What is an ordinary compounding pharmacy?
As of September 2026, the patient-specific route is known as 503A, after its section of federal law.
A licensed pharmacy usually makes it for a named patient who has a valid prescription. The pharmacy must also meet the other legal requirements for that medicine.
A prescription is an order for your medicine, written by a doctor or other health professional legally permitted to prescribe it.
What is a larger making facility?
The FDA, short for Food and Drug Administration, is the US agency that oversees medicines. As of September 2026, larger makers registered with the FDA can prepare batches of custom medicine, often for clinics and hospitals. The legal name is a 503B outsourcing facility: a place that makes medicine for others. Unlike the usual pharmacy order, a batch does not require prescriptions that identify each patient by name. These makers prepare sterile medicine, which means medicine free of living germs.
These facilities follow federal factory-quality rules and receive Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections on a schedule based on risk.
Registration still does not give their custom drugs FDA approval.
How can I check that name?
Start with the state pharmacy board’s records. The FDA also lists the larger registered makers described above.
Most states, as of September 2026, require an out-of-state pharmacy to obtain permission to ship medicine into the state where you receive it.
The exact rule comes from that state’s board.