Treatments / Metabolic

Metabolic treatment in Costa Rica: cost, blood tests and how to start

Weight, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and the cardiovascular risk that travels with them. The area where the evidence is strongest and the change shows up soonest.

Colegio de Médicos y CirujanosLicensed pharmaciesReceta DigitalAll 7 provinces, by video

Most asked for

from $305per monthapprox. ₡152,500 per month

An assessment with a physician, by video
A seven-marker baseline panel at a laboratory near you
A prescription through Receta Digital, if treatment is right for you
A repeat panel at three months, then once a year

Measure my biomarkers No payment is taken to book, and we never reply with a prescription.

What it looks at

Metabolic: what this programme is for

Weight that will not shift

When diet and exercise have stopped moving the number, the reason is usually in the blood, not in your willpower.

Insulin resistance and pre-diabetes

HbA1c and fasting glucose show where you are in the window, and whether it is closing.

Blood fats and blood pressure

The cardiovascular risk that travels with weight, measured rather than assumed.

Your liver

Liver enzymes are tracked, because fat in the liver is common, silent and reversible.

How it works

Four steps

Nothing is prescribed before your blood has been drawn and read. We take no margin on your laboratory tests.

1
Pre-qualification

A short questionnaire. Free, no appointment, no clinician. It tells us what to measure, and it rules out anyone this would not be safe for. Not everyone goes further, and that is the point.
2
Bloodwork (if applicable)

Everyone is assessed on blood: the seven baseline markers, plus whatever your answers call for. What varies is only whether you need a fresh draw, or recent results of your own will do.
3
Expert plan

A molecular biologist reads your panel; a physician decides whether medicine is right at all. Either answer comes with a plan — medicine, or nutrition alone. Nobody leaves with nothing.
4
Continued monitoring

Someone stays with you. A repeat panel at three months, then once a year — re-measuring what moved rather than everything, with shorter check-ins in between so nothing drifts unnoticed.

Pricing

Metabolic: what it costs

from $305 per month — the medicine and the clinic fee together. The assessment and the laboratory panel are paid once at the start, and the laboratory is paid directly.

Metabolic

from $305per monthapprox. ₡152,500 per month

Medicine $180Clinic fee $125

Everyone starts here

The Clinic Fee

The same for every patient, whatever your plan.

Initial assessment, 30 minutes$125₡62,500

Monitoring, and your doctor two to three times a year$125/mo₡62,500

Baseline panel, seven markersfrom $219₡109,300

Repeat panel, three markersfrom $106₡53,000

Sometimes the answer is no medicine.The fee buys the assessment and the reading of your results, not a prescription. If your panel says treatment is not right for you, your doctor will say so — and we would rather tell you that here than after you have paid.

Laboratory figures are the Colegio de Microbiólogos minimum tariff, which is the legal floor in Costa Rica; your laboratory may charge above it, and anything your doctor adds for your own case is extra. Colon figures are converted at ₡500 to the dollar on 22 October 2026, and the rate moves. Package prices are indicative and include the clinic fee above. Medicines are dispensed by a licensed pharmacy and paid for there. Laboratory fees are paid to the laboratory.

The medicine

What your doctor may prescribe

Semaglutide — a peptideYour gut already makes a hormone that tells your brain you have eaten. Semaglutide is a copy of it that lasts longer, so you feel full on less.

PrescribedSemaglutide, once a week. Tirzepatide where your doctor prefers it, nearer $362 a month.

TrackedHbA1c, fasting glucose, lipids, liver enzymes, kidney function, blood pressure

ReviewedFirst review at three months, then once a year.

Your dose

How the dose is decided

On your results, not on a chart. Your doctor sets it after reading your panel and your history with you.
Adjusted on repeat testing. The three-month panel shows what moved, and the plan follows it.
Sometimes the answer is no medicine. If your results say treatment is not right for you, your doctor will say so.

Who reads your results

A physician and a molecular biologist

A panel is only worth what the person reading it knows. These are the people who would read yours.

Dr. Luis Chacón

Prescribing physician

A Costa Rican physician in general practice, with a year of clinical training through the CCSS across primary care, hospital and ambulatory settings. He works daily with chronic pain, sleep disorders and inflammatory conditions, taking an evidence-based approach, and prescribes on what he finds rather than on what is asked for.

M.D., Universidad de Ciencias Médicas (UCIMED)
MED18961 — Colegio de Médicos y Cirujanos de Costa Rica

Laura Flanagan

Biomarkers

Over thirty years in scientific research as a molecular biologist, now working in functional nutrition. She specialises in functional blood chemistry analysis — reading a panel for the subclinical drift that sits inside the reference range and gets reported as normal. That is the part of this clinic most people underestimate.

B.S., M.S. · Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor, Functional Nutrition Alliance
Member, National Association of Drugless Practitioners

Every prescription is written by a physician registered with the Colegio de Médicos y Cirujanos de Costa Rica, after an individual assessment, and dispensed by a licensed pharmacy.

Questions

Metabolic: common questions

How much does it cost per month?

from $305 per month, which is about ₡152,500 per month. That is the medicine and the clinic fee together. The initial assessment and the laboratory panel are separate, and are set out above.

Do I need blood work first?

Yes. Nothing is prescribed before your blood has been drawn and read. If you have recent results of your own, they may do instead of a fresh draw.

What if my results say medicine is not right for me?

Then your doctor will say so, and you still leave with a plan. The fee buys the assessment and the reading of your results, not a prescription.

Is it covered by insurance?

Usually not. Laboratory fees are paid to the laboratory and medicines at the pharmacy, so you can see every part of what you pay.

Is tirzepatide available instead of semaglutide?

Yes, where your doctor prefers it for you. It costs more, nearer $362 a month, and the choice is made on your results, not on a website.

What happens if I stop?

For most people the weight drifts back when treatment stops, which is why the plan covers what comes after the medicine as well as the medicine itself. What happens when GLP-1 treatment stops explains it.

Is this the weight-loss injection the Ministry of Health warned about?

The Ministry of Health warned in October 2025 about these medicines being sold without a physician, without an assessment, or by places not authorised to give them. This is the opposite: a physician prescribes only after an individual assessment and blood work, and a licensed pharmacy dispenses. What the warning says.

Measure it rather than guess

Every patient starts the same way: an assessment with a physician, then a full biomarker panel drawn at a laboratory near you. Whether any medicine follows is your doctor’s decision, made after reading your results with you.

Measure my biomarkers

Men’s hormones Women’s hormones Growth and recovery Metformin Cardiovascular

This page is information about a medical service. It is not medical advice, and nothing on it recommends or promotes any specific medicine. Treatment is prescribed only by a licensed physician after an individual assessment, and only where clinically appropriate.