Work through the question
Keep the answers with your notes.
For an approved medicine, ask about its named use.
FDA-approved products in the United States include semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound), as of September 26, 2026.
That is approval of specific products. Ask which product and form is proposed, and what use the clinician is discussing.
For a compounded medicine, ask why it is needed.
Compounding involves preparing or mixing medicine for an order instead of providing a product that is already made.
Compounded medicines have no FDA approval as of September 26, 2026, even if the pharmacy holds a licence.
The FDA says this kind of medicine can serve a need an approved product cannot meet.
Ask what need it would meet for you, and which pharmacy would make it.
For a research label, pause the care decision.
The FDA advises avoiding weight-loss products marked for research yet sold for use by people, as of September 26, 2026; their quality is not known, and harm is possible.
Do not treat a research label as an answer to the approval question.
Check a claim of registration.
Neither a business’s FDA registration nor a drug’s listing shows FDA approval, as of September 26, 2026.
Request the approval record for that product; a badge is not a substitute.
Open the sources for this checklist
Use the record that matches the question you are checking.