Check the people
Find out who makes the medicine.
The service name is only a starting point. Get the name of the pharmacy preparing the product and the name of its sender.
Ask for the pharmacy’s name in writing.
Online patients may be unaware of who compounded their medicine, notes the FDA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
A pharmacy or other facility that prepares medicines to order is a compounder. Request both the maker’s name and the sender’s name.
Use the actual pharmacy name in the search, even if the service has its own name on the offer.
Search the state’s pharmacy record.
Use the FDA’s BeSafeRx programme to reach pharmacy licence searches run by the states.
Before a pharmacy based elsewhere can send medicine to residents, most states require it to hold a permit or licence, as of September 2026.
Check the pharmacy in the state where it operates and ask about permission to send medicine to your state.
Finding the pharmacy’s licence does not tell you whether it has supplied the right medicine in every case.
Ask who will answer a medicine question.
Having a licensed pharmacist available for questions is one of the FDA’s signs of a sound online pharmacy.
Ask how to reach that pharmacist and what to do if the product arrives with unclear details.
If the service will not identify the pharmacy, leave the check unfinished and ask again before paying.
Sources behind this check
BeSafeRx gives both the licence-search route and the FDA’s signs to check. A polished website alone does not settle the question.