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EDITOR'S PAGE
Dan O'Connor
Let's Not Compound the Compounding Problem
Tighter regulations needed in the wake of the NECC debacle.
A
lready we're seeing positive changes to how you'll be dealing
with compounding pharmacies in the wake of the New England
Compounding Center (NECC) meningitis outbreak that killed 46
and infected 704 patients. But don't be lulled into thinking that NECC was
the only compounding pharmacy plagued by unsafe practices.
Just recently, surprise health inspectors in NECC's home state of
Massachusetts found that only 8 of 40 specialty pharmacies were fully complying with industry safety standards. Pharmacies were dinged for safety,
storage and training violations. Inspectors cited 1 pharmacy after finding evidence it was engaged in sterile compounding despite an earlier statement it
was not.
Here are 3 positive changes to be aware of, says Alison Cherney, the
CEO of Ionia Pharmacy in Nashville, Tenn., and an expert in regulatory
matters in the compounding pharmacy industry.
• Patient-specific prescriptions required. NECC often sent facilities compounded medications in bulk, not in response to patient-specific prescriptions.
A growing number of states will restrict compounding to only patient-specific
prescriptions, says Ms. Cherney. For now, 15 state boards of pharmacy mandate that individual patient prescriptions must accompany every compounded
medication: Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island and Tennessee. If you're ordering from a compounding pharma-
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A R C H 2013
