Pharmacy makes meds from scratch

A NEW pharmaceutical provider is offering custom medications in what is being labelled as a Ballarat first.

Prospect Compounding Pharmacy opened earlier this year, and director Scott Bell said it’s the only pharmacy in Ballarat to provide compounding pharmaceuticals.

Compounding is the practice of preparing medication from scratch to cater for the needs of an individual patient rather than selling mass-produced products.

“It’s incorporating an active drug into a form that will best suit the patient which might include capsules, topical creams or suspensions and liquids,” Mr Bell said.

“Sometimes a doctor might write a prescription for something that a drug company hasn’t made into a product yet so they can come to us to put it into one of those dosage forms.

“It’s optimising therapy because medicine’s no good to someone if they can’t take it.

“So, if someone can’t take a tablet, a compounding pharmacy can have a talk with their doctor to work through a better solution and then deliver it themselves.”

With many pharmaceutical on hand, each medication is made in-house by Mr Bell and his wife and co-director, Ebony.

Th equipment used in crafting the medications include a hot plate for melting lozenges, a presser for capsules and a planetary mixer, which Mr Bell said gets used most to create creams, powders and ointments.

Compounding pharmaceuticals can also be created to tailor medication for animals.

Mr Bell said the practice is an integral part in delivering the appropriate medicines for patients.

“Compounding pharmacies are at the forefront of what evidence is out there for different treatments coming from overseas and Australia,” he said.

“Without compounding, a patient might not have access to the drug they need or might not be able to actually take it properly.”