Understand
What does ‘research use only’ tell me?
It is a label to examine, not a reason to treat a product as medicine for yourself. Read the treatment claim as well as the label.
Does that label make human use lawful?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accused sellers of offering unapproved drugs because their websites promoted human use of research-labelled products.
As of September 26, 2026.
FDA · Research-labelled productsThe law looks at what the seller says a product is for. Claims that it treats disease or changes how the body works can make it a drug in law, even if the label says ‘research use only’.
As of September 26, 2026.
Federal rules · What the seller says it is forWhat is the concern with an unknown injection?
In letters to peptide sellers, FDA warns that injections put a substance directly inside the body. Germs or harmful substances can pass some of the body’s defences this way, with the potential for serious harm.
As of September 17, 2026.
FDA · Its concerns about injectionsThat is FDA’s stated concern about those products, rather than a measure of how often harm happens.
What about retatrutide or cagrilintide?
As of September 26, 2026, FDA said federal law did not allow compounding either retatrutide or cagrilintide.
As of September 26, 2026.
FDA · The stated compounding restrictionNeither was a component of an FDA-approved drug, and neither had been found safe and effective for a condition.
As of September 26, 2026.
FDA · The evidence and approval limitsWhat can I ask instead?
Ask a licensed clinician about the health concern that brought you here. Ask which approved options, if any, fit that concern.
Keep a copy of the name and claims you saw. Bring them to the assessment instead of trying to interpret a product page alone.