WHAT IS COMPOUNDING?
More and more doctors are recommending ‘compounding pharmacies’ to their patients, and at PenCol Specialty Pharmacy we are getting more and more calls from their patients asking, “What IS compounding?” We love hearing this question because it gives us a chance to explain just how many ways we can provide individualized pharmacy care.
Simply put – compounding is a method of preparing medications to meet individual and unique doctor/patient needs.
It is the opposite of the one-size-fits-all, take it or leave it experience you receive at a traditional pharmacy. You are not just like everyone else to us; your doctor understands that and therefore wants you to have customized medicines that better meet your needs. And we’re here to help make that happen.
It is interesting to note that compounding used to be the 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.
Compounding can also play a major role in health care because of our ability to help solve challenging patient problems. One example that we see a lot of is the patient who is allergic to commonly used fillers, dyes, binders, and other additives that are used in mass-produced medications. In this case, we can compound many of the needed medications without these additives. Many times, prescribed medications are only available in limited strengths or dosages. With compounding, we can make the individualized prescribed strength and dosage that the doctor prescribes and the patient needs.
Working with physicians, PenCol pharmacists are continually providing solutions to medication problems, meeting patient needs, and helping to provide an improved quality of life – for our people patients, and our animal friends.
How can Compounding help you?
• By solving dosing problems with individualized, patient-specific dosing
• By making medications that are dye-free, preservative-free and lactose-free
• By making medications that may no longer be available
• By customizing medication strengths
• By adding flavors to help “make the medicine go down” easier
Any one of these compounding services can help with medication administration and compliance and get patients on their way to feeling better.
Quality Compounding Maximizes Therapeutic Outcomes
The efficacy of any formulation is directly related to its preparation, which is why THE SELECTION OF YOUR COMPOUNDING PHARMACY IS CRITICAL. This is why at PenCol, we are dedicated to the ongoing training for our compounding pharmacists and technicians, the investment in state-of-the-art equipment, the commitment to testing and quality control, and the purchase of high-quality chemicals/ingredients.
What can be Compounded?
• Buccal Troches
• Capsules
• Creams, Ointments, Lotions
• Dental preparations
• Dermatological specialties
• Discontinued medications
• Combination medications
• Flavor specializations
• Gels – topical/oral
• Geriatric formulations
• Pain formulations
• Nausea formulations
• Injections
• Lip balms
• Medicated lollipops
• Medicated lozenges
• Nasal sprays, solutions
• Ophthalmic specialties
• Oral suspensions
• Pediatric formulations
• Physical therapy – phonophoretic formulations, sounding gels, ionizing solutions, iontophoretic formulations
• Podiatric formulations
• Preservative-free formulations
• Rectal enemas
• Rectal suppositories
• Sublingual troches
• Sugar-free formulations
• Suspensions
• Throat sprays
• Topical powders
• Transdermal formulations
• Urethral inserts
• Vaginal creams, suppositories