How to choose a NAD+ provider

NAD+ is sold in more ways than almost anything else in this category. The same three letters appear on a bottle of capsules at a supplement shop, on a menu board at an IV bar, and on a prescription injectable dispensed by a compounding pharmacy. Those are not versions of one product — they sit under different rules, with different levels of oversight behind them. This guide explains the difference in plain terms, then gives you the questions that separate real medical care from a checkout page.

Reviewed by —Daniel Uba, MD, Chief Medical Officer

First, what NAD+ actually is

NAD+ — nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide — is a coenzyme that every cell in your body already uses; it participates in cellular energy metabolism and in enzyme systems involved in normal cell maintenance. That is a description of biochemistry, not a description of what any therapy will do for you, and the distinction matters when you read marketing copy.

Whether supplementing it is appropriate for any individual is a clinical judgment that depends on labs, health history, and goals. Any benefit a provider raises should be framed as a goal a clinician may discuss with you, subject to individual evaluation — never as a promised result.

Supplement-grade, IV bar, and prescription injectable

Retail supplements: Oral capsules — usually the precursors NR or NMN rather than NAD+ itself — are sold as dietary supplements. No prescription is involved, no clinician evaluates you, and the FDA does not review these products for safety or effectiveness before they reach shelves. Manufacturing quality varies by company, and verifying it is on you.
IV bars and drip lounges: In-person infusion services sit somewhere in between. Some operate under genuine clinician oversight with a real intake; others function as retail with a nurse on site. The question to ask is not whether it is a clinic, but who evaluated you before the line went in, and what they reviewed.
Prescription compounded injectable: This route requires a licensed clinician to evaluate you and issue a prescription, and a licensed US 503A compounding pharmacy to prepare and dispense it. There is a named prescriber, a named pharmacy you can verify with a state board, and a record of the batch you received.

None of this makes supplements bad or injectables automatically better. It means you should know which one you are buying, and hold it to the standard that applies to it.

What a legitimate prescribing process looks like

If you are considering the prescription route, a real provider runs a real clinical process. Each step exists for a reason:

1
Medical intake. You share your health history, medications, and goals — the context a clinician needs before anything else happens.
2
Bloodwork. Labs establish your baseline. Without them there is nothing objective for a clinician to evaluate, or to compare against later.
3
Licensed clinician evaluation. A clinician licensed in your state reads your intake and labs together and decides whether therapy is appropriate for you.
4
Prescription at the clinician’s discretion. If — and only if — the clinician decides it is appropriate, they issue a prescription. Paying for an evaluation never guarantees one.
5
Licensed 503A pharmacy dispensing. A licensed US compounding pharmacy prepares and ships the medication, and you are told which pharmacy it was so you can verify its license.
6
Ongoing care. Follow-up labs, clinician check-ins, and a way to ask questions between visits. Care continues after the first shipment.

A provider missing one of these steps is asking you to accept less than the standard of care. Our guide to licensed clinics vs research-grade sellers covers that gap in more depth.

Seven questions to ask any NAD+ provider

These work on any provider, including us. Good ones answer all seven without flinching.

