Compounding Pharmacy

      Compounding pharmacy is an area of pharmacy that I feel has been often times over looked.  Despite the fact that compounding pharmacy is rarely thought of, its importance in patient care is just as essential as it ever was in individualized therapy.  While researching the topic I came across a perfect definition by the Food and Drug Administration, defining compounding pharmacy as: “… a practice in which a licensed pharmacist combines, mixes, or alters ingredients in response to a prescription to create a medication tailored to the medical needs of an individual patient.”  Now let’s take a closer look into the benefits of utilizing compounding pharmacy.  According to the FDA, 30,000,000 drugs are compounded in the United States each year.  This area of pharmacy is used when a patient is unable to use a mass produced drug available on the market, requiring a unique ingredient specific therapy.  This can be useful for patients with certain allergies, need a certain drug concentration, or cannot tolerate a conventional prescription medication.  Although compounded drugs can be lifesaving and essential to patient well- being, it does not come without its risks.  Compounded products are not FDA approved, with that, compounded ingredients run the risk of becoming contaminated or improperly made if not compounded correctly.  Overall, compounding pharmacy is a safe and beneficial area of pharmacy that should only be used when conventional FDA approved medications are inappropriate for use.  This short video I found does an amazing job showing the structure, precautions, and equipment used in compounding pharmacies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhfwC6aRN0I check it out!

http://www.fda.gov/drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/PharmacyCompounding/default.htm