If you're a patient that needs drugs in a dose, form or combination not available, your pharmacist may be able to help. Every year, more than 30 million prescription drugs are compounded each year by pharmacists, who are permitted to do so as part of their licensure.
Often, compounding involves simple changes in the mixture to say, provide a pediatric dose of a drug that comes in adult doses--and all of the nearly 200,000 pharmacists in the U.S. are permitted to do this. On the other hand, when pharmacists begin making large volumes of such doses and distribute them, the compounder essentially becomes a drug manufacturer, without facing the level of scrutiny that drug makers face.
Some compounders actually come far too close practicing medicine themselves, critics argue, especially when it comes to promoting a drug class known as "bioidenticals" which are manufactured to be molecularly identical to human hormones. The FDA is on record as saying that claims made by some compounders about these substances are actually untrue.
In extreme cases, compounded substances have been linked to deaths or serious side effects, particularly those made in mass quantities by what some have called a "shadow drug industry." However, pharmacists note that most compounding is far simpler and safer, and that deaths and harmful side effects are very rare.
To learn more about this topic:
- read this MSNBC.com piece
Ikiwa mgonjwa anahitaji dawa katika kipimo, fomu au mchanganyiko ambao haupatikani, mtaalamu wako wa dawa anaweza kukusaidia. Kila mwaka, zaidi ya dawa milioni 30 za dawa za dawa hufanywa na maduka ya dawa, ambayo huruhusiwa kufanya hivyo kama sehemu ya leseni yao. Kwa kawaida, mchanganyiko wa dawa hutia ndani mabadiliko rahisi katika mchanganyiko, kama vile kutoa kipimo cha dawa kwa watoto, ambayo inakuja katika kipimo cha watu wazima, na wote wa madaktari wa dawa karibu 200,000 nchini Marekani wanaruhusiwa kufanya hivyo. Kwa upande mwingine, wakati wauzaji wa dawa wanapoanza kutengeneza kiasi kikubwa cha dawa hizo na kuzisambaza, mtengenezaji wa dawa huwa mtengenezaji wa dawa, bila kukabiliwa na kiwango cha uchunguzi ambao watengenezaji wa dawa wanakabiliwa. "Wanachambua madawa ya kulevya wanasema kuwa ""watu wengi wanafanya mazoezi ya dawa, hasa wakati wa kukuza darasa la dawa inayojulikana kama ""bioidentical"" ambayo hutengenezwa kuwa sawa na homoni za binadamu." FDA imesema madai ya baadhi ya watengenezaji wa kemikali kuhusu vitu hivyo ni ya uwongo. "Katika visa vya hali ya juu, dawa za kulevya zimeunganishwa na vifo au athari mbaya za upande, hasa zile zinazotengenezwa kwa wingi na kile ambacho wengine wameita ""biashara ya dawa za kulevya ya kivuli.""" Hata hivyo, wataalamu wa dawa wanasema kwamba dawa nyingi ni rahisi na salama zaidi, na kwamba vifo na madhara ya upande ni nadra sana. Ili kujifunza zaidi juu ya mada hii: - soma kipande hiki cha MSNBC.com