Kersbrook and One Tree Hill Pharmacies offer a compounding pharmacy service– we offer services to help you access medications that have been specifically designed and prepared for you on an individual basis. Compounding is what happens when a pharmacist creates a specific pharmaceutical preparation, to meet the unique of an individual person (although sometimes also in veterinary practice.) If a commercially available drug product does not suit your specific requirements, Kersbrook Pharmacy can work with your doctor to create a specific product tailored to your exact needs, as specified in your doctor’s prescription. There are many different situations where this might be required:
- The need to customise the dosage of a medication to amount not available in a commercial product
- Presentation in a format that suits you – a capsule instead of a tablet, a cream or ointment, a suppository, and so on
- Compounding a drug that is currently in short supply
- Changing the dose of a drug to gradually increase or decrease
- Presenting a mixture or syrup with a specific flavour to cover the taste of the medication
- Reformulating to exclude an unwanted, ingredient (e.g. gluten, or allergens)
Compounding involves the creation of a specific product to address the prescriber’s exact specifications, and dispensing this directly to the patient. Compounding is always performed by a registered pharmacist.
As a compounding pharmacy, Kersbrook Pharmacy has appropriate equipment and the staff have training to undertake this important function safely.
There are numerous possible reasons why you might not be completely satisfied with a commercially available healthcare product that you have been prescribed or recommended a compounded product.
For example, the product:
- May not completely relieve the symptoms that it’s intended to treat;
- May appear to cause new symptoms or side effects;
- May be difficult or unpleasant to swallow (e.g. due its size or taste), difficult, irritating or unpleasant to apply (e.g. to skin) or simply inconvenient to use (e.g. due to the dosing schedule, or the way the treatment needs to be taken or administered);
- May contain one or more ingredients that you are allergic to (e.g. you may be allergic to a specific colouring agent, preservative or ‘filler’);
- May contain one or more ingredients that your doctor believes might interact with other medications you are taking;
- May contain one or more ingredients that you would prefer to avoid because you have a specific dietary restriction or religious belief (e.g. you might require or prefer a gluten-free, kosher or halal alternative);
- May not be available in a formulation that enables the desired dose of active treatment to be easily taken or administered (e.g. you might need a 5 mg dose of a particular drug, but only be able to purchase pills or capsules that contain a 10 mg dose).