QUESTION BRIEF · PHARMACY CHECK
How do I check the pharmacy?
MYTH.If the website looks credible, the pharmacy behind it must be credible too.
FACT.The pharmacy is a separate link in the chain. Get its full name, then check the public record that fits its role.
Start with the name on the label
The FDA reports fraudulent semaglutide carrying the name of a pharmacy that was not real, or of one that never made it.
Ask which pharmacy will make up or send the medicine before you pay. Later, compare that answer with the label.
Check the state licence
State boards of pharmacy hold the authoritative pharmacy-licence records, and the FDA provides a page linking to each state search.
As of September 2026, most states also required a pharmacy in another state to hold a licence or permit from your own state before it could post medicine to you. It is often called a non-resident pharmacy licence.
Match the exact legal name and location. A similar name is not the same record.
If the maker is a larger drug-mixing plant
Some pharmacy-mixed medicine comes from a larger plant that makes batches for clinics and hospitals. The law calls it a 503B outsourcing facility, and the FDA keeps a public list of the registered ones.
As of September 2026, being “FDA registered” did not mean “FDA approved.” Federal rules say that suggesting it does is misleading.
Accreditation means a private organization has checked that a business follows a set of standards. It can tell you something about how the pharmacy works, but it is not a licence and not FDA approval.
ANNOTATED READING LIST
Evidence, with a note on why it belongs
- FDA state-licensed online pharmacy finder.This is the shortest route from the FDA to a state pharmacy-licence search.
- FDA registered outsourcing facilities.Use this only when the maker says it is a 503B outsourcing facility.
- Federal rule: registration is not approval.The regulation states exactly what federal registration does not mean.