Ask who prepares the medicine

Follow the medicine to its maker

FDA notes that a person using an online service may not know which compounder produced the medicine.

A compounder is the pharmacy or facility that prepares it. Find out who makes it and who handles the shipment; keep both names when they are different.

State boards of pharmacy hold the pharmacy licence records.

The state’s board of pharmacy handles pharmacy licensing.

Check more than a name

FDA advises against using an online pharmacy that is missing from your state’s searchable list of licensed pharmacies.

A licence record alone does not prove that the pharmacy supplies medicine properly.

Keep checking: does it require a prescription, and can you speak to its pharmacist? The section below explains how to ask.

When a pharmacy sends medicine to a patient across a state border, most states require it to obtain a licence or permit beforehand, as of September 26, 2026.

Ask which permission covers a shipment to you. Avoid treating a licence in the pharmacy’s home state as the whole answer.

If it is a larger batch facility

An outsourcing facility is a larger medicine maker that prepares batches, often for clinics and hospitals, and chooses to register with FDA.

It can make a batch without prescriptions naming each patient; a pharmacy preparing medicine for a specific patient needs a prescription for that person.

FDA publishes a list of these registered makers that you can search by name.

Being registered with FDA gives no approval to a facility or its drugs, as of September 26, 2026.

Ask who answers medicine questions

FDA’s checklist for online pharmacies calls for a pharmacist with a licence to be available to answer your questions.

Request a way to reach that person and a written explanation of what to do if the package or instructions differ from what was discussed.