Trace the pharmacy before you pay
A compounder makes medicine to order.
FDA, the U.S. drug agency, warns that an online-care user may be left unaware of the drug’s compounder and the oversight that applies to it.
Ask for the pharmacy’s full name and which business sends the package. Keep those names with your care notes.
Check the state record
A state’s pharmacy board keeps pharmacy licence records. These are separate from a doctor’s medical-board record.
FDA’s pharmacy search page links to each state’s official list. FDA says to choose your state and avoid a pharmacy missing from that list.
Open that search from the source page and look for the name you were given.
Check where it can send medicine
The September 2026 check found that a pharmacy shipping from another state needs a licence or permit from the receiving state in most states.
Ask the pharmacy which record covers delivery to your state. Ask the board to explain an entry that is hard to read.
Look beyond the badge
FDA’s position checked in September 2026 is that a “registered” business has no FDA approval for itself or its medicines merely because it registered.
A pharmacy badge called PCAB means an outside group checked how the pharmacy makes medicine against national quality rules. That check is separate from a licence. It does not test each group of medicines made together.
Start with the public licence record, then ask what any extra badge actually covers.
Know how to reach a pharmacist
FDA’s guidance for online pharmacies asks for clear contact details and access to a pharmacist with a licence to answer questions.
FDA also warns that a convincing web storefront can be fake, so appearance alone cannot settle the check.