Trace the medicine past the website.

Get the pharmacy’s actual name

FDA is the federal medicine agency, short for Food and Drug Administration.

FDA says people getting medicine made to order online may not know who prepared it.

Ask for the name before payment, then compare it with the label if medicine is dispensed.

California’s pharmacy board has a free search for pharmacies and pharmacists.

Sterile means free of living germs.

The search also lists licences to make sterile medicine, including pharmacies based outside California.

On the board’s page, start with Pharmacies to look up a pharmacy.

For medicine made to order without living germs, also check Sterile Compounding, or Non-Resident Sterile Compounding if the pharmacy is outside California.

For a larger business making batches of medicine, the search also has Outsourcing Facility.

Check permission to ship into California

A prescription gives a medicine order from a doctor or another medical professional licensed to write it.

As of September 2026, a pharmacy outside California needs the state’s permission to ship prescription medicine here.

That permission is called a nonresident pharmacy licence.

Since July 2026, its pharmacist in charge also needs a California licence.

Sterile medicine made to order needs an extra licence.

As of September 2026, California inspects the pharmacy before granting or renewing that licence.

Nonresident simply means based outside the state; it does not describe the quality of the medicine.

• Where is the pharmacy’s licence record?
• If it makes sterile medicine, where is the extra licence?
• Can a pharmacist explain the label?

Do not turn a licence into a guarantee

A licence is not proof that every medicine is being given out properly.

As of September 2026, appearing on FDA’s list of registered businesses does not mean FDA has approved that business or its medicine.

Check the exact medicine and why it is being prescribed as well as the pharmacy’s licence.