Compounded sema potency testing — what worked for you?

Taking the question as asked, rather than the general version of it. The shortage clause is the answer to the second question and it is a subtraction rather than an addition. Both exemptions forbid compounding something that is essentially a copy of a commercially available approved product. A product FDA has listed as in shortage is not treated as commercially available, so listing removed the objection that otherwise blocked compounding. It never created a permission; it withdrew a prohibition, which is why it evaporated the moment the supply fact changed.

SarahChen_PharmD said:

The shortage clause is the answer to the second question and it is a subtraction rather than an addition.

Agreeing with SarahChen_PharmD, and the qualification matters more than the agreement. Worth adding the genuine exception, because it is real and narrow: a change made for an identified patient where the prescriber determines it produces a significant clinical difference for that patient. A grid of fixed doses offered to everybody is not that, whatever the intake form says.

Dr.PathRoch said:

My pharmacy stopped supplying with three weeks notice and a letter that explained nothing, so I went and read the statute.

Same position here, arrived at the long way round. They are two different exemptions from the same federal requirements and they buy different things. A 503A pharmacy is regulated primarily by the state board, needs a patient-specific prescription, is exempt from CGMP, and may use a bulk substance that has a USP monograph, is a component of an approved drug, or appears on the 503A bulks list — three independent doorways. A 503B outsourcing facility registers with the FDA, is inspected on a risk basis, must comply with CGMP, may compound for office stock without a patient-specific prescription, and has one doorway to a permitted bulk substance: the 503B bulks list, or the drug shortage list.

Adding the clinical framing, because it changes how the question reads.

Compounded has been just as effective for me. If compounded supply is the concern, the COA from my 503B pharmacy shows 99.1% purity. Verified by Janoshik.