Published August 27, 2026 · updated August 27, 2026

How to verify a compounding pharmacy: state board lookups, 503A vs 503B, FDA lists

Four checks that take ten minutes: the pharmacy's state licence, whether it is licensed to ship to your state, whether it is a 503B outsourcing facility on FDA's list, and whether FDA has inspected or warned it.

You need the pharmacy’s name and, ideally, its city and state. If the provider will not give you the name, that is the first finding; the Pharmacy Transparency Score records which providers name theirs.

Check 1: the home-state licence

Every pharmacy is licensed by the board of pharmacy in the state where it operates. Search that board’s licence-verification page for the pharmacy’s name and confirm the licence is active and the address matches. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy maintains links to every state board’s lookup. Note the licence number; it is what the pharmacy would print on your label.

Check 2: the licence for your state

A pharmacy that ships to you must generally hold a non-resident (mail-order) pharmacy licence in your state as well. Search your own state board’s lookup for the pharmacy’s name. If it is not licensed in your state, the provider should not be shipping there. This is the check that turns a provider’s “we serve 48 states” into something you can confirm for the one state that matters.

Check 3: 503A or 503B

A 503B outsourcing facility must register with FDA and appears on FDA’s published list of registered outsourcing facilities, which also shows whether the facility intends to compound from bulk substances and links to inspection information. If the pharmacy is not on that list, it is operating as a 503A pharmacy under state oversight. Neither status is better in every respect; the point is to know which oversight regime applies.

Check 4: inspections and warning letters

FDA’s warning-letter database is searchable by company name. FDA also publishes inspection classifications for facilities it inspects. A warning letter is not a finding of guilt, but it tells you FDA identified violations and what they were. State boards publish disciplinary actions separately; the same board lookup from Check 1 usually shows them.

What the answers mean

• Active home licence, licensed in your state, on the 503B list or clearly operating as 503A with an active licence, no unresolved warning letters: the pharmacy is what it says it is.
• Licensed at home but not in your state: ask the provider which pharmacy will fill your prescription; providers with several pharmacies route by state.
• Not found at all: stop.

This site records, for each pharmacy a provider names, whether we have completed these checks. A pharmacy profile is indexable only after the licence has been verified with a state board.

Related: /guides/are-compounded-glp1-fda-approved/ /research/pharmacy-transparency-score/ /pharmacies/

Compounded medications are not FDA-approved. Report an error.