Preventing Compounding Errors in Wyoming

This article appeared in the December 2011 Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter:

Preventing Compounding Errors
By Amy Puckett, PharmD Candidate
There are an estimated 30 to 40 million prescriptions compounded
nationally each year. A small portion of those are for Wyoming
residents and the compounding pharmacy must follow Wyoming
Pharmacy Act Rules and Regulations. Being familiar with the
Wyoming Pharmacy Act Rules and Regulations can help reduce
compounding errors. Rules are designed to help protect both the
pharmacist and the public. A compounded product can be prepared
for three reasons: as the result of a practitioner’s order; for research,
teaching, or chemical analysis; or in anticipation of orders if the drug
product is regularly prescribed. It is not considered compounding
when mixing or reconstituting as a result of following the manufacturer’s
directions on the labeling. Pharmacies cannot compound
medications or dosage forms that are commercially available and
they cannot sell compounded products to other pharmacies for
resale. A pharmacy may, however, sell a compounded product to a
practitioner or an institutional pharmacy if it is to be administered
to patients in the practitioner’s office or institution. The provision to
this is that neither the transfer pharmacy nor the transferee pharmacy
can exceed 5% of their total prescription drug sales revenue when
selling the compounded products.

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