Care briefing
Who makes and sends the medicine?
The care service, prescriber and pharmacy may have different names. Ask for the name that belongs to each part, then check the pharmacy record.
FDA is short for Food and Drug Administration, the US agency that reviews medicines.
What each pharmacy check tells you
Read sourcesState licence
What it answers
A state board of pharmacy is the authority that licenses pharmacies.
What remains open
A board record confirms a licence; it does not confirm that every medicine is handed out appropriately.
An outside standards check
What it answers
PCAB is a programme that checks whether compounding pharmacies follow standards for preparing medicine.
What remains open
This standards check does not test every batch of medicine or tell you how well patients do.
FDA registration
What it answers
As of September 2026, a site that mixes medicine in batches can choose the federal 503B registration route. It then must follow drug-factory quality rules and undergo FDA inspections.
What remains open
As of September 2026, registration does not give the facility or its products FDA approval.
Start by checking the pharmacy’s licence. A standards check concerns how medicine is made; FDA registration concerns the site’s legal duties. Neither gives your mixture FDA approval.
Use the public pharmacy record
The FDA links to state pharmacy searches through its BeSafeRx page.
BeSafeRx is the FDA’s information service about online pharmacies. Match the actual name you were given to the record in your state.
Most states, as of September 2026, require a pharmacy based elsewhere to have a licence or permit before it ships medicine into their state.
Ask which permission covers delivery to you. If the pharmacy name is missing or hard to match, get that question resolved first.
The label needs a real source
As of September 2026, the FDA has found false pharmacy details on labels for compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide.
Get the pharmacy name before the medicine arrives. Keep the name from the label too, so any mismatch can be checked.
Ask how questions reach a pharmacist
Can a pharmacist answer product questions?
The FDA lists access to a licensed pharmacist as a sign to look for in an online pharmacy.
Who handles a label or delivery problem?
Get a phone number or message address for both the pharmacy and the person who prescribes.
Sources for this briefing
Choose the source for your question. For a doctor’s licence, use the state licence search. For a medicine’s approval, ask to see the FDA approval and approved label for that exact product.
FDA · State pharmacy searches
Use the state record to check the actual pharmacy name.
Read the sourcePharmacy standards organisation · How medicine is prepared
ACHC, the organisation that runs PCAB, explains its check of how pharmacies prepare medicine. This is an outside standards check, not FDA approval.
Read the sourceFDA · Facility registration
The FDA explains the batch-compounding registration route.
Read the sourceFDA · False product labels
The FDA describes products carrying false pharmacy details.
Read the sourceFDA · Online pharmacy checks
The FDA includes access to a pharmacist among its signs of a legitimate pharmacy.
Read the source