1
Which form of NAD+ are you actually selling me?
Ask plainly whether the product is an oral supplement, an in-person infusion service, or a prescription compounded injectable. The three sit under different rules, and a provider that blurs them in its marketing is hoping you won’t ask. The answer should be one sentence long.
2
Who evaluates me, and are they licensed in my state?
For anything prescription, a legitimate provider can name the type of clinician who reviews your case — physician, nurse practitioner, or physician associate — and confirm they hold a license where you live. Telehealth rules are state-by-state, so “our medical team” with no specifics is not an answer.
3
Do you require labs, and do you review my health history?
A questionnaire alone gives a clinician very little to work with. Ask what bloodwork is required, what a clinician looks at, and whether you can submit recent labs you already have. Ask too how your history is screened — the catalog entry for our NAD+ protocol lists pregnancy and an active cancer diagnosis among the situations where it is not appropriate, and screening only happens if someone is actually reading your intake.
4
Is a prescription guaranteed?
The correct answer is no. If everyone who pays gets a prescription, no real evaluation is happening — the consultation is paperwork wrapped around a sale. A provider that sometimes says no is a provider whose yes means something.
5
Which pharmacy fills it, and can I see testing for my batch?
Compounded injectable NAD+ should come from a licensed US 503A compounding pharmacy, and you should be told which one. Every state board of pharmacy runs a public license lookup, so a named pharmacy takes minutes to verify. Ask whether a lot-specific certificate of analysis is available for the batch you are dispensed.
6
What does the full price include?
Get the total monthly figure in writing: medication, clinician access, cold-chain shipping, and any membership or platform fee. Some providers advertise a low headline price and add consult fees, shipping, or mandatory add-ons at checkout. If the pricing page and the checkout page disagree, believe the checkout page.
7
What happens after the first shipment — and when I want to stop?
A prescription is the start of care, not the end of it. Ask how you reach a clinician with questions, whether follow-up labs are part of the plan, and how the protocol changes if your labs or symptoms change. Then ask about cancellation before you start: any fee, minimum commitment, or auto-renewal that is hard to switch off.

Red flags that should end the conversation

Prescription-strength language on a retail supplement
A capsule sold without a prescription is a dietary supplement, whatever the packaging implies. If a supplement page borrows clinical language — protocols, dosing charts, physician-formulated — read it as marketing.
An injectable in your cart with no clinician anywhere
If you can check out on injectable NAD+ without a licensed clinician ever reviewing your health history, you are not buying medical care. You are buying a vial.
“Research use only” labels on product sold to people
That label exists to sidestep prescription and pharmacy rules. Substances sold this way are not intended for human use, and no licensed clinician or pharmacy stands behind what is in the vial.
Anti-aging promises
NAD+ is a coenzyme with well-described biochemistry, and that is not the same as a promised result. Claims that it will reverse aging, restore youth, or rebuild your cells are past the evidence. Legitimate providers promise a fair evaluation, not an outcome.
A pharmacy no one will name
If a provider cannot or will not tell you which licensed pharmacy dispenses your medication, there is nothing you can verify about how it was made.
Dosing instructions published on a sales page
Dosing is a clinical decision your prescriber makes for you. A website publishing one-size-fits-all dosing is telling you no clinician is involved.

How Meto approaches each point

We built Meto around the process above, so the seven questions have short answers here. Licensed clinicians evaluate every patient, and prescriptions are always at their discretion — completing an intake does not guarantee one. Every protocol starts with bloodwork: the $149 one-time peptide readiness panel (or upload recent labs). Prescriptions are filled by licensed US 503A compounding pharmacies, and the dispensing pharmacy’s details arrive with your medication so you can verify its license with the state board of pharmacy. A lot-specific certificate of analysis is available for the batch you are dispensed — ask your care team.

On the first question: what we offer is the prescription route, not a supplement. NAD+ ($210–340/mo) is supplied as an injectable in a multi-dose vial with refrigerated shipping. It can also be added to the Comprehensive Support Stack as an optional paid add-on ($199/mo). Whether either fits — or whether neither does — is your clinician’s call after reviewing your labs and history. The catalog entry lists pregnancy and an active cancer diagnosis among the situations where it is not appropriate, and that screening happens during evaluation, not at checkout.

Pricing is two line items: the protocol, and a $29/mo membership covering quarterly clinician consults and unlimited care-team messaging. Cold-chain shipping is included, you can cancel anytime from your account with no cancellation fee, and protocols are HSA/FSA eligible. Every number is published on our pricing page, and the rest of the comparison library applies the same questions to other providers.

Compounded medications are prepared by licensed pharmacies based on a prescription and are not FDA-approved. Prescriptions are issued at a licensed clinician’s discretion after an individual evaluation — completing an intake does not guarantee a prescription. Patients receive the dispensing pharmacy’s details with their medication, which can be verified with the relevant state board of pharmacy.