Ask for more than the ingredient name
Request the medicine’s exact name, whether it is a shot, pill, or another type, and which pharmacy supplies it.
Ask if the product has FDA approval or is made by compounding. A compounded medicine is mixed or prepared for a patient by a pharmacist or doctor.
U.S. rules and medicine status · As of September 2026
FDA is the Food and Drug Administration. Before supply, it does not review a compounded medicine for safety, how well it works, or how well it is made.
A business can register with FDA as a place that makes compounded medicines. Being on that register does not mean FDA has approved its medicines.
Semaglutide is used in Ozempic products for diabetes and Wegovy products for weight loss. Tirzepatide is used in Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss.
A generic medicine is a brand medicine’s approved copy. FDA says compounded medicines must not be described as generics.
In September 2026, U.S. rules allow no generic version of semaglutide or tirzepatide to be sold.
A prescriber is the doctor or other health professional who can write a prescription, the order for your medicine. Ask what studies show about this exact medicine for the use being proposed.
If the medicine is made to order
In compounding, a pharmacist or doctor mixes ingredients for a patient’s medicine. The result is prepared for that patient instead of supplied ready-made by a drug company.
FDA recognises a place for compounding when an approved medicine cannot meet a patient’s medical need.
Ask what need is being addressed, what change is being made, and why an approved product cannot meet that need.
Federal law limits making near-copies of ready-made medicines regularly or in large amounts.
For an ordinary pharmacy making medicine for one named patient, the copy rule has an exception. The prescriber must decide that a specific change makes an important difference for that patient. Price savings alone do not qualify for that exception.
As checked in September 2026, FDA lists neither semaglutide injection nor tirzepatide on its drug shortage list.
If your local pharmacy is out of stock, that alone does not create the national shortage exception for copying a medicine.
Adding a vitamin does not by itself mean the pharmacy may make a copy under FDA’s rules.
Ask the prescriber and pharmacist: what is different about this medicine, why does that change matter for me, and why may this pharmacy make it under the rules?
Check the name behind the label
Get the name
FDA notes that an online service’s patients may be unsure which business prepared their compounded medicine.
Ask before agreeing to the plan. Save the full pharmacy name and the state where it operates.
Open the state record
FDA’s pharmacy lookup page links to state licence searches.
If an online pharmacy does not appear in your state’s licence database, FDA advises you to avoid using it.
Check the exact name and the licence’s current status. If a name does not match, ask the board to clarify.
Keep the limit in mind
The licence record tells you if the pharmacy holds a licence. It does not tell you whether every medicine it supplies is suitable.
Most states require a pharmacy in another state to have permission from your state before sending medicine to you.
Ask the pharmacy which permission covers delivery to your state.