If the medicine is made to order

What “compounded” means

Compounding means making or changing a medicine to order, rather than supplying the finished product from its drug maker.

As of September 26, 2026, compounded drugs had no approval from the Food and Drug Administration, known as FDA.

FDA does not review their quality, effectiveness or safety before they reach the market.

Compounding can meet a medical need an approved product cannot meet. That does not make a made-to-order product an approved generic.

The shortage explanation has changed

FDA declared the national semaglutide injection shortage resolved on February 21, 2025.

As of September 26, 2026, semaglutide injections remained off the national shortage list.

During a national shortage, the rules can allow pharmacies to make copies of approved medicines. With that shortage over, a pharmacy could no longer rely on it as a general reason to make semaglutide copies.

When a local pharmacy has no stock, that alone does not show that FDA has put the medicine on its national shortage list.

Ask about the need for this particular change

As of September 26, 2026, a regular compounding pharmacy could not repeatedly produce essentially copied versions of a medicine already sold, or produce unusually large amounts. The restriction is about repeated copying as well as quantity; it is not just a rule for factories.

A changed medicine for one named patient may be treated differently. The prescriber must judge the change to make a meaningful medical difference for that patient compared with the medicine already sold.

Costing less is not enough on its own to satisfy that requirement.

Adding a vitamin does not by itself settle the matter. FDA’s dated guidance says such a product may still count as a copy.

Reading for this question

• FDA’s dated compounding policy updates

  Read both the shortage update and the explanation of when a changed medicine still counts as a copy. An old advertisement about a shortage may no longer explain what a pharmacy can make.

• FDA explains compounding

  Explains the role of making medicine to order, including the absence of product approval.