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Compounding is the ability to prepare unique,
unavailable, less expensive or more palatable dosage forms
of drugs and is the basis of the profession of pharmacy. Physicians often request us to alter or tailor a medication to meet the
specific needs of a patient. When an individual is unable
to take or use a commercial medicine, costly problems may
occur - such as avoidable physician and emergency room visits,
hospital admissions, and lost time from school or work. We
reduce this waste and improve our patients' quality of life
by compounding prescriptions - making medicines into forms
that people can use. We help doctors solve these problems:
For dosage forms
unavailable
Medicines often are available only in tablets or capsules,
but infants and some individuals who have difficulty swallowing
may need a liquid, suppository, transdermal gel, or other
dosage form. We can compound these dosage forms to contain
the medicines people need.
For medicine unavailable
Pharmaceutical companies may stop making products for which
there is limited demand, and limited demand is likely to occur
when newer, sometimes, more effective medicines comes into
the market. However, some patients may respond better to a
discontinued medicine than to its newer counterpart. If we
can obtain the medicine in its chemical form, we can compound
a prescription to contain the amount of medicine in the discontinued
product.
For specially flavored
medication
Each commercial product usually is available in only one flavor.
Some children and adults will find that flavor to be disagreeable
and some individuals will not take a medicine because of bad
taste. This is a special problem when a medicine must be taken
for several months or years to control a chronic health problem.
We can prepare dosage forms in flavors that people like, can
vary the flavor from time to time, and usually can mask any
unpleasant after taste.
For known allergy
Commercial medicines may contain flavors, preservatives, dyes,
binders, and/or excipients. If a patient is allergic to any
one of these ingredients, taking or using that medicine could
result in unpleasant or life-threatening consequences. We
can prepare medicines that are free of materials to which
a patient is know to be allergic.
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