Compounding medicine, as opposed to pharmaceutical drugs are drugs specially formulated by a compounding pharmacist to meet the special requirements of an individual patient. While pharmaceutical drugs are manufactured in large quantities following a specific formulation approved by the Food and Drug Administration, compounding medicine is better compared to home-cooking because they are formulated locally and in small quantities only.

Compounding medicine is typically formulated by a compounding pharmacist by mixing ingredients, either prescribed or over-the-counter, using special tools and techniques to come up with a dose of drug that will meet a patient’s unique prescription.

Advantages of Compounding Medicine

Doctors often prescribe a specially ordered compound medicine for the unusual health requirements of their patients. This gives them a free hand in tailoring a special prescription for every individual person. Compounding medicine is especially important in cases like when the patient needs a very small dose of a given drug such as the limited dosage strengths for preemies and infants.

Sometimes, due to disability or old age, a patient will require a drug to be taken in a special formulation. If a patient needs a drug that is available in the market in a tablet form only, but the patient cannot swallow it, compounding his medicine means the compounding pharmacist can turn the solid tablet into a transdermal gel or into liquid so that the patient can take it.

For patients that have allergies, compounding medicine is needed which is allergen-free. Compounding pharmacist can actually remove coloured dyes and gluten from an available drug if the patient is allergic to it.

For patients who cannot excrete or absorb medicines normally, compounding medicine can be formulated to suit the patient’s special situation.

For drugs that are no longer manufactured by pharmaceutical companies because of low profit, a compounding pharmacist will have to fill in the order using compounding medicine. This is also true for normal drug that is suffering from a supply shortage yet the patient’s medication cannot be discontinued, compounding medicine will meet the demand.

Children sometimes require a child friendly formulation of their regular medicine. Compounding medicine can supply them with medicine that tastes like fruit or candy. Compounding pharmacist can actually add flavors to their drug formulation.

In veterinary medicine, animal have a different palate taste than that of humans. Compounding medicine therefore is needed to supply the animals with medicine in their preferred taste, their required dosage and in a form that can be easily administered to them either as transdermal gels, liquid or pill.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) needs a mixture of several bioidentical hormones like estriol, dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, progesterone, estradiol and estrone. The level of these hormones in each dosage is dependent on the hormone levels of each individual person. This means that the formulation of each dose is different from one person to another. Only compounding medicine can meet these highly unique dosage prescription.

Whatever special requirements of a drug dosage a patient needs, compounding pharmacists can actually fill in the orders using compounding medicine.