What if weight medicine comes up?
Ask which product is meant, and whether the answer is about an approved product or a copy.
Get past the group name
GLP-1 is a hormone—a signal in the body associated with appetite and blood sugar; semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, copies that signal.
Products containing tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound, also carry FDA approval as of September 2026.
For type 2 diabetes, Ozempic and Mounjaro help manage blood sugar; Wegovy and Zepbound serve weight management.
FDA means the US Food and Drug Administration. Have the clinician identify the actual product and explain why they are considering it.
Compounded does not mean approved generic
As of September 2026, no semaglutide or tirzepatide generic is approved and marketable in the US.
Made-to-order compounded medicines lack both FDA approval and review by the agency before sale, as of September 2026.
An approved medicine that copies a brand product is called a generic. A compounded medicine is prepared to order. When someone calls a made-to-order medicine a generic, have them clarify which kind of product they would supply.
Ask whether an old shortage answer is still being used
The FDA’s list of national shortages includes neither semaglutide injection nor tirzepatide as of September 2026.
When a local pharmacy has no stock left, that alone does not establish a national FDA shortage.
The shortage list is the FDA’s record of national supply problems. Ask: With the shortage over, which rule allows you to make this copy for me?
A prescriber may identify a medicine change that makes an important difference for you in a pharmacy-made copy; a price reduction by itself does not qualify.
Adding a vitamin may still count as copying
As of September 2026, FDA policy says a vitamin added to semaglutide can still leave a product classed as a copy.
The copying rule allows an exception when the prescriber records a change to the medicine that makes an important difference for a particular patient.
Ask: What would you change in the ingredients or strength, why would that matter for me, and where have you written down the reason?