Words in a compounding offer

A national shortage listing has a specific role.

A pharmacy being out of stock does not settle the question.

The shortage term refers to a national record.

A national drug-shortage list is kept by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); a gap in local stock is separate.

A listing can allow some compounded copies under rules for shortages.

These national shortage rules were checked on September 26, 2026.

Essentially a copy

Here, a copy means a preparation much like an available approved drug.

Federal law bars making such copies often or in large amounts, with limited exceptions.

Significant difference

The person prescribing must judge that a change to an available drug matters for that particular patient’s care.

Price alone cannot supply that reason.

Copy rules recorded September 26, 2026.

What a vitamin addition establishes

Semaglutide with a vitamin added may still count as a copy, FDA says.

The exception depends on a change that matters for a named patient’s care. The person prescribing must write down that reason; adding a vitamin alone does not meet the exception. This explanation of the copy rule was checked on September 26, 2026.

FDA clarification for compounders

The named medicine changes the answer.

An outsourcing facility registers with FDA to produce medicines in batches. It makes sterile medicines, which contain no living germs.

The shortage records checked September 26, 2026 listed no shortage of either tirzepatide injections or semaglutide injections. Neither drug was on FDA’s list of raw ingredients allowed for outsourcing facilities, either.

A raw ingredient is a starting material used to make the medicine.

For these facilities, federal law generally requires a raw drug ingredient to be on that list or meet a shortage exception.

Without either listing, ask what permits the facility to use that raw ingredient for the medicine offered to you.

A claim about a past shortage leaves that question unanswered.

Read FDA’s dated policy updates

A written explanation is more useful than a slogan.

Which approved product are you comparing this with?
What difference does the prescriber identify for my care?
Which pharmacy will prepare it?
What source and date support the compounding explanation?

Keep price and product status separate

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The whole cost