Regulation and Compounding Pharmacies

In the article, Spotlight on Compounding Medicines, Roni Rabin
provides a list of six questions that patients should ask of their
prescribing doctors and the pharmacy that fills the prescription
(Science Times, October 156th.: L1, L6).

The questions range from challenging your doctor as to whether an
ordinary FDA approved drug might be substituted, ask the pharmacist
whether they have experience compounding this kind of drug, be
vigilant about IV drugs, and so on.

Now I am all in favor of "caveat emptor," but this is beyond
ridiculous. It requires patients, who may well be sick, to challenge
and perhaps alienate their health care providers. This is an
unreasonable expectation.

We, the patients are not medical experts, that is why we go for care
to these specialists.  In a perfect world we would be able to rely on
the professionalization of providers. However this world is not
perfect so my cry is for increased government regulation and
inspection of the compounding pharmacies.

This will require financial resources to hire regulators, but we will
all benefit from the security; a security which we cannot be expected
to provide for ourselves.



Sent to New York Times