In recognition of National Infertility Awareness Week, April 21-27, PCCA Director of Clinical Services Sara Hover, RPh, FAARM, discusses how fertility is increasingly viewed as an indicator of overall health; how the intertwine of metabolic balance, hormone production and mitochondria impact fertility; as well as a way compounders can help those whose individual needs exceed commercially available medicines.

Compounding pharmacists are committed to helping their patients live healthier, better lives —and key to this is ensuring their patients have continuing access to lawfully prescribed, personalized medications tailored to their individual needs.

Our Profiles in Personalized Medicine highlights Matthew McLachlan, BPharm, MPS, co-owner of O’Hara's Pharmacy 777 Kalamunda in Kalamunda, Western Australia. Matthew shares what motivated him to become a compounding pharmacist, how his pharmacy promotes compounding in their community and more. He and co-owner Andrew Mason, BPharm, MPS, have been proud PCCA members since 2018.

In February, the FDA approved the first and only oral treatment for eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) that contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) budesonide at a strength of 2 mg/10mL, which may sound familiar to many compounders.1 How does this affect compounders and what other potential options are available to patients?

The PCCA Research & Development (R&D) team constantly explores innovative ways to help meet the unique needs of patients. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we developed SubMagna SL HMW, a self-emulsifying, sublingual delivery system, to accommodate a wide range of drugs with varying molecular weights — including those with a high-molecular weight. This innovative base is another way PCCA helps to fill the unmet needs of patients, prescribers and compounding pharmacies.

Our Profiles in Personalized Medicine highlights Isha Gupta, PharmD, MBA, owner of HatchRx Compounding Pharmacy in Long Island, New York. Isha shares her perspectives on what “Compounding: It’s Personal” means, what motivated her to become a compounding pharmacist, as well as a patient success story and more. Her pharmacy has been a proud PCCA member since 2022.

At PCCA, we proudly partner with our members to support the unique needs of your patients and prescribers through the science of compounding. We also recognize the importance of effectively communicating the value of compounded medications. As we navigate this path, it is crucial to adhere to established guidelines and embrace best practices in promoting your compounded medications.

Imagine having a clinical support team on-call 24/7, who is able to resolve tricky formula issues, research literature for new compounding developments, provide marketing and business support, and navigate esoteric government agency regulations. If you’re a PCCA member with clinical services access, you don’t have to imagine it — this “extension of your pharmacy staff” already exists! Members without clinical services access may not know what they’re missing — all for just $27 a day.

Administering medications to veterinary patients can be a challenging task for owners. Palatability issues with bitter drugs is very common and masking the taste of these drugs can be difficult. The logistics of simply giving an oral medication to pets often exacerbate existing challenges. However, delivering medications through the skin using permeation-enhancing vehicles may provide welcomed options for veterinarians and their patients, and serves as a prime example of how compounding shines by offering alternative delivery systems.

As a popular speaker, Tim makes information entertaining, memorable and easy to understand. Gain insight now on effective presentation techniques to market your compounding pharmacy to prescribers and patients in your community.