Check a compounded GLP-1 pharmacy before you buy

Start with the name on the label, not the price

FDA's page on unapproved GLP-1 drugs says compounded drugs are not FDA-approved and that a patient should get a prescription and fill it at a state-licensed pharmacy. It also says to contact the compounder, or the telehealth platform that sold the drug, with questions about the instructions or the label. The practical first fact is the pharmacy name and address on the label you would receive. A monthly price does not contain that name.

BioPharma Dive reported on 22 October 2026 that Apothecary Pharma issued a voluntary recall of compounded tirzepatide, that the firm notified FDA in September, and that the notice covers 22 lots with beyond-use dates from 8 October to 26 November. The openFDA file opened the next day is more specific. Event 99952 is ongoing and Class II. Recall D-0036-2027 is tirzepatide injection 18 mg/mL in a 4 mL sterile multi-dose vial, product quantity 22 vials, for lack of assurance of sterility. The firm initiated it on 24 September 2026. FDA's report date is 14 October 2026. The code_info field lists 22 lot numbers and does not include AP-202626. The full lot list, and the separate Carolina Infusion event, are on the recall note. This page does not reprint them. openFDA says not to rely on its API for a medical-care decision.

A compounded GLP-1 is compounded (not FDA-approved). Matching a lot tells you whether that label is on a published recall list. It does not clear every other vial from the same firm.

How to search an FDA enforcement report

FDA's Enforcement Reports page says recall data is available in the weekly report, in quick and advanced search, and through an API. A recall can appear before FDA finishes the hazard classification, and a firm may already have notified customers. The search this page used was the openFDA drug-enforcement API, once for event 99952 and once for the recalling firm Houston Rx.

The Houston Rx search returned no matches on 23 October 2026. The public enforcement index at accessdata.fda.gov returned HTTP 503 the same day, so this check could not re-read that index. The news note is the record of the earlier read of event 99990. Use the pharmacy name from your own label in the search box or the API, then read the product, the lot, and the status. A search that returns nothing is not a promise that no recall exists. It is the result of that query on that day.

503B list versus a state-licensed pharmacy

FDA's compounding questions page draws the operational line. A facility that registers as an outsourcing facility under section 503B is primarily overseen by FDA, and drugs compounded there are subject to current good manufacturing practice. A drug compounded by a licensed pharmacist in a state-licensed pharmacy under section 503A is not subject to CGMP. State boards of pharmacy generally have day-to-day oversight of state-licensed pharmacies that are not registered as outsourcing facilities. A pharmacy that is only state-licensed will not show up as a 503B row. Absence from the 503B list is the prompt to ask the state board, not a finding that the pharmacy is unlicensed.

The registered-outsourcing-facility table, updated as of 22 October 2026, included Apothecary Pharma, LLC, of Cary, North Carolina, when the file was downloaded on 23 October 2026. The row says the last inspection was 2 September 2026, a Form 483 was issued, the action is Open, and the facility said it intends to compound sterile drugs from bulk substances. FDA's note says that bulk-substance answer was supplied by the facility and has not been verified by FDA. The Recall Conducted column says No. FDA's note 9 says that column reflects inspectional findings, including a recall the firm started after talking with an investigator or a recall FDA recommended at the end of an inspection. It is not a substitute for the enforcement report. The openFDA recall and the No in that column are both on the record. Houston Rx and Carolina Infusion do not appear as facility names on the 99-row table. Note 4 says the table leaves out state board actions and tells the reader to check the board of pharmacy in the facility's state.

Registration on the 503B list is not FDA approval of a compounded GLP-1, and it is not evidence that a particular vial is outside a recall.

Questions to ask before you pay

FDA's concerns page lists warning signs for a telehealth seller: a claim that the compounded drug is the same as an FDA-approved drug, a price that seems too good to be true, medicine that looks different from what was pictured or that arrives damaged or without instructions, no screening and prescription by a licensed doctor, no licensed doctor available to answer questions after the medicine arrives, spelling errors on the label, a wrong pharmacy address, or a pharmacy name that might be fraudulent. The same page says FDA knows of fraudulent compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide labels. In some cases the pharmacy named on the label does not exist. In others, a licensed pharmacy's name was used for a product that pharmacy did not compound. FDA describes one adverse-event report tied to a tirzepatide label from a pharmacy that did not compound the product.

The questions that follow are the ones those pages support. Ask which pharmacy will fill the prescription, including the name and address that will be printed on the label. Ask whether that pharmacy is on the 503B outsourcing list or is a state-licensed pharmacy that is not an outsourcing facility, and which state board to call. Ask for the active ingredient and whether the product is compounded (not FDA-approved). Ask who answers a question about the instructions after the package arrives. FDA also says to discard a multi-dose sterile vial within 28 days after the first use, even if the compounder's instructions say it can be used longer, and not to use an injectable GLP-1 that arrives warm. Those are label and shipping checks, not a dose chart. The legal status of compounding after the shortages, and the formulation questions about salts and additives, are on the two notes linked below. This page does not restate them.

• What pharmacy name and address will be on the label?
• Is that name on FDA's 503B outsourcing list, updated as of the current table, or is it a state-licensed pharmacy that is not on that list?
• Which state board of pharmacy can confirm the license?
• Is the product compounded (not FDA-approved), and what active ingredient is on the label?
• Who answers a question about the instructions after the package ships?