Check the product
Out of stock nearby is not a national shortage.
A pharmacy can be unable to fill a prescription even when the national status has changed. Those are different questions.
Myth to test
If my pharmacy runs out, can it make a copy under the old shortage rules?
Short answer
The national shortage list maintained by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contained no tirzepatide entry on September 26, 2026.
Understand what ended
December 19, 2024, was the resolution date confirmed by the FDA for the shortage of tirzepatide injections.
- After that decision, the FDA briefly delayed action against makers for breaking rules tied to the national shortage listing.
- That delay ended on February 18, 2025, for ordinary pharmacies making medicine to order for named patients.
- For larger makers of medicine batches, called outsourcing facilities, the delay ended on March 19, 2025.
- These larger facilities often supply clinics and hospitals and need not be licensed pharmacies.
- A local stock gap is different from the FDA's national shortage listing.
Ask why this particular change is allowed
As of September 2026, the law limits regular or large-scale copying of available medicines, with a separate rule for changes made for a named patient.
- Under that rule, the prescriber decides whether, for this patient, the change makes an important difference compared with the ready-made medicine.
- A lower price by itself does not count as that difference.
- Ask what is changed in your medicine, why that change matters for you and which rule allows the pharmacy to make it.
- Ask for that explanation to be written for you, rather than accepting a general claim about made-to-order medicine.
- Ask for the current status to be checked, rather than relying on an old shortage advert.