Check what a treatment claim really shows
With compounded medicine, a pharmacist or doctor prepares the product around a patient's needs.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a US agency, handles medicine reviews.
As of September 2026, the FDA says describing a compounded drug as proven to match an approved drug's results is misleading.
Ask whether the evidence describes that exact product and the use proposed for you.
A drug code does not mean approval
Having a National Drug Code, called an NDC, is no evidence of product approval, the FDA states as of September 2026.
In the FDA's online drug list, an NDC serves as a product's identifying code.
FDA registration means a medicine-making business is recorded with the agency.
Drug listing means a product is recorded on the agency's drug list.
Neither the business nor its medicines received FDA approval from these records, as of September 2026.
Neither record, by itself, allowed a drug to be legally sold.
If someone shows a badge, ask what it stands for. Ask for the exact medicine's approval record.
A reported problem is not proof of cause
A medicine's role in causing a problem is not proved just because the problem was reported, the FDA says.
Reports also cannot tell us how often a problem happens.
Ask what a result actually shows. Leave room for uncertainty rather than turning a report into a promise or a prediction.
Advice and a change in law are different
The FDA's list names extra raw ingredients allowed for medicines made to order for named patients.
An ingredient may also qualify through other rules, such as being part of an approved medicine.
The list does not give approval to a finished medicine.
A group advising the FDA is known as an advisory committee.
As of September 2026, a vote by that group did not change the ingredient list or the law.
To change the list, the FDA must make a formal rule and let the public comment on it.
Look for the date and the exact decision. Ask whether a story describes a proposal, an opinion or a rule that has taken effect.
- Does this source cover the medicine and use being proposed?
- Who published it, and what did they actually check?
- Is the date clear?
- What limits does the source give?