You might not have heard of a compounding pharmacy because most people do not require this specialty service. In the US, pharmacists fill about 4.5 billion prescriptions annually. It wasn’t always that way. At one time, all prescriptions were filled this way

Until the 1938 passage of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, pharmacists compounded most prescriptions – about 250 million each year. When pharmaceutical manufacturing developed, the public began to purchase readymade prescription drugs and over the counter medications, too. This made the job of pharmacists easier, but many people found they still needed some prescriptions compounded.

Compounding Defined

Compounding simply refers to the process of mixing pharmaceutical-grade raw materials to create a custom prescription issued by a physician. Every year, pharmacists compound 30 to 40 million prescriptions. Many reasons exist for a patient needing a compounded prescription.

• a necessary medication gets discontinued,
• the patient has an allergy to a binder, dye, or preservative in the manufactured medication,
• the patient cannot take the manufactured medication in the form in which it is made such as a capsule,
• the patient needs a different dosage than pharmaceutical companies manufacture,
• the patient requires a custom medication because other drugs have failed,
• the patient requires a different medication flavor to make it more palatable,
• the patient is your pet who requires a custom medication.

Compounding requires special training for both the technicians and the pharmacists. They also need the right equipment as well as meeting specific facility requirements and special mixing processes.

Finding a Pharmacy

Not every pharmacy offers compounding because it requires certain special training, equipment, and facilities. Pharmacies like http://ubapharmacy.com/ offer compounding with online orders. The pharmacy facility is certified by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB) standards and meets or exceeds USP Chapters 795 and 797.

Online compounding pharmacies have cropped up to address this need. They allow the upload of a prescription, processing at the long-distance facility, then provide shipping directly to the patient. The comprehensive and convenient process from start to finish puts these hard to find compounding facilities within reach of all patients and lowers the cost of the custom medications since the facilities can process a high volume of orders.

If you have a special need, such as requiring a gluten-free prescription, or an allergy to an ingredient, compounding can solve the problem. You can obtain the prescription you need by having it custom compounded.