Q: What exactly is compounding?
A: It's simply the combining
of different ingredients.
Q: Basically, for your customers you make
tailor-made pharmaceuticals that take into account whether a medication is easy
to take and palatable or to leave out things a patient might be sensitive or
allergic to. How do you determine what needs to be done?
A: We rely on the doctor
and the patient. In order for us to do anything at all, the three of us have
to be involved. The doctor is the diagnostician and prescriber and tells us
what they want and ask us how they can get to that spot.
Q: What is the most common reason a patient
needs special compounding?
A: The main reason is usually
that something (medication) is not available in the form they need. It may only
be available in a tablet form and this patient can't swallow a tablet. Or it
may be that the strength they need isn't available and the patient would have
to use pieces of a tablet, and that's very inaccurate. We can do it very accurately.
Q: Do most pharmacies offer compounding?
A: No. All pharmacists can
do it. In most cases it's not convenient or if (the pharmacy) is not set up
for it, it's not cost effective. Where it may take 15 minutes to a half hour
to fill a regular prescription, if we have to compound something, it could take
from a half hour to six hours, depending on what we had to do to the medication.
If we take a medication usually taken by mouth and make it so the patient can
rub it on in a topical cream, that takes longer. Some things have to sit for
two-to-three days so the chemical reactions we need to have happen can take
place. Most compounds, however, can be done pretty readily.
Q: So it's the time factor that limits the
number of pharmacies doing compounding?
A: Most of the pharmacies
out there are trying to get out as many medications as they can safely, and
this would slow them down.
Q: Is this how all prescriptions used to
be filled?
A: Yes. Prior to the 1930s,
this is how most prescriptions were made. There would be a list of ingredients
and a pharmacist would have to put it into a capsule, suppository or whatever.
Q: Why do you do it?
A: We specialize in problems,
whether it's a human patient or an animal, whether they have trouble taking
the medication or need a medication that isn't on the market anymore.
Q: You deal with non-human patients?
A: We do a lot of veterinary
prescriptions. One animal may like chicken flavor, one might like tuna, and
another might like tutti-frutti. We try to make it so the animal will take the
medicine readily. We even had a pair of monkeys come in the store and do a taste
test. They needed the same medication, but one liked banana flavor and the other
liked raspberry.
Q: Do all doctors know this is available?
A: Not all. We try to visit
them and let them know it's available. We also tell the patients that it's an
option if they have a problem (with their medication) or a family member who
has a problem.
