Compounding In a Retail Pharmacy

By Amit Shah, RPh

Woodbridge Pharmacy

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Compounding In a Retail Pharmacy

Compounding combines an ageless art with the latest medical knowledge and state-of-the-art technology, allowing specially trained professionals to prepare customized medication to meet each patient's specific needs. Compounding is fundamental to the profession of pharmacy and was a standard means of providing prescription medications before drugs began to be produced in mass quantities by pharmaceutical manufacturers. The demand for professional compounding has increased as healthcare professionals and patients realize that commercially available medications do not meet needs of many patients, and that these patients may have a better response to a customized dosage form that is “just what the doctor ordered.”

Countless therapeutic possibilities exist when medications can be customized to meet the unique needs of a specific patient. Compounding pharmacy solves the patient's medication problems by using the highest grade of ingredients to formulate the needed medications in the optimal strength and dosage form. When compounding the medication one has to consider the physical and chemical properties of active and inactive ingredients in order to prepare customized medications with the proper consistency, stability, texture, color and taste, thereby optimizing the therapeutic benefit of each preparation.

When a patient has a resistant or unique problem and commercially manufactured dosage forms do not precisely meet his or her specific needs, or if a drug is unpalatable or side effects of commercially available medications are unacceptable, one should consider getting his or her medication compounded.

Transdermal or topical formulations may offer significant advantages over traditional dosage forms. When a patient has difficulty swallowing, the needed can be formulated in transdermal gel or cream that will facilitate drug absorption through skin. Transdermal administration is a very helpful option that can avoid the cost and convenience of intravenous therapy or injections, and is often used for patients who are nauseated or have chronic illness.

Creams and ointments, lip balms, metered nasal or sublingual sprays, and non-aerosol topical sprays can be used to apply medication directly to the affected site. Topical administration can reduce the amount of drug that a patient absorbs systemically, and therefore may reduce the risk of unwanted side effects. The pharmacy can compound cosmetically appealing creams, ointments and gels containing the specific medications needed to treat each patient's unique problem.

Capsules can be compounded to contain multiple compatible active ingredients or in numerous colors or sizes to simplify dosing schedules.

Suppositories remain a popular dosage form. Unique designs such as “rectal rocket” facilitate simultaneous internal and external administration of medications to treat hemorrhoids and other conditions.

When deciding on a treatment protocol, prescribers do not need to be constrained by the limited selection of strengths and dosage forms that are commercially available. The compounding pharmacists' library consists of every medication that is approved for use and meets governmental regulations, many novel administration devices, and any dosage form that can be imagined. Consult your compounding pharmacist for help and find out which is the most appropriate route to treat a specific problem.