PCCA's Matt Martin and Melissa Merrell Rhoads provide an update on the FDA's decision to designate human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) as a biologic product and what that means for compounders and for PCCA.

PCCA has named Cathy Hance, RPh, co-owner of Compound Care Rx Plus in Louisville, Kentucky, as the recipient of the 2019 Evelyn Timmons Advocacy Award.

PCCA is excited to announce the selection of University of Texas pharmacy student Ryan Hoffart as the 2019 recipient of its ACT Legislative Conference Scholarship for pharmacy students.

Congratulations to Dee Downing Yoakum, RPh and Dee Downing Hollis, RPh, of Med Shop Total Care in Longview, Texas for being our next Profile in Personalized Medicine. These profiles celebrate members of the PCCA family who have proven to be champions of Pharmacy Compounding by providing the highest quality service to their patients.

Tadalafil is now free of patents, and compounding pharmacies have some opportunities to use this drug in various customized medications. PCCA's Nat Jones drops in to tell us why that is such exciting news for compounding pharmacies and their patients.

PCCA's own Sebastian Denison to speak on the LDN Radio Show on February 20th, at 3 p.m. CT!

We’re excited that patients and physicians now have access to Azelastine Hydrochloride USP as an ingredient option in compounded medications. There are some commercial products available, including a combination product, but when those items don’t fit the specific needs of patients, we need to put on our thinking caps and start looking for other options for them. We’re sure that you compounders out there can come up with a few of your own as well.

On March 30, 2018, the Compounding Expert Committee of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention published proposed revisions to USP chapter <795> Pharmaceutical Compounding – Nonsterile Preparations. The revised chapter was open to public comments until July 31, 2018, and is expected to become official on December 1, 2019. Major revisions to the chapter include, but are not limited to, the following:

I didn’t start out in pharmacy, but I did start out in health care. I worked as a diagnostic medical sonographer for eleven years. An opportunity presented itself in 2004 to work at a compounding pharmacy helping to manage the hormone patients. Within months, I become a certified technician and went to PCCA for primary and aseptic training.

I wanted to do something in the medical field but couldn’t stand needles or the site of blood, so pharmacy was the most logical choice. Fast forward to now: We offer immunizations and autologous eye drops (serum tears), which involve both, so I guess you could say my comfort level has changed. But looking back, I wouldn’t have changed anything.