Ask why a made-to-order product is being offered.

What to check

• Ask what “compounded” means here.

  Compounded medicine is made or mixed to order. It differs from a ready-made product with approval.

  As of September 26, 2026, the FDA, the U.S. agency that reviews medicines, has not approved compounded medicines or checked their safety, quality, and results before sale.

• Ask who makes it and which rules they use.

  Under the rules known as 503A, an ordinary pharmacy prepares a prescribed medicine for an individual patient named on the prescription.

  An outsourcing facility follows the rules known as 503B to make medicine batches that are sterile, meaning free of living germs.

  Ask which kind makes your medicine. These numbers name two parts of the federal law; the rules for them differ.

• Ask how the current shortage affects the offer.

  As of September 26, 2026, liraglutide injection remains on FDA’s national shortage list; that listing can allow versions mixed to order under the shortage rules.

  For a 503B facility using that route, the drug must be on the shortage list when the medicine is made, distributed, and handed over.

  Ask: Are you relying on the national shortage? How did you check the listing for this order? What happens if the shortage ends?

• Ask about the other required checks.

  For a 503A pharmacy, an ingredient must meet any official quality standard that exists for it.

  Without such a standard, the ingredient must either be used in an approved drug or be listed by FDA as allowed.

  It also needs a report verifying its contents and a maker registered with FDA.

  A 503B facility must follow the manufacturing quality rules used by drug factories and is inspected by FDA.

  Ask the pharmacy which other federal and state rules apply to this product and how it meets them. The shortage listing alone cannot answer every check.

• Keep a proposal separate from today’s shortage record.

  As of September 26, 2026, FDA has proposed leaving liraglutide off a separate ingredient list for 503B facilities. It has not made a final decision.

  This list covers raw medicine ingredients, the starting materials mixed into a medicine, that these facilities may use for a medical need.

  Leaving liraglutide off that list would prevent a facility from relying on that list to use the ingredient.

  The route for a drug on the national shortage list is separate from that ingredient-list route.

  The proposal concerns larger 503B facilities. Ask which route the maker of your medicine relies on. A proposal and a current shortage record do not prove that a particular offer follows every rule.