by PCCA

This Profile in Personalized Medicine highlights Stephen Anderson, RPh, owner of The Apothecary in Sartell, Minnesota. A PCCA member since 1996, Stephen attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, earning a BA in business administration with focuses in hospital administration and financial management. He also achieved his BS in pharmacy at North Dakota State University. 

How did you start compounding? What led you to PCCA?
My father, Gary, and I started compounding when we joined PCCA. At the time, we had one pharmacy, the Clinic Pharmacy in Melrose, Minnesota. We were introduced to PCCA by a good friend and pharmacy classmate who had begun working at a compounding pharmacy in Phoenix, Arizona. After visiting that pharmacy and compounding lab, I knew this was the direction I wanted to proceed.

What was your toughest patient problem? How did you solve it?  
We have many challenges with patients who need bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), as many pharmacists do. Daily, those are the greatest challenges, and the most rewarding. We work closely with a few BHRT practitioners, and together we dig our heels in and try to gather enough pieces of the puzzle to make the picture clearer and help the patients move toward a more balanced state of health.

What has been your most satisfying patient experience?
No one situation stands out above the rest. Thankfully, between working with patients who need BHRT mainly and those who are prescribed low-dose naltrexone (LDN), we are in the position to experience patient successes every day. We are excited about the opportunities that LDN compounds are bringing to our pharmacy and patients. There are a number of practitioners in our area who have been prescribing various protocols of LDN to address a range of autoimmunity/inflammatory, pain and mental health conditions patients have been diagnosed with. We have also seen more and more benefits through our pharmacists taking on a greater consultative role in the process with LDN patients, much like our BHRT clients.

What is your favorite PCCA base, and why? 
PCCA has many incredible proprietary bases that we utilize, and we absolutely believe they enhance patient outcomes. Many of our clients have experienced very positive results using PracaSil®-Plus, XemaTop™ and Clarifying™ bases alone as cosmetic products, with no active ingredients added. We have many clients who have had particularly fantastic outcomes with PracaSil-Plus as a cosmetic to improve the appearance of both newer and long-term scar tissue.

What is your favorite PCCA event?

International Seminar. I always enjoy the fellowship, and the educational components are superb. Every year, I come home with at least one great idea—typically more—that can be implemented that next week.

What advice would you give to new compounders?
Follow your instincts to help and serve your patients. There are a few obstacles and distractions that you will face along the way; don’t allow those to interfere with your passion of helping your patients achieve positive outcomes.

Do you have a motto or words you live by?
Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.

What word best describes your life?
Rewarding, especially when it comes to spending time with my wife, Lisa, and our four children, Nolan, Lauren, Neal and Sophia.