The prescription checklist
Know exactly what is being prescribed.
The ingredient name alone leaves a lot unanswered. Ask what the product is called, what form it comes in and whether a pharmacy will make it to order.
A checklist before accepting the plan.
Get the product and its form in writing.
The FDA reviews medicines in the US; the initials refer to the Food and Drug Administration.
On September 26, 2026, semaglutide products sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus had FDA approval and came as injections or tablets.
Ask for the product’s name, its maker and the health condition it is intended to treat.
Separate approved medicine from a compound.
Compounding means a doctor or pharmacist makes medicine to fill an order, instead of dispensing a product made in advance.
Compounded medicine was not FDA-approved on September 26, 2026; before patients receive each product, the agency does not review its safety, quality or effect.
Ask why a compound is needed for your care.
Semaglutide injections were off the national shortage list on September 26, 2026.
Here, a copy is a version of a medicine already on the market, prepared to order.
As of that date, the law limited how often a regular pharmacy could make copies of approved medicines that were available.
A change for one named patient can fall outside the copy limit.
The person prescribing it must decide that the change leads to an important difference in that patient’s medical care.
Ask: What has been changed? Why does that change matter to my care? Why would the ready-made medicine not meet that need?
Price savings by themselves do not qualify for this exception.
Some semaglutide compounds have vitamin B12 added to them.
The FDA says that adding this vitamin does not automatically take the medicine outside the copy limits.
Ask what medical need the extra ingredient meets in your case.
Check claims about generic or salt forms.
A generic medicine copies a brand-name product and receives FDA approval of its own.
No generic semaglutide had final US sale approval on September 26, 2026.
The term salt form means a chemically different version of an ingredient.
As of September 26, 2026, the FDA described semaglutide sodium and semaglutide acetate as salt forms different from the approved ingredient.
It knew of no lawful basis to use those salts in compounding.
Ask the pharmacist to identify the ingredient clearly.
Source note
The rules restrict copies; they do not make every patient-specific compound unlawful. A compound is also not an approved generic.
Read the FDA’s dated compounding policyRead the FDA’s concerns about semaglutide copies