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What To Know About Ocala Compounding Pharmacy

By Virginia Olson


The science or process of making individualized medication for individual use is referred to as pharmaceutical compounding. In this process, ingredients from various medications are combined, altered, or mixed to produce a single drug that can meet the specific needs of an individual. The process is undertake by a licensed pharmacists or someone who is not a pharmacist, but under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist. Prescriptions for medications like that must be given by a certified medical practitioner. Any Ocala compounding pharmacy has the necessary certification and licensure needed to operate within the state.

For a process to be referred to as compounding, two or several drugs must be combined together. There are several reasons why it may be necessary to compound medication for a patient. First, medication may need to be compounded because the specific medical needs of a patient cannot be met by conventional medicine on the market. Such a situation may arise where a patient is allergic to certain elements included in conventional medication.

Compounded medications are usually customized to accommodate the specific needs of patients. As such, they are not approved by the FDA. That implies that the FDA does not verify the effectiveness of safety of the drugs. The safety and effectiveness of the drugs relies on the drug approval process to ensure that the medications meet quality standards enforced by the federal government.

Usually, the responsibility of ensuring that state-licensed compounding pharmacies stick to the set standards in their operations rests with state boards of pharmacies. However, the FDA also has some authority over these facilities too. Additionally, the FDA imposes stricter regulation over outsourcing facilities. The FDA also conducts inspections based on a risk-based schedule.

The products, services, and operations in these facilities have various risks associated with them. These risks are often not compliant with federal standards of quality. For starters, drugs have been reported to be produced using poor quality practices. This results in contaminated, sub-potent, super-potent, or adulterated drugs. Another major source of risk is the fact that people tend to prefer custom drugs over FDA-approved alternatives.

Drugs that are compounded today are much better, safer, and more effective because of advancements in technology. A lot of revolution and standardization have occurred in the field because of technological developments. Currently, pharmacists are in a position to be very specific in their preparations in terms of dosages, flavors, strengths, and ingredients in their medications.

Several years ago, compounding was the technique used for the production of all prescribed medications. This changed when mass production of drugs began in the 50s and 60s. The traditional roles of pharmacists changed from preparing drugs to dispensing mass-produced drugs. Even training on drug preparation only existed to a limited level.

However, mass production, as always, did not meet the needs of all patients. There were some patients who still needed customized drugs, and so, compounding pharmacies continued to exist. Today, it is a requirement for a licensed pharmacist to be on-site at any pharmacy involved in the preparation and dispensation of medications.




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