Compounding means making a medicine to a specific order. A doctor or pharmacist makes it instead of using a ready-made drug product.
Can it have a real purpose?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says compounding may meet a medical need left unmet by an approved product, as of September 2026.
For example, the need may involve an ingredient such as a dye that a patient cannot tolerate.
Who has reviewed the finished medicine?
FDA has not approved medicines prepared to order, as of September 2026. Before sale, FDA does not review these medicines for safety, how well they work or how well they are made, as of September 2026.
For these medicine makers, “FDA registered” means the business chose to put its name on FDA’s list, as of September 2026. That listing is not FDA approval of the business or its medicines, as of September 2026.
A past shortage is not the answer now.
Neither semaglutide nor tirzepatide is on FDA’s national shortage list, as of September 2026.
A pharmacy’s empty shelf is not that national listing, as of September 2026.
An ordinary pharmacy cannot regularly make a copy of a ready-made medicine that is available, as of September 2026. An exception is a change that the person writing your prescription finds makes a significant difference for you, as of September 2026.
Paying less does not qualify as that significant difference, as of September 2026.
Ask what is being changed, why that change matters for your medical need and which current rule allows it. A broad answer about what pharmacies once did is not a personal explanation.