Flavor, Form, and Function: Compounding in Veterinary Medicine

This episode is sponsored by Chewy.

Every patient is different—in size, species, temperament, and tolerance. A medication that works perfectly for one animal may be impossible to administer to another, or simply not available in the right dose or form. That's where compounding comes in.

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360 and recorded live at Fetch Nashville, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, sat down with Kory Muto, PharmD, FAPC, and Tiffany Tupler, DVM, CBCC-KA, HABc, to chat about compounding in veterinary medicine and how it can help veterinary professionals receive better compliance, fewer missed doses, and more.

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Why do you think compounding is a valuable treatment option to implement in patient care?

Tiffany Tupler, DVM, CBCC-KA, HABc: With my background, I work a lot in community medicine and sheltering, so we always have to find accessible options. When I educate clients, I still teach them about FDA-approved products, the research that goes into it, [and] why we want to use those in practice.

Sometimes those are either not affordable, [or] they're not accessible for them, and so maybe we move to a generic. Maybe that generic doesn't taste good, maybe the client has a really hard issue breaking a capsule or a pill or a tablet, and so sometimes compounding becomes our option for care, because really, when we look at veterinary medicine, we have the ability to do things like off-label, meaning I get to still help a patient and do something that is very important for them. Compounding becomes a way that we can still give our patients and our clients accessible means to medications that they might normally not have been able to [access].

When I look at compounding, it's not always say yes to compounding; it's looking at each individual case and each individual patient and those clients and seeing how I can increase their compliance. It could be a marshmallow-flavored something, or it could be a transdermal medication that may be [or] may not be the FDA-approved version, but it might be something that's easier for them to offer and give to their patients.

Christman: I know, just from me practicing as well, when you talk about compounding to clients… it's going to be easier for me to give medication to my dog or cat, which is great. And Kory, what are some of the benefits of compounding in veterinary medicine?

Kory Muto, PharmD, FAPC: Benefits just unlocking treatment options. So, if you think of a medication that's typically manufactured for human medication, you're looking at how you can treat the most patients with a few dosage forms, and that's one species.

On the animal side, it's so much more complicated; you have so many species, so many breeds, so many sizes, so compounding really unlocks that. The company is going to fit the need for those patients. When the FDA medications don't fit the need, they don't exist; they’re not available.

It really changes lives.

And as a pharmacist, it's great when we get to educate our customers and our clients about this. It's really great when they come in, we see something life-changing, and [it’s] just how we provided an option. A lot of pet owners come in, and [their options are] euthanasia or nothing, because [care] is so expensive. We don't compound for cost, but compounding does offer those solutions, and it's really life-changing. Like, I genuinely love what we do.