Saturday, April 7, 2018

Facts About Compounding Pharmacy In Ocala FL

By Susan Jackson


Compounding is a medical term that refers to pharmaceutical preparation of drugs by a licensed pharmacist. The preparations are made to suit specific unique needs of an individual patient. The patient may be an animal or a human being. A patient may need a compounded drug when the commercially-available version of the same drug does not meet their unique needs. Here are facts about compounding pharmacy in Ocala FL.

Compounding pharmacies compound drugs for use by patients. Pharmacists that compound drugs must be licensed by the state and federal authorities. Compounded drugs are often customized in various ways. First, having the dosage of the compounded drug varied is a form of customization. The dosage may be varied by being increased or reduced.

Customization may also be done in the flavor for pets and children to find a drug easier to take. Making a drug more palatable makes it easy for pets and young children to take. Exclusion of certain ingredients is also a form of customization of a drug. The ingredients excluded should be nonessential and unwanted. Dyes, gluten, and lactose are main examples.

Drug ingredients that cause adverse effects like allergy should be excluded in the preparation. With the bad ingredient removed, a patient can now use a drug without worrying about allergies. Finally, the changing the form of a drug can be a reason for which it may need to be compounded. This may involve changing drugs that were initially solids into liquids. Liquid drugs are easier for most patients to take.

Compounded drugs can be changed completely in terms of their physical characteristics. From tablets, they can be changed into transdermal gels, topical creams, flavored liquids, and suppositories among other forms. The process of compounding does not involve making copies of commercially available drugs as this is against the law. It is against the law to duplicate a commercial drug while disguising as compounding.

Part of training for pharmacists is to produce compounded drugs. They learn to do this using basic tools like spatulas, ointment slabs, weighing scales, pestles and mortars, and graduated cylinders. Each tool has a specific task in the process. Preparations are made following a prescription given by a medical practitioner. Patients only receive compounded drugs if they have a prescription.

In the United States, this field is regulated by boards of pharmacy in various states. All activities of these pharmacies and pharmacists are supervised by state and federal authorities. There are standards and laws that practitioners are required to adhere to while working. These laws and standards also govern the kind of preparations that can be made.

Components such as food ingredients and dietary supplements as well as the purity, strength, and quality of the preparations are subject to standards and laws. The purpose of the standards and laws is to ensure that consumers have access to quality drugs. Revocation of license and possible jail time or heavy fines are some of the punishments that pharmacists who do not follow set laws are subjected to.




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