Nonsterile Extemporaneous Compounding: A Bibliography for the Pharmacy Practitioner

Abstract

Objective: For the pharmacist to be able to practice good professional and scientific procedures, appropriate literature sources are provided to enable rational, appropriate decisions for extemporaneous compounding. Data Sources: The bibliography consists of articles listed from the key word “compounding” in International Pharmaceutical Abstracts. Study Selection: The list of references are compiled in alphabetical order according to the title of the reference in terms of generic name, the clinical condition, or the subject heading. Data Extraction: Many of the extemporaneous formulations are published in accessible professional pharmacy journals, including American Druggist, American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and US Pharmacist. Data Synthesis: The pharmacist must determine if the referenced expiration date was determined either by chemical stability or by successful clinical experience. The assignment of an expiration date by chemical stability is the accepted standard of the pharmaceutical industry. Assigning an expiration date by clinical response does not give the clinician any quantification of chemical potency or an indication of the absence or presence of degradation products in a formulation. Conclusions: With extemporaneous compounding, there must not be any careless formulation of prescription products without adequate scientific and professional judgment. For this reason, pharmacists are encouraged to use the current pharmaceutical literature to enhance their professional judgment. To make pharmacists' searches of the pharmaceutical literature for extemporaneous formulations a time-efficient procedure, a bibliography is presented.