The assumption to check
Does an old shortage explain an offer today?
A clearer starting point
Ask whether there is still a national shortage and why this medicine fits your needs.
Get the medicine name first
Made to order is called compounded: prepared instead of supplied as a finished factory drug.
GLP-1 is the name used for a group of medicines that help with blood sugar or weight care.
Ask for the exact medicine and finished product.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates drugs in the US.
Semaglutide and tirzepatide have uses in weight loss and type 2 diabetes care. FDA-approved products include Ozempic and Wegovy for semaglutide, and Mounjaro and Zepbound for tirzepatide (checked September 2026).
A discussion about an ingredient is not yet a discussion about the exact product.
National shortage and local stock differ
A single pharmacy running out of medicine is not enough to allow copying because of a shortage. That permission depends on the medicine being on the FDA’s national shortage list (checked September 2026).
Semaglutide injections and tirzepatide were off the FDA shortage list in the September 2026 check.
Ask for a dated explanation if a page relies on a shortage.
Adding a vitamin does not settle the copy question
As of September 2026, FDA policy says a semaglutide preparation with an added vitamin can still count as essentially a copy of an available approved product.
Federal law limits regularly making a copy of a medicine already sold. For a named patient’s medicine, the prescriber must decide that the change will make a difference that is important for that patient. A price saving cannot be the difference that qualifies (checked September 2026).
The FDA says the prescriber must write down the change and why it matters for that patient (checked September 2026).
Ask what the change is and why it matters for you. A note saying “custom” is not an explanation of that difference.
The medicine must still meet the other compounding rules.
Some ingredients have a clearer federal answer
As of September 2026, the FDA says federal law bars compounding with retatrutide or cagrilintide.
Keep the approval, compounding, and price questions separate. An attractive price does not answer a product-status question.