Grant County Drugs has expanded the Dry Ridge location to include a state of the art Custom Compounding (Pharmacy) Lab.  The compounding pharmacy gives Grant County Drugs a new outlet to serve the local residents of Grant County and the surrounding counties! 

Melissa Vice, Pharm.D., our director of compounding services, was trained  PCCA's (Professional Compounding Centers of America) program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).  PCCA was founded in 1981 and is the industry leader assisting in supporting independent pharmacies in dispensing the highest quality medications.  Amanda has also received concentrated training in Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) at the 2011 Women’s Health and Wellness Symposium.

In every field of medicine, there are some patients who don’t respond to traditional methods of treatment. Sometimes they need medicine at strengths that are not manufactured by drug companies, or perhaps they simply need a different method of ingesting a medication.

Pharmaceutical compounding meets these needs. It provides a way for physicians and compounding pharmacists to customize an individualized prescription for the specific need of their patient. From combining multiple medications into a single convenient dosage for hospice patients to delivering children’s medicine through a flavored medication, compounding provides solutions not easily met by commercial products.

Grant County Drugs focuses on compounding prescriptions to suit the patient’s individual needs. We concentrate on what each individual needs rather than on mass production of a drug. This allows Physicians to prescribe special orders for specific treatments to meet the unique needs of each patient.

WHAT IS PRESCRIPTION COMPOUNDING?

Prescription compounding improves patients' quality of life, by making medicine in a dosage form that a patient can take more easily.  Compounding allows specially trained pharmacists to "custom make" medications for an individual patient (human or animal), based on that patient's unique needs and symptoms. 

A compounding pharmacist uses raw chemicals, powders, liquids and special equipment to make medications. This results in a customized medication made by a pharmacist, according to a doctor's directions, to meet an individual patient need.

Compounding is fundamental to the profession of pharmacy, and pharmacists are the only health care professionals who can prepare customized alternate dosage forms.  

WHY HAVE A PRESCRIPTION COMPOUNDED?

Usually patients have prescriptions compounded for themselves, or their loved ones/pets, for the following reasons:

• Allergies to preservatives/dyes (lactose, alcohol, sugar) in manufactured medications
• An inability to take a medication in its current form.  For example, if a patient had difficulty swallowing a capsule, a compounding pharmacist might be able to formulate the medicine into an oral solution or transdermal gel (medicine that goes through the skin into the bloodstream.
• The medication that is needed to treat their condition is not commercially available
• The medication that is available to treat their condition can not be tolerated at its current strength, or in its current dose form
• The medication that is available to treat their condition is not effective for them

Prescriptions are compounded based on individual need.  There are many unique reasons why someone would wish to have a prescription compounded.  The first step is talking to your pharmacist, physician, licensed prescriber or veterinarian to find out if a compounded prescription is appropriate for you.