5 Benefits of Compounding Medicine

When it comes to compounding, identifying your patients’ needs should be your top priority. What side effects are your patients dealing with? What questions might they have when they take their medicine? And, when you actually start developing a new product, how do you decide where to begin? A compounding niche can offer patients a service they can’t receive at most other pharmacies. It allows the pharmacist to use their extensive drug knowledge to help the patient and prescriber create a truly unique treatment plan.

Allergy, sensitivity, as well as a patient’s intolerance of dyes, lactose, gluten or alcohol can cause the unwanted reactions when taking a certain medication. A compounding pharmacist can make a formula without the offensive ingredients, so a patient can still get the right treatment.

From time to time, patients may need their medication in a different dosage form. For instance, patients who have difficulty swallowing a pill may find it easier to take their medication in a pleasantly flavored liquid form. Some medications can be also compounded in a topical form — cream or a gel that allows the medicine to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin.

A compounding pharmacist can custom make the prescription from scratch with the patient’s flavor of choice.

When large manufacturers discontinue production of certain drugs, it becomes difficult for the patients who still need these medications to fill their prescriptions. Compounding pharmacists play an important role in providing access to discontinued medications by recreating pharmaceutical-based ingredients in order to ensure that patients get the critical care they require.