• What Is Compounding?
• Can All Prescriptions Be Compounded?
• For Which Medical Problems Does Compounding Work Best?
• Is Compounding More Expensive than a Regular Prescribed Medication?
• Can Compounding Work for Animals too?
• Why Can Compounding Sometimes Be Better than a Conventional Medication?
• Is Compounding FDA Approved?
• How Can Compounding Help You?
• Disclaimer

Can All Prescriptions Be Compounded?

Just about, and in many different ways. For example, compounding offers alternatives to the way drugs are given because it allows Heritage Drugs to reconstitute the delivery method as a solution, spray, lollipop, transdermal, suppository or oral rinse.

For Which Medical Problems Does Compounding Work Best?

Compounding can work to treat just about any medical problem. It's most commonly used in the treatment of chronic pain, but it's also used widely for treatment of hormonal imbalances, andropause (aging), sports medicine and vitamin and nutritional deficiencies.

Can Compounding Work for Animals too?

Heritage Drugs also offers veterinary compounding, a service near and dear to pharmacist and Heritage Drugs owner Howard Alter. He is a widely recognized breeder of Newfoundland dogs and often serves as a judge at dog shows.

Is Compounding More Expensive than a Regular Prescribed Medication?

That depends on what's required. In some respects compounding is analogous to preparing a gourmet meal. The ingredients must be identified and in the proper amounts, then acquired. Replacing an ingredient that may cause an allergic reaction in the patient needing the compounding may require research and numerous calls to ingredient suppliers before it is found. That can make for a higher price.

However, the good news is that Heritage Drugs has access to pure-grade quality chemicals that lower the overall costs. So compounding may be more or as expensive as are regular medications. In some cases, compounding may be less.

Why Can Compounding Sometimes Be Better than a Conventional Medication?

Compounding is both helpful and imperative for patients who don't respond well to pre-manufactured medications.

All pharmaceutical medications cause side effects of one type or another, and some of them can be deadly. Compounding provides a way for a pharmacist to create a safe and effective alternative specifically for one patient.

Second, as you know, most of the drugs sold by prescription or over-the-counter in this country are pre-manufactured. Chemists cobble together their ingredients, blend them in vats and out pop pills, losenges, capsules, solutions, etc. They come in certain specific sizes, strengths, dosages, flavors and/or textures. They are FDA approved and must be sold to patients "as is." In other words, those medications are available only in certain pre-determined strengths and dosages.

At most pharmacies, pre-manufactured medications are the only drugs available to you. If you're allergic to one of the ingredients in that drug, you're out of luck. But that's not the case at Heritage Drugs. Pharmacist Howard Alter can work with your physician to develop a formulation of safe and effective ingredients that will bring you the relief you would have enjoyed with the pre-manufactured drug.

Howard also blends ingredients from scratch to help treat specific health problems, and he can compound a medication to supplement other treatments you doctor may have prescribed for you.

In addition, Howard can make medication more palatable. If you have kids you know that it doesn't matter what the flavor of pre-manufactured medications is, your kids just hate taking it. Having the same medication compounded with a flavor your children like makes life easier for you and the ordeal of being medicated less unpleasant for them. And Howard can change flavor for adults as well.

Is Compounding FDA Approved?

FDA approval of a drug is extremely expensive and inflexible. Approved drugs must adhere to the formulation approved to retain approval. In other words, if just the flavor of an approved medication is changed, the drug is no longer approved. So, because of the changing nature of compounding, it can't be FDA approved. However, the Food and Drug Administration considers compounding both legal and ethical, and specifies that a compounded drug must be prescribed by a licensed health care provider for one specific patient and prepared by a licensed pharmacy.

While the FDA does not approve or regulate compounding per se, state boards of pharmacy do.

How Can Compounding Help You?

It depends on what your specific problem is, but if you suffer from the side effects of a drug you are taking or if you're allergic to one or more of a drug's ingredients, you should talk to Howard Alter at 1-802-253-2544 or visit him at Heritage Drugs, which is located at 1178 Mountain Road, Stowe, Vermont 05672. He can discuss alternatives with your physician and compound a formulation designed specifically for you.

Disclaimer: The information presented above is informational only. It should not be construed as medical advice. Compounding is helpful in the treatment of a wide range of medical problems, and especially for people who suffer from side effects of pre-manufactured pharmaceuticals. The compounding formulations we provide at Heritage Drugs are offered only in concert with our patients' physicians.