In today´s market dominated by mass manufactured products, doctors are often under the impression that their choice of medications is only limited to what are available on the shelves of the pharmacies. This is not always the case. The benefit of compounding is that we can ensure that the compounded medicine is individually formulated and made up to cater for the individual needs of each patient.
Compounding is not a new concept. Pharmacists have been doing that for 100s of years. What is new, is the equipment, the methods and the new active ingredients.
Why can´t my local pharmacy compound my prescription?
While other pharmacies can prepare for you simple extemporaneous products e.g. coal tar/salicylic acid cream. They may not necessarily stock the special chemicals and have not invested in specialised equipment and training needed to compound your medications e.g. bio-identical hormone gel. A compounding pharmacy uses specialised state-of-the-art equipment, chemicals and advanced techniques to provide you quality, customised pharmaceutical products.
What Compounding Means for You
There are many reasons why compounding still has its role today. Customised medications can be specifically compounded leaving out the colours, preservatives or additives (included in commercially available products) which patients may be allergic to.
Compounding can provide a solution for those patients requiring medications that have been discontinued or are not commercially available in Australia. Children and the physically disabled often have problem in swallowing tablets or capsules. It could be beneficial to compound the medication in an alternative dosage form e.g. oral drops, suspensions, suppositories or (sometimes) even transdermal cream.
Compounding also helps to improve patient acceptance and hence compliance. Children may refuse to take their medicine because of taste. Compounding pharmacist can add patient´s preferred flavour to the compounded medication or increase the strength so that smaller quantity can be administered to deliver the same dose.
To summarise, compounding is about problem solving and meeting individual patient´s needs. It empowers the doctor and the pharmacist to provide personalised care the patient requires. A close relationship between the patient, the doctor and the pharmacist is paramount for this to happen.
Melbourne Compounding Centre can be your problem solver. While compounding takes time, research, measuring and mixing, the result is a quality medication custom-made to solve your problems.
We welcome you to discuss with us your medication needs and we will work out a customised formulation with you and your doctor. Contact us on (03) 9689 0833 or view our full contact information.
