These days the majority of medicine is coming directly from the large pharmaceutical companies. This trend started after the discovery of penicillin, with modern marketing techniques the drug manufacturing industry controls the drug production. Before the discovery of penciling and industrial production of drugs, compounding was the only technique that pharmacists could make a medicine based on doctor prescriptions. Compounding is defined as a small batch for a patient with a small production only.
There are many situations that a traditional pharmacy can't provide a type of medicine that doctors, dentists, or veterans usually order for their patients.
These kinds of pharmacies provide medication for some of the following conditions: adrenal fatigue, andropause, autism, bio-identical hormones, dentistry, dermatology, pain management, palliative, pediatrics, podiatry, prescription, sports, thyroid hormones, veterinary, and wound care. There is not an accurate record for the number of compounding pharmacies in the U.S.
For many patients finding a local pharmacy is a stressful task. Some patients will contact their health insurance service providers for the list of the pharmacies nearby and sometimes their doctors will refer them to the local pharmacy.
There are two major directories with information about local compounding pharmacies in the U.S. and the world:
PCCA (Professional Compounding Centers of America) and IACP (International Academy of Compounding Pharmacies). These two directories have listed some of the compounding pharmacies in different states in the U.S. and other countries in the world.
According to the IACP only 1% to 3% of all prescriptions currently dispensed in the United States are compounded.
However due to the aging of baby boomers in the U.S., the demand for compounding medicine is growing fast and more patients will be looking for them in the near future.
There are newer online directories with more compounding pharmacies listed online. These websites provide more information such as online maps, contact phone numbers, websites and the type of medicine that pharmacies provide for their patients. They also allow patients to contact directly with pharmacies and even send the prescriptions online.
The next generation of directory will be providing mobile apps for smart phone users and indicates the pharmacies location and allows to upload or even scan the prescriptions and send it to the pharmacy using only the cell phone.
The compounding pharmacies are here to stay and their market share will be getting bigger. Compounding pharmacies are doing better and better helping the patients to get the required drug or medicine that they need.
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