LibrarianMeg said:

Price comparison for compounded supply across sources I've used: Source Monthly Cost Type Purity Verified Brand (Ozempic) $904 FDA-approved N/A…

Beyond-use dating (BUD) for compounded supply compounded products:

Lyophilized (unreconstituted): typically 9 months from compounding date
Reconstituted with BAC water: typically 28-30 days refrigerated
Reconstituted with sterile water: typically 7 days (no preservative!)

Always use BAC water for multi-dose vials. Sterile water has no preservative and supports bacterial growth after first puncture. This is a common and potentially dangerous mistake.

A narrower follow-up, since the general answer is now clear:

Was that from a primary source or from a summary of one?

DanielChem_CHI said:

Beyond-use dating (BUD) for compounded supply compounded products: Lyophilized (unreconstituted): typically 9 months from compounding date…

Compounding pharmacy response time test for compounded supply: I email customer service at odd hours to test responsiveness. A pharmacy that can't answer questions promptly is a red flag.

My current pharmacy: average response time 1 hour. They answered my questions about batch-specific COAs thoroughly and professionally.

Communication quality is a proxy for operational quality. A pharmacy that communicates well is likely manufacturing well too.

DanielChem_CHI said:

Beyond-use dating (BUD) for compounded supply compounded products: Lyophilized (unreconstituted): typically 9 months from compounding date…

Compounding pharmacy customer here with experience relevant to compounded supply.

I've ordered from 4 different compounding pharmacies over the past 14 months. The quality variation is real — purity ranged from 94% to 101% of label claim based on independent Janoshik testing.

My current compounder (a 503B facility) has been consistently 98-101% purity across 8 orders. I pay $163/month vs $1,373 for brand. The savings are substantial and the product is equivalent in my experience.

Re: compounded supply — this applies whether you're using brand or compounded. The clinical principles are the same.

Closing the loop on my own question.

Update: the thing I was blaming turned out not to be the cause. Leaving the original post as written rather than editing it, so the mistake stays visible for whoever searches this next.