We care about our patients and want to provide you with quality information about your health. If you ever have questions or would like more information, please feel free to ask.  We look forward to caring for you and your family.

Sincerely,

Jeff Potter, R.Ph. 

While drug shortages have always existed, the problem has escalated and more than 200 important medications are now unavailable. Current shortages are often the result of a drug company's decision to halt production of older drugs that are less costly in favor of manufacturing newer, more profitable products. However, in many cases the medications that are pulled from production are life-sustaining, such as electrolyte solutions, chemotherapy, and drugs used during resuscitation. While the decisions made by pharmaceutical manufacturers may be in the best interest of their stockholders, patient care is suffering and many critical drugs are now indefinitely backordered. In many cases, we can help by compounding the needed medications. We have the resources to help practitioners and hospitals deal with these shortages, and we can also compound medications that have been discontinued for reasons such as declining usage, reduced profitability, short shelf life, or inability to source an ingredient used in the commercial product.  

www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages.
 
Contact us if a medication that you need is not commercially available.

Infantile hemangiomas (IH), also known as "strawberry marks," are collections of blood vessels caused by increased cell division and growth. Approximately 5-10% of Caucasian children have hemangiomas. They are more common in girls, fair-skinned people and premature babies. Most hemangiomas are not visible at birth. They may at first appear only as a small bruise, scratch or a tiny red bump. Unlike other types of birthmarks, hemangiomas grow and change greatly during the first months of life.

Recently, a compounded topical "gel-forming solution" containing the medication timolol maleate has been reported as a potentially effective treatment for superficial IH. A study conducted at prestigious medical centers in the USA and Canada included 73 children. Median age when treatment began was about 4 months. All patients except one improved, with improvement ranging from 15-75%. The best response was achieved with the superficial type of hemangioma, using a solution of 0.5% timolol applied topically twice daily for longer than 3 months. The major advantages of topical timolol are ready availability, cost, ease of administration, and minimal risk of drug-related adverse events. Ask our compounding pharmacist for more information. 

Pediatr Dermatol. 2012 Jan;29(1):28-31.