| Editorial: Federation of International Pharmacists (FIP) and the International Society of Pharmacy Compounding (ISPhC) Meetings in Brazil
With participants from more than 15 different countries, the meetings in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil were great. The first meeting was a full-house, pre-FIP meeting and was cosponsored by Anfarmag, the professional association of pharmacists in Brazil. The program discussed pharmaceutical compounding (nonsterile and sterile), pediatric, dermatological, odontological, podiatric and diabetic foot compounding, compounding with opioids, and quality assurance.
The session at the FIP meeting in the Community Pharmacy Section, sponsored with Fagron, located in Europe, discussed compounding around the world and included topics on the role of compounded medicines in therapy, and compounding in Brazil, in the US, in Portugal, in Argentina, in Spain, in Belgium, and other countries. The sessions were scheduled to end at 5:00 P.M., but there were so many questions that we were there until 6:30 P.M. It was a great time of sharing about compounding.
Many topics, which can have a direct impact on compounding in the US, were covered and many opportunities presented that can be incorporated into compounding in the US. More on some of these later.
It was also interesting that many of the concerns in other countries are the same as in the US, including reimbursement issues, governmental control, quality assurance, manufacturers' intrusion into the compounding relationship between physician, patient and pharmacist, and official formularies.
There was a surprise visit by Dr. Roger Williams, CEO and Executive Vice President of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), who attended our session for a couple of hours. Dr. Williams is very well versed in compounding, and, after he was introduced, fielded many questions and made a number of very positive, supportive statements concerning USP and compounding throughout the world.
Although the FIP meeting had a full schedule, this editor had the opportunity to visit a couple of compounding-only Brazilian pharmacies that are state-of-the-art pharmacies that compound approximately 500 to 1,000 prescriptions per day, with associated documentation, etc. The pharmacies are computer-based, extremely attractive, and, as indicated, are very busy.
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil is a great tourist site with very white, sandy beaches and great, year-round weather of 70 to 80 during the day and 60 to 70 at night.
It was a great trip for compounding pharmacists from around the world and a good look toward the future. FIP will be in Beijing, China next year, and, in 2008, will be in Basel, Switzerland. The US had a large number of participants in the meeting, and you might want to think about a travel opportunity combined with professional continuing education for the future. I generally learn enough from each of these trips to pay for the trip and enjoy doing it at the same time.
Compounding pharmacy is truly a world-wide profession, and we can all learn from each other to make our practices better.
Loyd V. Allen, Jr., Ph.D., R.Ph
Editor-in-Chief |
