacies purchase their ingredients from FDA inspected pharmaceutical companies, which conduct tests of their own before supplying pharmacies.
Following the publication of Tony Robbins book where a long list of peptides is provided, even some that are not allowed to be prescribed in the US any longer, a few patients went online and started looking for places to purchase these peptides. They found a few companies that were selling these peptides at a very cheap price but there were no recommendations on how to mix the products. Then our patients came to our office asking how to mix them.
Unfortunately, for medicolegal reasons, we had to decline to do it.
These peptides were purchased from “research companies” (not pharmacies) and the mention “for research use only” was clearly written on the bottle. We had no idea if these were safe for human consumption. Legally we cannot give any directions or manage protocols for research chemicals that might be prohibited for human consumption.
We would risk putting VitaLifeMD in jeopardy by giving the appearance that we condoned or recommended research chemicals that are not for human consumption.
I thought that it would be helpful to give here a few insights on how these research companies function and to warn our patients about the risks of using their products:
Research companies typically make peptides in lower dosages, so people must purchase multiple vials to equal the strength of what we recommend at VitaLifeMD
Research companies might not be fully honest when they claim that their peptides are “made in the US” - just because they are dosed out and lyophilized in the US doesn't mean the raw active ingredient originated in the US. It is well known that this raw material almost always comes from China.
Research companies have no oversight of their supply chain and no oversight of their manufacturing facility.
Their compounding operations are not contained in a clean room. Clean rooms are extremely expensive and require frequent maintenance. The board of pharmacy requires frequent validation studies to ensure the airflow is correct, it is inspected annually, and cleanings are done on a regular basis.
As a rule of thumb, especially when it concerns an injectable treatment, know that we are extra cautious and investigate twice before starting to recommend a product.
Another recent interesting story was the case of a dear patient who purchased a peptide (one that has been banned in the US by the FDA for almost a year) from a physician that probably had a storage of bottles before it was retired from the market. When we looked at the expiration date, the bottle had expired!
Finally, we recently were made aware of a “pharmacy” in California that started to sell peptides a few months ago and for which no registration with the California board of pharmacy was to be found. There was no answer at the address listed and the pharmacy was unknown at this address when we called. There were major errors on the brochure that was sent to us regarding the description of the peptides; the reason why we became suspicious. For sure VitaLifeMD will not recommend peptides from this source either.
We know that there are people who want to take advantage of the public’s excitement for anti-aging products and health support of any kind, and are ready to transgress any safety rules just to make a profit.
I recommend that you make your own informed judgment before jumping on exciting deals offered loosely on the Internet.
You can count on Carley and me to always be here to protect you and keep you as healthy as possible.
Stay safe!
Dominique Fradin-Read. MD, MPH