State board sets hearing for pharmacist
By: | The News & Advance
Published: February 09, 2012
Published: February 09, 2012
A Rustburg pharmacist faces an informal hearing before the state Board of Pharmacy next week for possible administrative violations related to the operation of the pharmacy.
Jodi Ettare operates Rustburg Family Pharmacy with her husband, Vince Ettare. The husband-and-wife team of pharmacists also operated Valley Compounding Pharmacy on Timberlake Road in Campbell County, but it closed last fall after Vince Ettare’s license was suspended for a year by the state for violations similar to the allegations Jodi Ettare now faces.
The state Board of Pharmacy found that he left technicians and interns at the pharmacy while he left for other business and that he maintained prescription records saying he was there at the time. The board also found he allowed staff to use the alarm and keys to enter the drug storage area without a pharmacist present, according to the Board of Pharmacy’s order.
A pharmacist is required on the premises at all times and technicians are allowed access to the alarm only under “exceptional” circumstances, said Caroline Juran, executive director of the Board of Pharmacy.
Ettare said it happened because he pushed himself past his limits trying to meet the needs of running a small business. He testified to the board his absence during the periods in question was due to his confidence in his senior pharmacy technician, according to the board’s order.
Losing his license left Jodi Ettare with the responsibility of running the pharmacy.
“Jodi has had to bear the brunt of the burden,” Vince Ettare said.
Jodi Ettare is accused of improperly verifying prescriptions she was not present for and allowing an unlicensed individual to use the alarm code and keys to enter the prescription area, according to the notice for her informal hearing. According to that document, the incidents are alleged to have happened in May and June 2011; Vince Ettare’s license was suspended in August 2011.
The committee at the informal hearing next week can take several actions: dismissal of the charges, probation, a fine, a reprimand or a referral to a formal hearing.
In 2010, the board reprimanded Jodi Ettare for making and dispensing generic Viagra. She signed a consent order that did not admit or deny the accusation.
Valley Compounding opened in January 2008 and Rustburg Family Pharmacy opened about a year later, filling a void in the town after Allied Community Pharmacy closed.
The Ettares' work specializes in compounding medicines, a niche field in pharmacy where chain stores readily dispense premanufactured drugs.
Compounding medications can help make a medication work better for a patient. For example, a person too sick to take pills orally can have the medication compounded into a cream to be rubbed on his or her skin. The couple’s pharmacy also compounds drugs for veterinarians.
Vince Ettare said the stress of keeping two pharmacies open led them to consider consolidating the pharmacies before his suspension. He said it allows them to spend more time with their three children.
“It was something we had considered for a long time,” he said.
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