What is a compounding pharmacist?

A compounding pharmacist is a term used to describe the art of preparing medication to a specific formula.

A compounding pharmacist has the freedom to work with therapeutic drugs, scripts, scheduled poisons and also the freedom to work with natural herbs. He is licensed to tailor make drugs to the needs of the individual. When a doctor orders a script, the pharmacist can make up that formula according to that requirement. This is the original art of the pharmacist.

Over the years this art has all but disappeared from the dispensary, replaced by mass produced products from huge multinational drug companies. Many pharmacists are not equipped with the modern technology to compound. In the days before the giant pharmaceutical companies began to patent their products en masse, each and every pharmacist was a custom compounding pharmacist. The doctor instructed the pharmacist to formulate /tailor-make the medication required in the treatment of a patient’s illness. Modern pharmacists can still do this, however, only custom compounding pharmacists have the day to day experience with the method of treatment, equipment and training.

When it comes to compounding a natural hormone into a cream, only a handful of pharmacists in our country have cultivated the skills and training.

A few years ago, when we would go out in search of reliable compounding pharmacists who knew how to prepare progesterone cream, i.e., use the correct bases, use only the highest ingredients and correct micronised progesterone imported from overseas, the pharmacists we discovered willingly submitted to our request for analytical reports and records of authenticity. This was of great benefit, relief and reassurance to our women.

More recently, we’ve seen an increase in compounding pharmacists who claim they can make cream. In the absence of analytical data supporting cream preparation, we recommend women err on the side of caution.