Compounding
Compounding means a medicine is prepared to meet a need.
A doctor or pharmacist can prepare medicine by mixing or making it to order. The patient gets that preparation rather than a drug company’s finished product.
Find the reason for a preparation
It has a different review path
Some businesses register with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make batches of compounded medicines, often for hospitals and clinics. No compounded medicine had approval from the FDA on September 26, 2026, even if made at a licensed pharmacy. Compounded medicine goes on sale without the FDA first reviewing how well it is made, how well it works, or its possible harms.
- Compounding can be legal when approved medicine cannot meet someone’s health need, or when the approved product is not commercially available.
- A patient might, for example, need a dye removed because of an allergy, or need a swallowable form of the medicine.
- Ask what need in your care would call for compounding.
A cheaper copy is not the whole answer
Federal rules limit pharmacies regularly making copies of a ready-made medicine already on sale, as checked September 26, 2026. An exception can apply to medicine changed for you. Your prescriber must decide that this change makes a significant difference to your care. Saving money by itself is insufficient for this exception.
- Ask the prescriber: “What would you change in the medicine, and what health need would that change meet for me?”
- Get the preparing pharmacy’s name in the same conversation.
Generic is another term
For a generic medicine, approval follows FDA review of the proposed copy of a branded product. No approved generic tirzepatide was available in the United States on September 26, 2026.
- Ask for clarification if an offer calls a compounded product generic tirzepatide.
- Read the shortage page before relying on a shortage explanation.