Approval belongs to a specific medicine
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the US agency responsible for drugs.
As of September 26, 2026, FDA had approved products with these ingredients: semaglutide in Ozempic and Wegovy; tirzepatide in Mounjaro and Zepbound.
That does not approve every use or every version offered online.
What is this exact product approved to treat?
A prescription does not settle the compounding rules
Compounding is the preparation of a medicine by a pharmacist or doctor for a patient’s needs.
Federal law has separate rules for medicine made for a named patient with a prescription and for medicine made in batches by a facility registered with FDA, as of September 26, 2026.
Registered means the facility appears in FDA’s records; that entry is no sign of FDA approval for the facility or its medicines.
For the named-patient route, a licensed pharmacist or doctor must prepare the medicine, and that patient must have a valid prescription.
That route also has rules about which ingredients may be used and when copies of available medicines may be made.
The prepared medicine itself has no FDA approval.
FDA says compounding may have a place when no approved medicine can meet a person’s medical need.
Who is making this medicine, which rules apply, and why is this version needed for me?
The shortage story has changed
Neither semaglutide nor tirzepatide injections appeared on FDA’s national shortage list on September 26, 2026.
A local pharmacy having no stock does not mean a medicine is on the national shortage list.
Federal rules limit routine compounding of copies of medicines already available.
For the named-patient route, the prescriber is the person who writes the prescription. That person can judge whether a change in the medicine makes a difference that matters for the individual patient.
A dye allergy, for instance, may mean a patient needs a version of the medicine without that dye.
A lower price alone is not the medical difference that allows this exception to the copying rule.
What difference matters for me, and where is the reason written down?
Some names need a firm boundary
As of September 26, 2026, FDA’s database contained no approved US medicine with BPC-157 or ipamorelin.
The lack of FDA approval does not, by itself, tell you whether BPC-157 or ipamorelin may legally be made by compounding.
Which compounding rule allows this ingredient, and what is known about its benefits and harms?
As of September 26, 2026, retatrutide has no FDA approval; according to FDA, federal law bars its use in compounding.
These are peptide or drug names; ask for the full name rather than a loose label such as a blend.
Keep this thought
Ask the prescriber to explain the exact product’s status and the reason for using it. Keep the answer with the product name.
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