Checking care
Find out who makes and sends the medicine.
Preparing or altering a medicine for an individual patient is the process called compounding. Get the pharmacy’s full name and ask who would actually make it.
To begin
Look up the named pharmacy
California’s pharmacy board provides licence searches for pharmacies, pharmacists, and separate sterile compounding licences.
Sterile describes something with no living germs; medicines prepared by sterile compounding must meet that standard.
Open the pharmacy board’s search links
Ask the pharmacy which licence type matches the work it would do. Read the record and any disciplinary documents.
Look a little closer
Shipping from another state
As of September 2026, a pharmacy outside California needs the state’s licence for out-of-state pharmacies before sending prescription medicine into California.
The pharmacist who oversees it must also have a California licence under the rule that took effect July 1, 2026.
As of September 2026, California also requires its sterile compounding licence when a pharmacy outside the state prepares sterile medicines for California.
Look a little closer
Separate registration from approval
The US drug agency is the Food and Drug Administration, known here as FDA. FDA listing does not establish approval for a medicine or for the place that makes it, as of September 2026.
FDA’s online-pharmacy checklist asks for a valid prescription, state licensing, and a licensed pharmacist available for questions.
Ask for a way to speak with the pharmacist about the specific product. Keep that answer with the name on the label.
Chapter recap
Keep this in mind.
Get the name of whoever makes the medicine and the pharmacy that supplies it to you. They may be different. Check both names, even when you order through one service.