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Care explained, one question at a time.

Use this guide to explore care choices; it is not a clinic.

Pharmacy check

How to check the pharmacy

Get the pharmacy’s actual name. A name used by an online service is not enough to identify who made a proposed medicine.

  1. Identify who prepares and who supplies it.

    A drug prepared to order is called a compounded drug.

    The US drug-review agency is FDA, which stands for Food and Drug Administration.

    People getting compounded drugs online may be unable to identify their compounder, according to FDA. FDA sourcing concern

    The maker of that custom medicine is the compounder: a pharmacy, a doctor or a facility.

    Ask who makes the medicine and which pharmacy hands it to you or sends it. Get both names if they differ.

  2. Use the state’s own record.

    Pharmacy licences are handled by state pharmacy boards.

    FDA’s licence-search page links to the state records. Find the state pharmacy record

    Match the name you were given. A listing establishes a licence, not appropriate use of every product.

  3. Check permission to ship into your state.

    Most states also require a pharmacy elsewhere to hold a receiving-state licence or permit (September 2026 record). FDA pharmacy guidance

    Ask your state board about the named pharmacy if the record is hard to interpret.

  4. Read badges with care.

    Under the September 2026 rule, registering with FDA grants no approval to a facility or to the drugs it makes. Federal registration rule

    An outside quality check, called accreditation, is also different from a licence. Accreditation and licensing

  5. Pause when basic checks are missing.

    FDA’s pharmacy warning signs include skipping the prescription or having no licensed pharmacist available for questions. FDA pharmacy checklist

    FDA cautions that a polished storefront can still hide an unsafe online pharmacy.

    Use the state record as well as the website. Ask who can answer a medicine question before paying.

  6. Check whether the ingredient is allowed.

    The September 2026 record says taking back the request did not let pharmacies use BPC-157 to make medicine for individual patients. FDA ingredient framework

    It had no official written quality standard for the raw ingredient, was not part of an approved drug and was absent from the permitted ingredient list.

    A licence does not settle which ingredients a pharmacy may use. Ask the pharmacy which rule would allow it to make the proposed medicine.