Editorial process & sources.

What we publish

WeightSherpa is an independent comparison and guidance site covering GLP-1 medications, the telehealth programs that prescribe them, nutrition for GLP-1 patients, and the drug pipeline. Everything we publish has one of three goals: help a reader understand how a medication or program works, compare options against each other on a consistent scorecard, or answer a specific question with real data.

We do not practice medicine. Nothing on this site is a substitute for a conversation with a licensed prescriber, a pharmacist, or a dietitian. See our medical disclaimer for the full scope.

Source hierarchy

Every clinical claim on WeightSherpa is backed by an authoritative source, in roughly this order of precedence:

1. Current FDA-approved labeling via DailyMed or drugs@FDA — the ground truth for what a drug is approved to do and at what doses.
2. FDA MedWatch, FDA safety communications, and the FDA drug shortage list — for anything involving safety or compounding legality.
3. Practice guidelines from major professional societies: American Diabetes Association, The Obesity Society, American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, Endocrine Society.
4. Peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials and large cohort studies — the SURPASS / SURMOUNT / SUSTAIN / STEP / SELECT / ATTAIN trial families for GLP-1 effects and side effects.
5. Manufacturer medical-information resources for on-label questions where published sources are sparse.

Press releases, social media, Reddit, compounding-pharmacy marketing copy, and influencer claims are not sources. We may describe them as phenomena (e.g. "Ozempic face" as a viral term), but they do not substantiate clinical claims.

Review cadence

GLP-1 coverage changes quickly. Our review cadence:

• Drug pages: reviewed quarterly, and immediately on any FDA label change, safety communication, new approval, or shortage-status change.
• Comparison pages: reviewed quarterly.
• Compounded-product content: reviewed monthly, because shortage-status changes affect legality.
• Pricing pages: reviewed monthly.
• Guides: reviewed on a rolling basis, with each page carrying a visible "Last reviewed" stamp.

AI assistance & human review

Parts of our editorial workflow use AI tools to draft, summarize, and cross-reference sources. Every page that touches clinical content — drug pages, dosing, safety, comparison, and any guide in the Medications, Nutrition, or Pipeline hub — is reviewed by a human editor before publication. That review is logged internally with the editor's name and date.

We do not use AI to generate patient testimonials, clinician quotes, or before/after photos. Under the Federal Trade Commission's 2024 endorsement rule, fake testimonials are a per-se violation — and they're corrosive to trust even where they're legal. We don't do it.

What we will not say

A few words and phrases do not appear on our site (outside of quoted source material), because they are either scientifically imprecise or legally fraught:

• We do not describe any drug as "safe" in the abstract. We describe what the drug has been evaluated for in which populations, and cite the trial.
• We do not describe weight loss as "guaranteed", a "miracle", or a "breakthrough". Those are FTC red-flag words in the weight-loss context.
• We do not describe a compounded product as "the same as", "identical to", "bioidentical to", or "equivalent to" a brand-name FDA-approved drug.
• We do not tell a reader their insurance "covers" a drug. We describe what plans typically cover and tell readers to verify with their plan.
• We do not claim our content is "recommended by doctors" unless we can name them and show the relationship.

Commercial separation

WeightSherpa earns revenue when readers sign up for some of the telehealth programs or purchase some of the products we cover. Every page with affiliate links carries a disclosure above the first link, per FTC Part 255. Sponsored placements are labeled clearly at the top of the page and are never called "reviews".

Our rankings are not for sale. Revenue share does not influence the order programs appear in our comparisons or the scores we assign. When a program we rank highly happens to be a commercial partner, it's because the program performed well on our rubric — not the reverse. If we drop a partner, that's reflected in the rankings too.

See our disclosure policy for the full framework.

Corrections & feedback

If you spot a factual error, a broken source link, or a claim that isn't substantiated by our stated source hierarchy, email editorial@weightsherpa.com. We correct errors in the article itself and add a correction note when the correction is material.

Adverse event reporting

WeightSherpa is not a clinical service and cannot receive or act on adverse-event reports. If you believe you've had a serious reaction to a medication, contact your prescriber and report it to FDA MedWatch. For medical emergencies, call 911.