Buying a GLP-1 online: what the FDA tells consumers to check
The FDA publishes a list of warning signs for companies selling GLP-1 drugs online, and a set of specific concerns about compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide. Both are below, in the agency’s own words. No company is named and none is recommended.
Reviewed by Ellis Brandt. Sources checked September 2026.
This guide draws on the cited FDA-approved prescribing information and other FDA sources. It is not medical advice; discuss treatment with your clinician. See the medical disclaimer.
The FDA’s telehealth warning signs
Under the heading “Telehealth red flags for consumers”, the FDA lists warning signs to look for in a company. These are its words, reproduced.
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| The warning sign, as the FDA words it |
|---|
| makes claims such as the compounded drug is the same as an FDA-approved drug |
| offers medicine at deep discounts or prices that seem too good to be true |
| sends medicine that looks different than what you’ve previously received at your local pharmacy or was pictured on their website, or arrives in packaging that is broken or damaged or lacks instructions for use |
| does not require a screening and prescription by a licensed doctor before providing medicine |
| does not have a licensed doctor available to answer questions after you receive your medication |
| makes spelling errors on the label or provides incorrect addresses of the pharmacy |
| includes a pharmacy name on the label that you think might be fraudulent |
Seven of them, reproduced in the order the agency lists them, from a page it marks current as of 2026-09-01.
What “compounded” means, in the FDA’s own words
“Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved. This means that FDA does not verify the safety, effectiveness or quality of compounded drugs before they are marketed. Consumers and health care professionals rely on FDA’s drug approval process for verification of safety, effectiveness and quality.”
Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers, current as of 2025-09-16.
On its GLP-1 page the agency puts the same point beside a condition: “A compounded drug might be appropriate if a patient’s medical need cannot be met by an FDA-approved drug, or the FDA-approved drug is not commercially available.” Its recommendation to patients is stated in one line: “Compounded drugs should only be used in patients whose medical needs cannot be met by an FDA-approved drug.”
Four specific concerns the agency has published
These are narrower and more practical than the general warning above, and each is a thing a reader can check about a delivery they have already received.
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| Concern | What the FDA states |
|---|---|
| Multiple-dose vials | The agency states: “Generally, FDA recommends that vials containing multiple doses of sterile medications be used within 28 days after the first use because there is an increased risk of contamination after 28 days.” It advises discarding the vial at 28 days “even if instructions from the compounder say the medication can be used for longer than 28 days”, and using a new sterile needle and syringe for every dose. |
| Shipping temperature | “Injectable GLP-1 drugs require refrigeration as indicated in their package inserts.” The FDA says it has received complaints that some compounded GLP-1 drugs arrived warm or with inadequate ice packs, and recommends patients not use any injectable GLP-1 drug that arrives warm or with insufficient refrigeration. What each approved product’s package insert sets is in the refrigeration and storage rules. |
| Dosing errors | The agency reports receiving “multiple reports of adverse events, some requiring hospitalization, that may be related to dosing errors associated with compounded injectable semaglutide products”, arising from patients measuring and self-administering incorrect doses and, in some cases, health care professionals miscalculating doses. |
| Salt forms, and ingredients that cannot be compounded | Semaglutide sodium and semaglutide acetate are “different active ingredients than are used in the approved drugs”, and the FDA says it is “not aware of any lawful basis for their use in compounding”. Separately, it states that retatrutide and cagrilintide “cannot be used in compounding under federal law” and “have not been found safe and effective for any condition”. |
Two things worth knowing about the evidence itself
The agency states that it is aware of “fraudulent compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide marketed in the U.S. that contain false information on the product label” — in some cases naming a compounding pharmacy that does not exist, in others naming a real licensed pharmacy that, on the information the FDA has gathered, did not compound the product. A pharmacy name printed on a label is therefore a claim, not a verification.
It also says something important about its own adverse event data: “federal law does not require state-licensed pharmacies that are not outsourcing facilities to submit adverse events to FDA so it is likely that adverse events from compounded versions of these drugs are underreported.” A low count of reported problems for a compounded product is not evidence that few occurred.
What a reader can do about that is narrow and the FDA says it plainly: get a prescription from a doctor, fill it at a state-licensed pharmacy, and contact the compounder or the telehealth platform with any question about the label or the instructions for use.
