The medicine’s preparation
Compounding describes how a preparation is made.
The word needs a reason for your care beside it.
- Compounding
To compound is to make a drug preparation in place of a ready-made approved product.
A pharmacist or doctor with a licence can make it.
- Outsourcing facility
These makers produce sterile medicines in batches and choose to join a register kept by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Sterile means there are no living germs in it.
There can be a patient-specific reason.
Compounding can be lawful if the rules for that preparation are met; this federal position was checked September 26, 2026.
FDA says compounding can have a role if approved drugs leave a patient’s medical need unmet or are not commercially available.
For an offer you are weighing, ask the prescriber to explain the specific need and the approved options discussed.
What FDA has not reviewed
What FDA has not reviewed
FDA does not check how well a compounded drug works, how safely it can be used or its quality before marketing.
Federal compounding status recorded September 26, 2026.
Keep the pharmacy name in the plan.
Ask who will make the preparation and who will answer questions about its label. Write down the pharmacy name separately from the care service’s name.
Washington adds pharmacy standards.
Washington pharmacies that make compounded medicines must meet national medicine-quality rules called USP standards.
USP stands for United States Pharmacopeia, the group that sets these quality rules.
The Washington rule was checked for the library on September 30, 2026.
Those standards include sterile preparations such as injections.
Washington compounding standards rulePermission to make a copy is a separate issue.
“Why a compounded preparation for me?” and “What permits this product to be compounded?” are different questions. Keep both in the conversation.
Read the shortage and copy termsKeep reading
Shortages and compounded copies