In brief
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) handles the review of medicines.
Ask who makes the medicine and which pharmacy supplies it to you. Get each name in writing before checking records.
FDA notes that an online service’s users may be unaware of the actual maker of their compounded medicine.
A compounded medicine is made for a particular order instead of being supplied as the manufacturer’s finished drug.
Look up the pharmacy
Pharmacy boards keep separate licence records from medical boards.
FDA’s pharmacy-check page links readers to their state’s licence search.
The September 26, 2026 review found that, in most states, a pharmacy shipping from another state needed permission from the destination state before sending medicine.
Match the pharmacy name in the answer with the name in the record. Ask about any mismatch rather than filling in the gap yourself.
What a listing proves
A pharmacy licence record shows that a licence exists. It does not tell you whether supplying this medicine to you is appropriate.
A 503B outsourcing facility is a maker registered with FDA to prepare sterile medicines in batches, often for hospitals and clinics; sterile means free of living germs.
Ask whether your medicine’s maker is registered under 503B. If it is, use the FDA list in the source file to look up that exact name.
In that list checked on September 17, 2026, some registered batch makers were marked as not yet inspected.
The FDA list left out any steps a state pharmacy board had taken against a maker. Check the state board’s own record as well for licence restrictions or penalties.
Read a badge literally
As of September 26, 2026, FDA registration or drug listing did not mean approval of a business or its product.
Accreditation is an outside check against standards; it is separate from a licence.
Ask what a badge covers, who issued it and where its record can be checked. Keep that answer beside the pharmacy’s licence details.