ACTIVIST GROUP ATTACKS PHARMACIST COMPOUNDING?

Consumer activists with the lobby group Public Citizen are warning womento avoid hormone replacement drugs compounded by pharmacists.According to officials at Public Citizen's Health Research Group, womenshould be "especially wary of all so-called bioidentical hormone replacementtherapy (HRT) drugs compounded by pharmacies due to the safety issues andtheir lack of FDA regulation."

"The FDA has done nothing to warn women about the dangers of compoundedHRT drugs," said Health Research Group Director Sidney Wolfe, MD."This is yet another example of the FDA's failure to fulfill its mission of protectingthe health of American patients."

The organization's warning about pharmacist compounding drew a strongrebuttal from the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), which said thatthe criticism "overlooks the value compounding pharmacists provide to theirpatients, including their extensive knowledge about medications."

According to APhA, compounding serves an important purpose because "millionsof Americans have unique medical needs that cannot be met by mass-producedproducts. Some patients need extremely low dosages, liquid dosageforms, or combinations of ingredients that are not available from manufacturers."