Compounding
Compounding is the art of combining, mixing or altering pharmaceutical ingredients to create a medication that is unique to a patient’s specific needs. Compounding is utilized to increase patient compliance, medication effectiveness or if an alternative dosage form is needed.
When patients experience complications with their medications and compliance fails, compounding can be a great alternative. Patients can experience problems with their medications due to multiple issues:
- Allergies to commonly used fillers and dyes in medications
- Issues with taking the medication because of the taste, which can especially be an issue for children
- Needing an alternative strength for the specific medication
- Not having the ability to swallow tablets or capsules
- Unwanted side effects of medications
Compounding combats these issues by creating unique flavorings, special dosage forms and alternative delivery options.
Compounding a customized medication can greatly increase the patient’s chance of compliance and overall health.
