How can I tell if an online pharmacy is safe?

FDA's BeSafeRx campaign lists the signs of a legitimate online pharmacy: it always requires a prescription, lists a physical U.S. address and phone number, has a licensed pharmacist available to answer questions, and is licensed with a state board of pharmacy. The warning signs are the inverse — no prescription required, no U.S. license, no reachable pharmacist. Treat any single warning sign as a reason to walk away.

How do I look up a pharmacy's license?

Every real pharmacy holds a license from a state board of pharmacy, and those records are public. Each state board runs its own lookup where you can search by business name or license number and see whether the license is current, expired, or has been disciplined; NABP keeps a directory of every U.S. board if you're not sure where to start. Confirm the pharmacy is licensed in a real state, the license is current, and there's no unresolved disciplinary action.

How do I check whether my GLP-1 pen might be counterfeit?

Counterfeits have slipped into the legitimate supply chain — FDA has seized counterfeit Ozempic three times, and in each case the fake carried a lot number that matched a real Novo Nordisk lot, so the number alone won't tell you. Once your pen arrives, find the lot number on the pen and carton and check it against FDA's current counterfeit-Ozempic alert page, along with the physical tells FDA describes. If anything looks off, don't use it and call the manufacturer.

What are the clearest red flags that a seller isn't legitimate?

According to the FDA warning signs in this guide, the single clearest tell is a seller that doesn't require a prescription. Others include no verifiable U.S. or state license, no licensed pharmacist to answer questions, packaging that's broken, in a foreign language, or missing an expiration date, prices that seem too good to be true, and charges for products you never ordered. Any single red flag is enough to stop.

How to verify a pharmacy is legitimate: BeSafeRx, NABP, and your state board

Our sourcing guides keep ending on the same instruction — verify the pharmacy with your state board, the NABP, or FDA's BeSafeRx — without saying how. This is the step-by-step: the free tools each one offers, what red flags to look for, how to pull a pharmacy's license record, and how to check your own pen's lot number against FDA's counterfeit alerts. About five minutes, start to finish.

Updated Jul 18, 2026Evidence-backed

Two of our guides end on the same sentence: before you inject anything, verify the pharmacy with your state board, the NABP, or FDA's BeSafeRx. It's good advice that quietly assumes you already know how. Most people don't — the tools exist, they're free, and they take about five minutes total, but they're scattered across three different agencies and none of them walks you through the others. Here's the actual walkthrough, in the order worth doing it. The pharmacy-sources guide covers which channels are legitimate; this one covers how to confirm that a specific seller is who it claims to be.

Start with FDA's BeSafeRx

BeSafeRx is FDA's consumer campaign for buying prescription medicine online safely, and its most useful page is a plain list of safe signs versus warning signs. An online pharmacy is likely safe, FDA says, if it always requires a prescription, lists a physical U.S. address and phone number, has a licensed pharmacist on staff to answer questions, and is licensed with a state board of pharmacy.

The warning signs are the inverse, and they map exactly onto the sellers people get burned by:

No prescription required — the single clearest tell.
Not licensed in the U.S. and by your state board of pharmacy.
No licensed pharmacist available to answer questions.
Medicine that looks different than your local pharmacy's, or packaging that's broken, in a foreign language, or missing an expiration date.
Deep discounts or prices that seem too good to be true.
Charges for products you never ordered, or no clear protection for your personal and financial information.

BeSafeRx also hosts a "Locate a State-Licensed Online Pharmacy" tool, which hands you off to the NABP lookup below. Treat any single warning sign as disqualifying — legitimate pharmacies don't hit these.

Check the .pharmacy domain and NABP's Safe Site Search

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) runs the accreditation layer FDA points at. Two things it offers are worth knowing.

First, the .pharmacy domain. In 2014 NABP launched it as a top-level domain granted only to sites that follow pharmacy law in every jurisdiction they operate in. A logo can be copied off a real pharmacy's site in seconds; a web address ending in .pharmacy cannot be faked or forged, because NABP controls who gets one. A URL ending in .pharmacy is a genuine signal.

Second, NABP's at safe.pharmacy: paste in a pharmacy's web address and it tells you whether the site is verified or flagged. The scale of the problem is the reason it exists — NABP has identified more than 40,000 non-compliant pharmacy websites, and estimates that nearly 95% of sites selling prescription-only drugs online operate illegally. A seller that isn't in NABP's verified set isn't automatically illegal, but it's a reason to keep checking rather than to relax.

pharmacyverificationbesaferxnabpcounterfeitsafetyaccess

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Common questions

Questions people often ask about this topic.

How can I tell if an online pharmacy is safe?
FDA's BeSafeRx campaign lists the signs of a legitimate online pharmacy: it always requires a prescription, lists a physical U.S. address and phone number, has a licensed pharmacist available to answer questions, and is licensed with a state board of pharmacy. The warning signs are the inverse — no prescription required, no U.S. license, no reachable pharmacist. Treat any single warning sign as a reason to walk away.
What is the .pharmacy domain, and does it mean a site is legitimate?
The .pharmacy web address is a top-level domain the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) launched in 2014 and grants only to sites that follow pharmacy law everywhere they operate. Unlike a logo, which can be copied off a real pharmacy's site in seconds, a .pharmacy address can't be faked because NABP controls who gets one — so it's a genuine signal. You can also paste a pharmacy's URL into NABP's Safe Site Search Tool at safe.pharmacy to see whether it's verified or flagged.
How do I look up a pharmacy's license?
Every real pharmacy holds a license from a state board of pharmacy, and those records are public. Each state board runs its own lookup where you can search by business name or license number and see whether the license is current, expired, or has been disciplined; NABP keeps a directory of every U.S. board if you're not sure where to start. Confirm the pharmacy is licensed in a real state, the license is current, and there's no unresolved disciplinary action.
How do I check whether my GLP-1 pen might be counterfeit?
Counterfeits have slipped into the legitimate supply chain — FDA has seized counterfeit Ozempic three times, and in each case the fake carried a lot number that matched a real Novo Nordisk lot, so the number alone won't tell you. Once your pen arrives, find the lot number on the pen and carton and check it against FDA's current counterfeit-Ozempic alert page, along with the physical tells FDA describes. If anything looks off, don't use it and call the manufacturer.

Evidence: For & Against

Both sides of the topic, so you can weigh the evidence yourself.

5Supporting

Considering an Online Pharmacy? (BeSafeRx safe signs vs. warning signs) (external link)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration · Clinical guideline · Strong evidence
(2020)
FDA BeSafeRx safe-signs / warning-signs list: safe pharmacies require a prescription, list a U.S. address and phone, have a licensed pharmacist, and are licensed with a state board; warning signs include no prescription required, not state-licensed, no pharmacist, altered packaging, and prices too good to be true.

Improve this page

How to verify a pharmacy is legitimate: BeSafeRx, NABP, and your state board

Start with FDA's BeSafeRx

Check the .pharmacy domain and NABP's Safe Site Search

Common questions

Evidence: For & Against

5Supporting

Look the license up with your state board

Check the pen itself against FDA's counterfeit alerts

The five-minute checklist

Related terms

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