What Is Compounding?

Pharmacy compounding is the art and science of preparing personalized medications for patients. Compounded medications are made based on a practitioner’s prescription in which individual ingredients are mixed together in the exact strength and dosage form required by the patient.

Compounding combines an ageless art with the latest medical knowledge and state-of-the-art technology, allowing specially your Pharmacist to prepare customised medications 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 the limited number of strengths and dosage forms that are commercially available are unable to meet the unique needs of many patients. These patients may have a better response to a customized dosage form that is “just what the doctor ordered”.

Compounding Pharmacists can put drugs into specially flavoured liquids, topical creams, transdermal gels, suppositories, or other dosage forms suitable for patients’ unique needs.

Our compounding Pharmacist can prepare

• customise strength or dosage containing the ideal dose of medication for each individual.
• change the form of the medication for patients who, for example, have difficulty swallowing or experience stomach upset when taking oral medication.
• medications in dosage forms that are not commercially available, such as transdermal gels, troches, “chewies”, and lollipops.
• reformulate medications free of problem-causing excipients such as dyes, sugar, lactose, or alcohol.
• combinations of various compatible medications into a single dosage form for easier administration and improved compliance.
• flavour a medication (to make it more palatable for a child or a pet).
• medications that are not commercially available.

There are several reasons why pharmacists compound prescriptions. Many patients are allergic to preservatives or dyes, or are sensitive to standard drug strengths. With a physician’s prescription, a compounding pharmacist can change the strength of a medication, alter its form to make it easier for the patient to ingest, or add flavor to it to make it more palatable. A compounding pharmacist can also prepare the medication using several unique delivery systems, such as sublingual troche or lozenge, a lollipop, or a transdermal gel. Or, for those patients who are having a difficult time swallowing a capsule, a compounding pharmacist can make a suspension or suppository instead.

Can my child (or my elderly parent) take compounded medication?

Yes. Children and the elderly are often the types of patients who benefit most from compounding. Often, parents have a tough time getting their children to take medicine because of the taste. A compounding pharmacist can work directly with the physician and the patient to select a flavouring agent, such as, vanilla, butternut or tutti frutti, that provides both an appropriate match for the medication’s properties and the patient’s taste preference.

Compounding pharmacists also have helped patients who are experiencing chronic pain. For example, some arthritic patients cannot take certain medications due to gastrointestinal side effects. Working with their physician, a compounding pharmacist can provide them with a topical preparation with the anti-inflammatory or analgesic their doctor has prescribed for them. Compounded prescriptions often are used for pain management in hospice care.