Sources
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| Page | Publisher | Content current as of | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDA’s Concerns with Unapproved GLP-1 Drugs Used for Weight Loss | U.S. Food and Drug Administration | 2026-09-01 | fda.gov |
| Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers | U.S. Food and Drug Administration | 2025-09-16 | fda.gov |
Each page is quoted as the FDA publishes it. The date beside it is the “content current as of” date the agency prints on the page itself.
The approved products’ own storage and administration instructions are in their prescribing information rather than on these pages. What those labels say about doses, missed doses and warnings is on the dose escalation page and the contraindications page.
See the providers
This page names what to check before you buy. The boards are where that checking happens against named providers.
- GLP-1 telehealth providersprovider board
Compare GLP-1 prescribers, pharmacy details, care and cancellation terms.
- Providers that publish a price before the intakeprovider board
See providers that show medication prices before the intake.
More, read from the labels themselves
- First-year GLP-1 costsresearch guide
A low monthly headline does not tell you what a year of treatment will cost. Compare the same medication and service package, then separate the total you expect to spend from the amount you must pay before treatment begins.
- Cancellation and refundsresearch guide
Canceling future membership charges, stopping an upcoming medication order and requesting a refund are three different requests. Get a written answer for each one that applies to you.
- Insurance denial documentsresearch guide
The next step depends on why coverage was denied. A missing document, a formulary restriction and an excluded benefit are different problems. Start with the written decision before paying someone to submit another request.
- Savings and cash-pay eligibilityresearch guide
A manufacturer savings card and a self-pay offer can have different eligibility rules, even for the same medicine. Match the offer to your coverage and exact product before using its advertised price in your budget.
- Verify your GLP-1 pharmacyresearch guide
The website taking your payment, the clinician prescribing and the pharmacy dispensing may be different businesses. Identify each one. A recognizable brand or a reassuring badge does not tell you who will fill the prescription.
- Changing GLP-1 providersresearch guide
Before ending your current service, establish what the new practice needs, what it will charge and when it can evaluate you. Transferring your records does not guarantee that another clinician will continue the same prescription.
- Weight regain after stoppingresearch guide
Weight regain occurred after treatment withdrawal in studies of semaglutide and tirzepatide. The findings support planning follow-up and affordability before an interruption, but they do not predict exactly what will happen to one person.
- Semaglutide vs tirzepatideresearch guide
What the four FDA-approved labels say each molecule is, what each is approved to treat, and where the two differ.
- How they workresearch guide
The receptor each molecule switches on, what the labels say that does to appetite, blood sugar and the stomach, and why one dose lasts a week.
- Is Ozempic insulin?research guide
What the Ozempic label calls semaglutide, how that differs from insulin, and where insulin appears on these labels as a separate medicine.
- Zepbound vs Ozempicresearch guide
Four brand names, two molecules and two kinds of approval: which of these products are the same drug, and what each one is actually approved to do.
- Dose escalation schedulesresearch guide
The starting dose, the escalation interval and the maximum dose each label sets, and why they are not interchangeable.
- Side effect ratesresearch guide
What each label reports for nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation — and the sentence every label prints above those numbers.
- Hair lossresearch guide
Which labels report hair loss, the rate against placebo where a trial measured it, and why two of them put no number on it.
- Fatigue and tirednessresearch guide
Which labels list fatigue, the rate against placebo where a trial measured it, and what each label counts as fatigue.
- Missed dose rulesresearch guide
The window each label gives for a late dose, and the minimum gap it requires when the injection day changes.
- Drug interactionsresearch guide
Insulin and sulfonylureas, oral medications, and the oral-contraceptive precaution that appears on two of these four labels and not the other two.
- Zepbound by doseresearch guide
What each Zepbound dose achieved in the trials printed in its label, what the label says about choosing a maintenance dose, and what the higher doses cost in side effects.
- Zepbound at 3 monthsresearch guide
What does the Zepbound label report about three-month weight loss and maintenance dosing?
- Injecting tirzepatideresearch guide
The injection sites, the rotation rule and the steps for the single-dose pen, the KwikPen and the vial and syringe, exactly as the FDA-approved Instructions for Use give them.
- Refrigeration and storageresearch guide
How cold each pen is kept, how many days it can spend at room temperature, and what the labels say about heat and freezing.
- Who should not take oneresearch guide
The boxed warning every one of these labels carries, the two contraindications, and which warnings appear on which product.
Why this page has no links
Some links elsewhere on this site are paid. A page about how to judge a seller cannot be one of them, so it carries none at all — no provider named, no outbound commercial link, nothing to click that earns anything.
Sources read September 2026, and listed in full at the foot of this page.