Hubs about drug compounding?

1. 76

   Shaddieposted 11 years ago

   I work at a veterinary clinic and have recently had to acquire my pharmaceutical license in order to legally package and mix drugs for clients. It is difficult trying to learn about how to work with all the different kinds of drugs in small animal medicine because there is a lot of compounding involved, which requires understanding of math, so I wondered if I could help other people that were in my same shoes by offering examples and directions on what to do.
   
   My question is: is this legally information I can give to the public? I don't work with restricted drugs, just antibiotics and the like, but I'm wondering if the reason there is no information online on how to compound drugs is because the sharing of this information is looked down upon. Does anyone have any idea on whether or not I can do this?

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   1. 61

      geetbhimposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know you can do it legally or not but I am interested to know about compounding of drugs and look forward to read hub about that and I guess many other too would like to read.

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2. 91

   chasmacposted 11 years ago

   I also don't know about the legalities of it, but I'd be very surprised if HubPages allowed it. Think about it. In order for you to carry out this work safely, you were required to obtain a pharmaceutical license, which involved a lot of study. When you say you want to help people in the same shoes, I guess you mean people in the same or similar job who are learning about drug compounding - not the general public who want a DIY remedy for their ailing cat.
   Geetbhim may be right that many others would like to read about it, but it could have disastrous consequences if done wrong. You're a trained professional, and no doubt the information that you would supply would be correct and accurate and could help your 'colleagues-in-training'. The problem is that by publishing it on a public space like HubPages, you'd be encouraging the untrained and unqualified general public to have a go. The saying, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" seems very appropriate in this case. By all means share your knowledge with colleagues and trainees, but not the general public, who don't have the basic training required to understand and carry out your instructions correctly. That's why the license is required.

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   1. 76

      Shaddieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I hear what you're saying, and after the few comments I've received I think I will keep the information to myself for now. I will ask my veterinarian more about the subject, just to be sure, but your concerns are the same that I was sharing. While I'm not giving out prescriptions, I would be giving out directions which could lead someone to figure out a prescription if they had the correct drug.

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3. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I would suggest asking the veterinarian you work with.  Because if it is regulated in some way they should know, and if it caused trouble it would eventually track back to them.
   
   That said, as far as I know compounding is unregulated.  But a person doing it and giving the drug to their dog might be open to a charge of practicing veterinary medicine without a license,

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4. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 11 years ago

   I would recommend writing about it but not actual 'recipes'. Maybe definition of terms, equipment use, packaging .... keep the thought of 'keeping' your license safe rather than risking losing it altogether. Always best to be safe

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5. 77

   Sally's Troveposted 11 years ago

   There may be an entirely different angle you could pursue. If you've been following the news about fungal meningitis, you know that the source seems to be a compounding facility in New England. People don't know too much about compounding, which has a long and interesting history. Today, compounding is much less common than it was, and there's also a huge hole in regulation and legislation about compounding "companies" and whether they are really compounding or formulating. It's a hot topic in terms of health, economics, and legislation. I'd be very glad to read an article about what compounding is and isn't, for both humans and animals.

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6. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I agree a hub about how compounding has gone wring, the human case and the polo pony case, would be really interesting.

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