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Compounding Services
City Drug Store offers non-sterile compounding services on an individual, prescription-only basis. Each compound is prepared upon receiving the prescription within a reasonable time frame and at competitive prices. We can prepare prescriptions in the following dosage forms:
- Topical Creams, Ointments, & Gels
- Oral Solutions & Suspensions
For more information or questions about our compounding services, please visit the pharmacy, send us an email, or call us at (207) 764-4424.
What is Compounding?
Pharmacy compounding is the art and science of preparing customized medications for patients. Compounding is one of the most fundamental aspects of pharmacy practice. It dates back to earliest roots of the pharmacy profession and continues to evolve with advances in medical technology. During their six years of education, pharmacists undergo extensive training in the art of pharmacy compounding. In fact, pharmacists are the only healthcare professionals with the experience and knowledge of drugs and their chemical properties to be able to safely and effectively compound medications for patients.
Why Would I Need A Compounded Prescription?
Physicians and other prescribers may prescribe an individually compounded medication for a patient with an unusual health need. This allows the prescriber to tailor a prescription to each individual patient. Often times a medication isn't commercially available in a certain strength or dosage form. Compounding preparations are especially prevalent for:
- Patients requiring limited dosage strengths, such as a very small dose for infants or animals
- Patients requiring a different formulation, such as turning a tablet or capsule into a liquid or transdermal gel for people who can't swallow pills
- Patients requiring an allergen-free medication, such as one without gluten or colored dyes
- Patients who absorb or excrete medications abnormally
- Patients who need drugs that have been discontinued by pharmaceutical manufacturers
- Patients facing a supply shortage of their normal drug (see FDA Rx Shortage List page)
- Patients sensitive to or hesitant to use oral pain medications who require pain therapy that can be treated with topical formulations, such as transdermal creams
- Pediatric patients where flavored additives in liquid drugs or alternative dosage forms make administration easier for the parent
- Veterinary medicine, for a change in dose, change to a more easily-administered form (such as from a pill to a liquid or transdermal gel), or to add a flavor more palatable to the animal.
- Many types of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy
City Drug Store has an excellent reputation with many local physicians for our commitment to providing high-quality compounded medications in the dosage form and strength they desire for their patients. We will work closely with you and your physician to compound a custom medication that is personalized to you and your unique medical needs. Please call the pharmacy at (207) 764-4424 or send us an email for more information on how our compounding services can help you!
Medicine in Short Supply
City Drug Store can custom compound non-sterile drugs and distribute them to patients, clinics, and physicians when they are in short supply from manufacturers. For a variety of reasons, some manufacturers are not able to supply certain medications, leaving patients who rely on the medications without many options. This can be very detrimental to a patient's health and their prescription therapy. Because of this, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allows compounding pharmacies to compound commercially available products during times of shortages.
The list of short supply medications according to the FDA can be accessed using the following link:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/ucm050792.htm
This list is continually updated based on market conditions. For questions regarding medications that are in short supply, please call the pharmacy at (207) 764-4424 or send us an email.