Check the medicine
Know the medicine’s name
Keep the ingredient and product name together. Also note whether it comes as a tablet, an injection, or another form.
Product status as of September 26, 2026.
Begin with the full product name
FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, has given approval to specific semaglutide products called Ozempic and Wegovy, and specific tirzepatide products called Mounjaro and Zepbound. Approval belongs to specific products and uses.
Semaglutide has approved tablet and injection products. Ask which form is under discussion instead of relying on a familiar brand name.
The substance doing a medicine’s work is called its active ingredient. Write its name down along with the product name.
A pharmacy-made version is different
Compounded means made to order. Before sale, the finished mixture receives no FDA review for quality, safety, or effectiveness.
Generic status means the medicine was approved as a brand-name product's copy. A made-to-order mixture is not an approved generic. On September 26, 2026, no US-approved generic of semaglutide or tirzepatide could be sold.
Generic liraglutide products do exist, including some approved for weight loss. That approval does not apply to semaglutide, tirzepatide, or any other ingredient.
A research label does not mean FDA approval
FDA says federal law bars compounding retatrutide and cagrilintide. Neither forms part of an FDA-approved medicine.
A listing number in a government drug directory is not FDA approval either. A National Drug Code, shortened to NDC, cannot serve as proof of approval, FDA says.
Ask for the medicine's FDA approval record. If it has no approval, ask why it can be offered for your care. Keep that answer separate from the service's advertising.
Understand made-to-order medicine