Pharmacy-made medicine

Why make a medicine to order?

Compounding can meet needs such as a dye allergy or difficulty swallowing a tablet.

The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, advises using compounded drugs only when an approved option cannot meet the patient's medical needs.

Ask the person writing your prescription why you need a medicine made to order. Ask for the answer in plain words.

The rules have conditions

As of September 26, 2026, ordinary pharmacies that make medicine to order must follow legal rules about which ingredients they may use.

As of September 26, 2026, an ordinary pharmacy cannot keep making copies of a ready-made medicine unless a legal exception applies.

Your prescriber can decide that changing a medicine would make an important difference to you. A cheaper price by itself cannot meet that condition.

Ask what would be changed for you, such as a dye or how the medicine is taken. Ask your prescriber to name the rule that permits the pharmacy to make your medicine.

A shortage means a national listing

When a medicine is on the FDA's national shortage list, pharmacies may be allowed to make copies of it.

Injections of Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound were absent from the national shortage list, checked on September 26, 2026. Ozempic and Wegovy contain the medicine semaglutide. Tirzepatide is the medicine in Mounjaro and Zepbound.

A shortage at one pharmacy does not add that medicine to the national shortage list.