Medical Review Process

Our standard

Every educational claim on this site — symptom descriptions, protocol summaries, side-effect profiles, dosing context, weight-loss percentages, hormone ranges — is intended to reflect the current peer-reviewed clinical literature as it applies to U.S.-licensed compounded telehealth practice. We aim to be conservative, sourced, and corrected promptly when the evidence shifts.

This page describes how we get to that standard and where we fall short, so you can hold us accountable.

How we source and check the content

Every educational page on this site is written from primary, peer-reviewed clinical literature — not opinion, and not manufacturer marketing. Before a page is published, each clinical claim is traced back to a cited source, checked against current U.S. clinical practice, and paired with any required disclosures, including the FDA notice that compounded preparations are not FDA-approved.

Our editorial standard has four rules:

• Primary sources first. Claims about efficacy, dosing, safety, or mechanism are grounded in peer-reviewed randomized trials, systematic reviews, or published prescribing information, not anecdote.
• Conservative by default. Where the evidence is mixed or still emerging, we say so rather than overstate it.
• Compliant framing. Statements about compounded medications carry the standard FDA disclosure, and we never attribute a branded drug’s trial results to a compounded preparation.
• Dated and correctable. Pages carry a visible last-updated date and are revised when the evidence changes or a reader flags an error.

Prescribing is separate from this content. Treatment decisions are made by a U.S.-licensed physician in our provider network after reviewing your intake and labs. This page is about how the educational content on the site is sourced and maintained.

Our sourcing standards

For any clinical claim involving efficacy, dosing, safety, or mechanism, we cite at least one of:

• Peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (preferred: NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine).
• Manufacturer-published prescribing information where applicable.

Anecdotal, non-peer-reviewed, or pre-print sources are not used to support clinical claims on this site.

How content gets published

1. Authoring

Each new article, treatment page, or symptom guide is drafted by an internal content lead working from primary sources (see above) and prior published OPTML content.

2. Sourcing & compliance check

Before publishing, the draft is checked against our editorial standard: every clinical claim must be supported by a cited or commonly accepted source, doses and ranges must match U.S. clinical practice, and statements about compounded preparations must include the standard FDA disclosure (compounded drugs are not FDA-approved; the FDA does not verify the safety, effectiveness, or quality of compounded drugs). Anything that fails these checks is revised or removed before it goes live.

3. Publication and dating

Approved content is published with a visible “last reviewed” or “last updated” date where applicable. Articles with material clinical claims are re-reviewed at least annually, and sooner when a new randomized trial, FDA action, or society guideline meaningfully changes the underlying evidence.

4. Corrections

If a reader reports an error and we confirm it, we update the page within five business days, log the change internally, and (for substantive corrections) update the visible “last updated” date on the page.

What this site is and isn't

Compounded medications. OPTML prescribes compounded formulations of medications such as semaglutide, tirzepatide, testosterone cypionate, enclomiphene, estradiol, progesterone, sermorelin, and NAD+. Compounded preparations are not FDA-approved, and the FDA does not verify the safety, effectiveness, or quality of compounded drugs. Our compounded preparations are dispensed by U.S.-licensed 503A pharmacy partners — licensed 503A pharmacies — each registered with the FDA and operating under USP <797> sterility standards.

Tools and calculators. Calculators, score sheets, and decoders on this site (BMI, BMR, TDEE, Perimenopause Symptom Score, GH Optimization Score, Lab Decoder, Wearable Decoder, GLP-1 Dose Calculator, etc.) are for educational use only. Not medical advice. Not a prescription.

Conflicts of interest

OPTML is a commercial telehealth service. We earn revenue when patients become subscribers. We disclose this directly so you can weigh it against the educational content here.

To limit conflict-of-interest risk in our content:

• Editorial staff are paid for their time, never for content reaching a specific conclusion or promoting a specific protocol.
• Negative information about a treatment we offer (side effects, eligibility limits, situations where the protocol is the wrong choice) is published with the same weight as positive information.
• We do not accept paid placement, sponsored content, or pharmaceutical-manufacturer compensation for any editorial content on this site.
• The OPTML brand on product renderings identifies the prescribing telehealth service, not a manufacturer. Compounded medications are dispensed under the label of the actual 503A compounding pharmacy.

Report a correction or medical concern

If you find a clinical claim on this site that appears inaccurate, out-of-date, or inadequately sourced, please email us at info@optml.com with the page URL and a description of the issue. We aim to acknowledge within two business days and resolve within five.

For urgent medical concerns related to your own care, do not use this form. Contact your prescribing OPTML provider through your patient portal, your local urgent care, or in an emergency, call 911.