Florida / medicine basics
What does made to order mean for a medicine?
Medicine prepared to order is called compounded medicine. Find out who prepares it and why you need it in place of an approved medicine.
Read this page’s source notes ↓Why the distinction matters
A licensed pharmacist or doctor can prepare medicine to order for a patient. A registered business can also prepare a supply in batches. It can do this before receiving prescriptions naming individual patients.
FDA, short for Food and Drug Administration, has not approved compounded drugs as of September 2026.
Before sale, FDA does not check whether a compounded drug works, is safe or meets quality standards.
FDA describes compounding as an option for patients with a medical need that approved medicines cannot meet.
Who is making it?
Made for one patient: a licensed pharmacist or doctor uses a valid prescription naming that patient. The law calls this 503A.
Made in batches: an FDA-registered business prepares sterile medicines, meaning medicines without living germs. It can prepare a supply before it gets prescriptions naming individual patients. The law calls this 503B, and calls the business an outsourcing facility.
The two steps are different: making a supply and giving a prescription medicine to a patient. The patient still needs a prescription when the medicine is supplied to them.
FDA inspects these registered businesses, which must follow federal rules for making medicines safely and consistently. Being registered does not mean FDA has approved their medicines.
Does a Florida permit cover every drug?
As of September 2026, Florida requires medicines prepared to order for people to follow the federal compounding rules.
The ingredient and your health need still matter. Ask why the approved medicine fails to meet that need and what rule permits this preparation for your care.
Federal law restricts the quantity of copies a pharmacy can make of ready-made medicines on the market, and how often it makes them.
Someone writing a prescription may judge that a changed medicine makes an important difference to a particular patient. Paying less does not qualify as that sort of change.
For example, FDA says medicine made without a dye may meet the needs of a patient who is allergic to that dye. Ask what change is needed for you.